The Wiggles!

Jordan attended his first concert today at Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie. The Racing to the Rainbow Tour by The Wiggles was very well done, and Nokia is a perfect venue for their show.

Grandpa and Grandma got tickets for us all to go: Jordan, Dad, Mom and Aunt Cristina. Grandma and Grandpa graciously got to the theatre early to pick up our tickets from Will Call. We arrived about 30 minutes before the concert started and took our seats on the Southwest Airlines Flight Deck row. We had a great view of the stage, and sound quality was great. Jordan, who had been sick earlier in the day, started running a really low grade fever during the concert, so didn't jump and dance and sing with the Wiggles, but he did have a smile on his face most of the concert, and seemed to love every minute of it. It was really funny to see him realize the images on the giant video screens flanking the stage was really happening right in front of him on the stage!

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for the awesome tickets and the great fun tonight!

Galveston

We made a trip to Galveston again this year for a short getaway. Thanks again to Grammie D for organizing everything for us. It was a blast!

This year's forecast called for rain the entire time we were in Galveston, but fortunately, it didn't turn out to be that bad, so we were able to get plenty of beach and pool time. We ate lots of good seafood, rode the Galveston Island-Bolivar Peninsula ferry; we went to Moody Gardens for both the rainforest pyramid and the aquarium. All and all it was a great time, like last year.

Rather than a blow-by-blow account of this year, we thought we'd let the pictures tell the story...















Jordan has his first experience touching a starfish at the Moody Gardens aquairium.





















Jordan took very literally the call to "follow me" on the floor of the aquarium.
















More than a million gallons of saltwater. Thousands of species of plantlife and fish. Jordan found every bench in the place more interesting.
















Jordan imitated a wooly mammoth with straws at dinner at Casey's in Galveston. (He did this all on his own, with no prompting from any of us!).





















Jordan was mezmerized by the blue macaws on display.

We're back in Texas (and not a moment too soon)

Jordan poses in front of the Texas welcome center on I-35 near Gainesville this afternoon.

We made a trip to see Dondi's grandmother in Oklahoma this weekend, and had a pretty good (yet wet) time there.

We (Dondi, Jordan, Grammie D and me) packed up the Camry and headed to Oklahoma Friday morning. There was some bad weather in Oklahoma and North Texas on Friday, but we managed to miss most of it, though it rained a few times. Getting out of Fort Worth (traffic) and then getting out of Texas (bad accident at the Red River) made the trip take a lot longer than normal (7 hours on the drive up).

Going to Grandma's is a bit of fun: you turn off a two-lane state highway onto a gravel road, follow that a mile and half or so, and then drive down a dirt driveway, through a creek bottom and then to the house. The only problem this time is that is has rained a lot in Oklahoma (as here in North Texas) in June and July, so the gravel road was muddy, and the creek (usually dry) was flowing. So, we got to see Dad's driving skills in the muck and mud. Not bad, if I do say so myself. You can see how the front of the car looks below:















Saturday was a fun day. Uncle Charlie came out and grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and hot links. The food was good, and a lot of fun was had by all.

Sunday we packed up and left. We also got to experience first-hand Oklahoma's record-high gas prices. The latest reason excuse the oil companies are giving for the prices is a flooded refinery, but you'll have to pardon my skepticism. :-)

What we paid today at Love's in Guthrie:















I wouldn't call it price gouging. I'd just call it, um, well, yeah, I'd call it price gouging. We paid $2.759 a gallon when we got home tonight.

It was a pretty uneventful trip home. Lunch in Moore, and a couple of stops along the way. Jordan was quite happy to see Chloe, and be sleeping again in his own bed.

And, the week starts again, tomorrow morning!

Some more pics from the trip:

Trying video

I finally got around to starting to learn about You Tube this weekend, meaning I am perhaps the last person in North America (under the age of 40) to do so.

This video below (if I do this right) was shot last June 25 in Galveston.



Edit: it works! If you can't see the You Tube player above, it's most likely because your security settings prohibit it. Sorry, can't help you there. :-)

Happy 4th of July

Greetings!

This year's fourth of July followed pretty much the same pattern as last year's, with a couple of exceptions.

We started the 4th's festivities at the Light Up the Lake event Tuesday night. Grampy, Grammie D., Aunt Deona and Monica all joined us. The party was a combination community-wide 4th of July celebration (with about a dozen boats decorated with lights and fireworks) and commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Lake Arlington. I'm told if I can't say anything nice about something, just don't say anything at all. But, I will say that someone at the event did mention this was poorly done, and I didn't disagree with him at all.

So, once that was over, we got home late. Jordan didn't go to bed until well after 10 p.m. At 7 a.m., we all got up and headed to downtown Arlington to watch the 4th of July parade with Grandma and Grandpa. Jordan wasn't interested in much of anything (other than running up and down West Street), so we left after less than an hour. We did get to enjoy the bands from Lamar, Juan Seguin and Arlington high schools, though, and all were excellent. Maybe one year, we'll get to hear all six high school bands. Arlington can't throw much of a lake party, but they can and do throw an excellent parade.

After the parade, we went and got cleaned up. Lunch was at Mimi's apartment complex, where we had hot dogs, sausage, potato salad, pasta salad, cakes and pies, and some other stuff I'm sure I've forgotten. It was all excellent.

Wednesday afternoon, we capped off the day at Aunt Deona's house with some swimming. Jordan did not enjoy that at all! Which, he'll have to get over; swim lessons started this week.

Thursday, I've taken the day off from work to go with Dondi to see the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. We're looking forward to that.

All and all, it was a good 4th, if for no other reason than it didn't rain for the first time in 40 days or 40 nights. :-)

First baseball game

Jordan got his first taste of Texas Rangers baseball last night. In other words, the Rangers lost. (If you're going to be a Rangers fan, losing is part of the package deal).

BTW, if Ron Washington and Jon Daniels both aren't looking for new jobs by the All-Star break, then a certain owner clearly isn't interested in fielding a winning game. But I digress.

Dondi is busy studying for the audit portion of the CPA exam (Tuesday morning in Waco), so Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Cristina and I went to watch the Rangers take on (and by "take on," I mean get their brains beat out by) the Boston Red Sox.

Earlier Saturday was a busy day (full of rain), and unfortunately, we couldn't get Jordan to take his nap. As Dondi, Jordan and I drove over to the game, Jordan dozed off. We met Aunt Cristina, Grandma and Grandpa in a parking lot near the Ballpark, and Jordan stayed asleep. We walked the few hundred yards to the Rawlings All-American Grille for dinner. The restaurant sits above right field at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Jordan slept all through dinner. He woke up just as we paid the bill (and boy, was he unhappy about being awake).

I walked Dondi back to the car so she could head back to study some more, and then returned to the park. I stopped by and bought Jordan a hot dog and juice box. He gobbled the hot dog down and drank the juice quickly, and wanted more, so Grandpa went and bought another hot dog and juice box. Jordan ate another half of a hot dog and drank most of the second juice box.

Jordan spent most of the game running around a picnic area behind section 139 (we were seated in section 39). He had a blast, and cheered whenever the crowd did (it was hard to tell whether the Rangers or the Red Sox had more fans there, so Jordan cheered with both teams).

Jordan was tuckered out, so we left in the top of the 7th inning, just as it started raining again. Jordan was home by 9, and fast asleep by 10 p.m. He had a blast. Thanks to Grandma for the tickets!

Final score Saturday night was 7-4 in favor of Beantown. After the game, Boston was 33-15, atop the American League East; Texas was 18-31, and is 12 games out in last place in the AL West.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today wrapped up a fun Mother's Day weekend of activities....

* Friday, Grandma and Grandpa watched Jordan before and after Mother's Day Out. After Mom and Dad came home from work, they, with Jordan, headed to Rosa's Cafe in Hurst to meet Jay, Kelly and Brittany for dinner. Then, we headed home and Jordan went to sleep.

* Saturday morning, Grampy and Grammie D. came by the house and took Jordan to their house for the day. Mom went and ran some errands, and Dad stayed while the exterminator made the annual trek to Kill. Bugs. Dead. Or something like that. Saturday afternoon, Dad and Grandpa did some Mother's Day shopping.

* Saturday evening, we gathered with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina at Saltgrass Steak House in South Arlington for Mother's Day dinner. We went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for gifts for Grandma, and Jordan watched Blue's Clues.

* Sunday morning, we decided to be heathens and skipped church (again). Dad picked up kolaches and sausage rolls for breakfast and we hung out at home. Jordan got Mom a handmade card he made at school, as well as a gift certificate for a massage at Shelton's Salon & Day Spa. Mom was thrilled with both.

* Sunday lunch, we met with Grampy and Grammie D. at Mimi's apartment complex. They had a fun program with a ton of delicious food: your choice of salads, choice of salmon or grilled ham, asaparagus, potatoes and lemon pie. It was delicious. We also gave Grammie D and Mimi their Mother's Day gifts.

* Sunday evening is now all about laundry and getting ready to work for the week. Should be a ton of work. Over the next few weeks, posting will be sporadic (as if it isn't already). Dondi will take the first part of her CPA exam on Tuesday, May 29. Roy will be traveling to a convention in San Antonio in June (it includes a weekend down there, so Dondi will be joining him down there for the weekend, and a chance to see Dusty and Kim). All three of us will make a trip to Oklahoma in June, as well, followed by the 4th of July at home, and finally, a trip to Galveston in late July. So, if the posts seem more infrequent than usual, well, now you know why. :-)

By popular demand

Getting one's picture taken in the bluebonnets is an annual ritual in Texas. Our state flower only blooms for about three weeks in the spring, so it's a special treat.

We thought Jordan would enjoy the experience. Turns out, we were wrong.

Dondi's Knee Surgery and Some Easter Photos

Dondi's surgery was this morning at Surgery Center of Arlington. Our morning started with the alarm going off at 4:45 a.m. We had to drop some projects off at Dondi's office before we could head to the surgery center, so we left the house close to 5:30 a.m., swung by her office, then over to the surgery center.

We arrived there at 6 a.m. and signed in. A little after 6:30, Dondi was called in to get prepped, then I was allowed to the pre-op area about 7 a.m. One of our favorite ministers from church stopped by and prayed with us just before Dondi went to surgery. While Dondi went under the knife, our minister and I went to breakfast.

Dondi was out of surgery by about 9:30, and the doctor told Grammie D and me everything went perfectly. It's going to take about six weeks before she is able to resume most of her activities, but a total of six months before she's back to normal. She'll be able to go back to work in two-three weeks and able to carry Jordan again in six weeks.

So, other than that, not much to report.

Here are some pictures of Jordan from the Jordan family Easter get-together at Aunt Deona's new house:

Texas Weather

It's the week of Easter in North Texas, so let's all review the week's weather:

* Monday afternoon, it was warm, sunny and about 86 degrees.
* Tuesday afternoon, the weather turned severe, including a small tornado touchdown up the road in Dalworthington Gardens.
* Saturday, we had snow flurries, and temperatures in the 30s.
* Tonight's forecast from the nice people at the National Weather Service calls for a 50% shot at more snow, and a low near 32. Easter Sunday calls for a 20% of snow/rain, and a high of 49. We're under a freeze warning overnight.

So, it should be interesting to see how people dress for church on Easter Sunday. :-)

I'll post about our week, including mine, Grandma's and Aunt Cristina's birthdays, Jordan's first Easter egg hunts and the Jordan family Easter get-together Saturday night at Aunt Deona's new house soon. Hopefully, it'll be warmer by then!

Dondi's Knee Surgery

Dondi's knee surgery is set for next Thursday, April 12. Your prayers are appreciated.

If you're interested in the type of surgery she's having (including a link to a 3-D animation of the surgery), click here.

San Antonio

Dondi and I are back from a whirlwind trip to San Antonio for Kim and Dusty's wedding. The weekend almost didn't happen.

Wednesday afternoon, Jordan started throwing up. We took him to the Cook Children's Medical Center Urgent Care facility in Hurst where he was seen by a doctor pretty quickly. She said a stomach bug was going around, and he was its latest victim. Poor guy couldn't keep Pedialyte down or anything. Over the course of Thursday, Jordan got much better, and by Friday morning Dondi was able to head down to San Antonio with Julie, Gina and Kristie. Dondi was one of the bridesmaids. Me, I was just along for the ride. I waited a little later in the day with Grandma and Grandpa, then dropped Jordan (who by then was fine) off at Grampy and Grammie's house for the weekend, and headed south to San Antonio.

I hit Austin during rush hour. In case you're wondering, I know why Austin is growing. It's because people, on their way between DFW and South Texas just give up during rush hour, and figure, "what the heck? I'm never getting out of this traffic jam, I think I'll just start a new life over here." And it keeps growing. But, back to my story. Early Sunday morning, the traffic cleared....

Just kidding. Sort of.

I made it to our hotel in Schertz, Texas, just northeast of San Antonio about 8 p.m., and then joined the wedding party at the County Line barbeque restaurant (excellent brisket and ribs) on the west side of San Antonio. Dondi and I left there about 10 p.m. and headed to the Schertz Wal-Mart (every trip we go on requires a stop at a local Wal-Mart) for some last-minute craft supplies and a couple other necessities.

Saturday was the wedding day. Dondi went with Kim, Gina, Kristie and both Julies to the spa for the day. I went downtown. First stop was the Rivercenter IMAX to see The Alamo: the Price of Freedom, a fantastic IMAX production on the battle of the Alamo. Then, I walked down the river to eat at a County Line barbeque place there. Finally, it was back to the car for a drive by the Alamo before heading back north to the Natural Bridge Caverns near Schertz. Formed over the last several million years, these caverns have an amazing amount of beauty.

Saturday evening was the wedding at the First Baptist Church in Universal City. It was a beautiful worship center, and a great wedding. Kim and Dusty's pastor seemed to know them well enough to tell some good stories and really provided a great message with the service.

Afterwards, we hit the reception at Granberry Hills, which was beautiful. The food was outstanding, and the DJ did a great job. Dondi even got me out on the floor for one dance. Thankfully, there are no pictures of that. :-)

Here are the pictures:















From left to right: Julie Harris, Julie Von Hollen, Dondi, Kim (Smith) Graves, Dusty Graves, Gina Scurlock, Kristie Seward and Holly Torres.



















Dondi and me at Granberry Hills.

Sunday morning, we sprang forward (thanks a lot for that, Congress), Dondi and I headed north. We stopped in San Marcos at the two outlet malls. We were there for 30 minutes and spent well over $100. I'm glad we weren't there for an hour! But, it was all for Jordan. And, he made out pretty good: two polo-style shirts, two pairs of sunglasses, a baseball cap and two short outfits from The Children's Place outlet, a swimsuit, two pairs of jeans and a camp-style shirt from Oshkosh outlet and two pairs of shoes from the Stride Rite outlet.

We finally made it home about 4 p.m. (yep, we hit a traffic jam coming through Austin on the way home). Jordan was thrilled to see us, and we him. Now, it's back to work tomorrow.

Bright and early!

Some recent Jordan pictures

Grampy got these shots one nice afternoon last week. Jordan loves the doggy door at Grampy and Grammie's house.

Dondi's knee

{From Dondi}

Roy and I saw the orthopedic doctor this morning. My MRI shows that I have torn the left cartilage, torn the middle ligament and cracked the right cartilage of the right knee. So the doctor recommends knee surgery. The facts we know so far:

• It is a day surgery
• I will be in pain (and on pain killers) and basically out of commission for two days at home.
• After the first couple of days, I will be doing physical therapy and on crutches for 3-6 weeks, depending on healing
• I can't drive for at least three weeks, and can't go to work for at least two, but maybe three, weeks. (I can work from home with my laptop, he said).
• He also mentioned it would be six months of complete recovery time.
  

President's Day Weekend

Hello! I'm trying to get better about blogging, so, here is a short update:

* Saturday night, Dondi and I went to the new Studio Movie Grill in the Arlington Highlands. We saw Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. I normally don't like either of them, but this was a pretty good movie. We also thoroughly enjoyed the new theater, and are looking forward to the rest of the Highlands opening up this spring. It should be a fun place to shop, eat and just take in the afternoon.

* Monday was an eventful day. Dondi had to work, but our offices were closed for the holiday, so Grandma joined Jordan and me for a trip to his doctor. He's had this cough for weeks, if not months, that won't go away. The doctor agreed with Dondi and me (who needs medical school?!) and agreed Jordan should get an allergy test. So Aunt Cristina and I took him to get blood drawn for an allergy test. It took Aunt Cristina and me to hold him down and two technicians (who obviously didn't care for children) to draw blood. We should have results as to what he is (or isn't) allergic to.

Monday night Dondi had the MRI on her knee. We see the doctor again on Friday to learn the results and hear his recommendation on what to do next.

* Tuesday was back to work for me and back to school for Jordan.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone is well out there. We've had a fun weekend. And by fun, I mean utterly exhausting. Here's the rundown:

* Saturday afternoon was kind of cool and windy, but Jordan was suffering from cabin fever, so we thought, let's take him out and play with the t-ball set Santa brought him for Christmas. Jordan had fun. When it was time to go in, Roy brought Jordan in and Dondi went to collect the set into the garage. And, that's when Dondi fell in a small hole in our backyard, severely twisting her left knee (for the Camp Fire-types Dondi used to hang out with, that's the same knee she messed up on your 1991 ski trip to Red River, N.M. ). She spent most of Sunday trying to keep her knee elevated.

Dondi went to her PCP Monday morning, who referred to her an orthopedic surgeon. That appointment was Tuesday morning. The doctor scheduled an MRI for Monday the 19th, and we'll get the results Friday the 23rd. We'll let you know the results then.

* Saturday morning, Grammie D also took off for Perkins, Okla., to help her mom (Grandma Cross) get ready for an angioplasty Monday morning. The angioplasty isn't going to fix what's wrong with her, so she'll undergo a bypass surgery Wednesday at 7:30 a.m.

Otherwise, life is pretty calm around here. :-)

What's New

Well, for those of us who call North Texas home, January was the pits. This was apparently the coldest January in more than 20 years. Jordan is going through intense cabin fever, compounded by the fact he's been sick much of the month. It's not been fun.

So, what's up? Well, some highlights.

* Yep, Jordan's been sick. He's been to the doctor four times in January, but we seem to finally have knocked out the virus that has been giving him fits (not to mention the ear infection he got).

* Jordan got his second haircut on Jan. 27. Dad and Grandpa took him to the little kids barbershop, and he did about as badly as last time.

* Dondi has been busy with an Ethics Class - a prerequisite to taking the CPA exam. It's been three weekends in a row of almost 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. classes for her at Mountain View College. Super Bowl Sunday is the last class for that, so she'll be able to focus on her studying for the CPA after this.

* What have I been up to you, you ask? Well, work. And laundry. And, well, that's about it. It's been keeping me quite busy.

Not much else to post. February should calm down a little bit before we gear back up for a trip to San Antonio in March, and then start the Spring birthday season. If we don't post before we're back from San Antonio, Happy Valentine's Day and Happy President's Day!

Some recent pictures

Here's Jordan standing next to the tower of presents Santa left on Christmas morning.














Here's Jordan surveying his gifts at Grammie D's and Grampy's on Saturday, Dec. 23.













Jordan got his first haircut Dec. 16. You can read about the haircut, and you'll understand this is the "before" shot. :-)


















Here is Jordan and Aunt Cristina watching one of the gorillas at the Fort Worth Zoo.













Our friends, John and Christine Engler, found a fun tradition to photograph your kid in one of dad's favorite T-shirts each year on the kid's birthday. The idea is that you'll see how big the little one grows between 1 and 18, relative to dad's T-shirt. Though John and Christine probably won't appreciate the shirt I chose (hook 'em horns!), thanks for the idea. :-)

Merry Christmas!

We're recovering from a very busy Christmas weekend, and impromptu trip to Oklahoma. More on that in a moment, but first, these messages (pictures will come later in the week, hopefully).

* Friday, Dec. 22 was the Jordan-Kimsey Christmas get-together at Grammie's and Grampy's. There, the adults had a "Scrooge exchange" with DVDs. We ended up withThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Jordan got several new toys, including a camouflage hunting cap with the University of Texas Longhorns logo on the front.

* Saturday, we went back to Grammie D's and Grampy's to do Christmas with them, and Aunt Deona and Monica. It was a ton of fun, and Jordan picked up a lot of new toys. Jordan never got the hang of opening the gifts, but he had fun. Saturday night, he stayed with Grammie D and Grampy while Dondi and I went to the Christmas Eve service at Fellowship Church in Grapevine. Let's just say, it wasn't your typical Christmas Eve eve service, but we enjoyed it. While we were driving there, we decided to go to Oklahoma and surprise Dondi's grandmother in Perkins for Christmas. Saturday night, we made hotel reservations and made plans to leave Monday around lunch time.

* Sunday morning we got up and went to our church's 10:50 a.m. candlelight service with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina. Then, we went to the new Chicken Red's restaurant in Mansfield for dinner, then to their house to open gifts with them. We had a great time with them.

* Monday morning, Santa came! He left Jordan a bunch of good gifts (thanks again Grampy and Grandpa for putting together the one we didn't think needed any assembly), and everyone came by to wish us a Merry Christmas. Dondi fixed a delicious breakfast, and we all had a great time.

Monday afternoon, we packed up and headed north to Oklahoma. The weather was great (if you didn't mind a 40 mph headwind most of the way north), but traveling on Christmas can be a bit of a problem. We decided north of town we wanted lunch. Dondi and I had eaten at a Denny's in Gainesville several years ago that was pretty good, so we decided that would work. Except Denny's in Gainesville is no longer in business (at least not along I-35). So, we continued north into Oklahoma and stopped at a Denny's in Ardmore. Which closed 30 minutes before we got there. We finally ate lunch about 3 p.m. at an IHOP in Ardmore (note to self: pack a lunch when traveling on Christmas Day). We arrived at Grandma's around 6:30, and she seemed happy to see us.

Jordan spent the night out at the farm with Grandma Cross, Grammie and Grampy, and Dondi and I made our way into Stillwater to our hotel, where we slept uninterrupted for 9 hours. It was great!

Tuesday, we got to see about 25 of Dondi's family members (a small gathering) and had a great lunch. Jordan started getting sleepy about 3 p.m., so we packed up and headed back to Texas. We ate dinner at the Denim's restaurant in Marietta, Oklahoma, then made the rest of the trip home.

A good time was had by all, and we really enjoyed seeing everybody this Christmas!

Jordan's Weekends of Firsts

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but this has been a hectic month!

This weekend marked a couple of firsts for Jordan:

* Jordan got his first haircut Saturday morning. We went to a local kiddie salon for the haircut, and he seemed happy when we first went in. He got to sit in a chair that was shaped like a race car. We buckled him in, and he happily played with the steering wheel. The stylist went to put his cape on, and he took the first two snips of his hair pretty calmly. Then, the frustration came out and he fought, screamed, kicked and cried for the remainder of the haircut. It looks pretty good, despite his antics! He slept really well Saturday mid-day while we ran the last few errands!

* Sunday after church, the three of us went to the Fort Worth Zoo with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina. It was a lot of fun (and a great day to go -- I mean, really, 78 degrees in December?!). We first went through the World of Primates, and Jordan watched gorillas, chimpanzees and other animals. Then, we meandered through the Asian Falls exhibit, watching elephants, rhinos and more. We ate lunch there, and then continued through the big cats, which Jordan slept through, and then made our way to the Texas Wild! section, and let Jordan run around for a while. We were all to exhausted to take in the exhibit there, so that'll be the first place we head when we head back to the zoo next year.

Christmas weekend is next weekend (hope everyone has finished their Christmas shopping -- and is ready for Santa Claus!). We'll post pictures from Jordan's second Christmas next week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, here we are at the close of Jordan's second Thanksgiving weekend. I didn't do a pictoral display of this year's festivities, but here's the rundown of the week:

* The Mother's Day Out program Jordan attends daily had a Thanksgiving feast on both Monday and Tuesday, so Jordan got to enjoy early Thanksgiving dinners. The school was closed Wednesday, so he stayed at home with Aunt Cristina. They watched Over the Hedge and he seemed to have a good time with her.

* Thursday morning we headed to Grammie D's and Grampy's house for dinners with Dondi's side of the family. We ate lunch around noon and enjoyed the usual fixings. Jordan had a blast and tried to be in the middle of everything. Finally, he had all the fun he could stand and took a nap as some of us watched the Detroit Lions-Miami Dolphins game. Couldn't tell you a thing about the game, but it was on. :-) About 3 p.m., we moved on to our next Thanksgiving feast.

* Our next meal was at Grandma and Grandpa's. By then, the Dallas Cowboys-Tampa Bay game was on. Again, couldn't tell you what happened (I'm sure Tampa Bay feels the same way). Delicious dinner, but Jordan had all the fun he could handle, and we had to cut the evening short.

* Friday morning, we were supposed to make the trip to Oklahoma for a family reunion, but Jordan woke up with a fever. We decided we weren't going to travel with him not feeling well, so we canceled our trip. We watched the second half of the UT-Texas A&M game. That's 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back.... We also put the Christmas tree up and got some decorations going in the house.

* Friday night was kind of scary for a little bit. Jordan woke up with a 102 degree fever (according to our themometer which normally runs a degree or two low) about 9 p.m. So, we headed off to the Cook Children's Medical Center Urgent Care Center where Jordan's fever immediately broke as we talked with the nurse. We spent about 20 minutes total in the exam room, both waiting, and visiting with the doctor and nurse, and Jordan (up well past his bedtime and feeling lousy), screamed the entire time. Cook's staff was outstanding, though and we were out of there in no time at all.

* Saturday morning, Jordan woke up and was ready to play. So, we let him. And we met Kelly, Jay, AJ and Brittany for lunch at Double Dave's Pizza in Hurst. Then, we came home and did some more decorating.

* Sunday we skipped church and did some stuff around the house (exciting stuff like laundry). We met Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Cristina for lunch at Don Pablo's, then headed home to rest. Sunday afternoon was a trip to Costco, where we started some Christmas shopping.

And, now, here it is Sunday night, and we're getting ready to get back in the swing of things with work and school next week. Just to remind you, there are now only 28 more shopping days until Christmas....

First Fall Festival

Wednesday night was "Trunk or Treat" at the church that sponsors Jordan's Mother's Day Out program, so we dressed him up in his 101 Dalmations costume and headed up there. The games had older kids in mind, but Jordan seemed to have a good time.


Mom and Jordan participate in a cake walk

Busy lives

We've been a busy bunch the last few weeks. Jordan is in a wonderful Mother's Day Out program at a local church. We've launched a new 30-something married adult Sunday school class at our church in South Arlington, and life just keeps trucking. So, without further ado, here's what's up:

* Jordan attended his very first football game was Oct. 6, as the Arlington High School Colts (Dad's alma mater) took on the Martin High School Warriors (Mom's alma mater). The game was at UTA's Maverick Stadium. It was a great night and Jordan had a blast. And, oh yes, AHS defeated the Martin Warriors 34-14.

Pictures from that night:

















Jordan enjoys some popcorn at the football game.


















Jordan hangs out with Grandma. Dad laughs at something Jordan's doing.

















Jordan as we're ready to depart the stadium at half time (after the fantastic Warrior Band performed its half time routine).

* Jordan also enjoyed a second football game Oct. 20 as Arlington High took on Arlington Bowie. That game wasn't as much fun. It was windy, cold, and well, the Colts didn't do so hot.

* Dondi's cousin A.J., on the other hand, was nominated to be in the homecoming court at a Tarrant County high school. He had the loudest cheering section on hand at the Birdville ISD stadium. :-)

* Dondi's good friend Holly married Manuel on Oct. 21. We had dinner with our friends Julie Harris, Julie and Lance VonHollen, who all live here in D-FW near us, and Kim Smith and her fiancee Dusty made the trip up from San Antonio for the wedding, and after-wedding dinner. While it was good to see everybody (and congrats to Holly), the highlight (for me) was that Holly - a huge Star Wars buff - brought in two Storm Troopers to usher at the wedding. Real storm troopers. OK, people dressed up as storm troopers, but the effect was still the same....


















From left, Storm Trooper #1, Lance, Roy, Dusty, Storm Trooper #2. Seriously, how cool is that?

















Oh yeah, the ladies, Julie, Dondi, Holly, Julie and Kim.... They didn't pose with the storm troopers....

Coming up? Jordan's first Halloween to dress up (we'll post the pictures of him in his 101 Dalmations costume after the different Fall Festivals we'll get to), and then in November, we'll probably be traveling to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. Then it's Christmas time, and Santa's second visit to Jordan. It should be a busy, but fun, end of the year. I'll keep you posted as time allows.

Happy Birthday Jordan!

Jordan is officially 1 year old today, but we celebrated his birthday with a big party Wednesday night at our house. Grandma, Grandpa, Grammie D, Grampy, Cristina, Deona and Monica all came over to celebrate.

We started by opening gifts. Dad loaded all the gifts up in Jordan's new wagon and brought them into the living room. Jordan was thrilled, jumping up and down and clapping. He immediately crawled over and started touching all the wrapped boxes and gifts.

After we opened the gifts, it was to the kitchen to have some birthday cake. Jordan was really tentative smashing his birthday cake, but he seemed to enjoy it. After the cake, Jordan went outside with his new wagon and we walked around the cul-de-sac with it. He had a blast.

Here are some pictures from Wednesday night:

















Jordan opens a Fisher Price dump truck gift.

















Jordan sitting in the wagon (which comes with seat backs, seat belts and 4 cup holders).

















Jordan's just not quite sure what to do with this birthday cake thing.

















The "before" shot with Jordan's cake (on the left) and the adult cake on the right. (Tastes great, thanks Albertson's).

Jordan is a lot of fun, as you can imagine at the age of 1. It's amazing to read back through the blog entries and see how far we've come in one year.

Is it already September?

One year ago, Dondi was starting bed rest thanks to high blood pressure and other problems. Jordan was only 11 days a way.

What a difference a year makes!

Jordan continues to grow, and is learning to feed himself a lot of different foods. Spaghetti, chicken and tacos are favorites of his, as you might be able to tell from these pictures.





He's a lot of fun with the spaghetti, as you can see!

Lots to tell, but no time to tell it, but we wanted everyone to know we had not dropped off the face of the earth.

And, while we enjoy the life we have, let's not forget five years ago Monday, our nation suffered one of the worst disasters in our history at the hands of Islamist terrorists. Whatever your politics on the response to 9/11, let us never forget.




















No matter how hard we try words can simply cannot express the horror, the shock and the revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation Tuesday morning. September 11 will go down in history as a day to remember. -- Evangelist Billy Graham

It's God's responsibility to forgive Bin Laden.... It's our responsibility to arrange the meeting!" Ascribed to U.S. Marines

Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains....

We are back from a short trip to Dondi's Grandma's in Oklahoma. It was a whirlwind trip that Jordan enjoyed, except for the 11-hour roundtrip drive in the car seat.

We left early Friday morning and headed north. Our first stop was at the Cracker Barrel in Denton. After a mid-morning breakfast, we made a stop at the Denton Bridal Co. Dondi bought her wedding dress there and now she is helping plan a trip for our friend (and soon-to-be bride) Kim to do some wedding dress shopping there this fall.

We decided we should be able to truck it most of the way to Grandma's with no more stops. Boy, were we wrong. North of Ardmore, Jordan got fussy, so we pulled over so Dondi could sit in the back with him. Then, it was a stop a few miles later for a diaper explosion. We got into Guthrie, Okla., pretty uneventfully after that and checked into our hotel. We then headed east toward Perkins and Grandma's farmhouse.

Bobbi, Charlie, Cindy and Skylar were all there, along with Grandma. Skylar is one day older than Jordan, so it was good to let the two of them play for a while. Bobbi fixed a delicious dinner for all of us. Friday night, we headed back to the hotel to rest, but Jordan wasn't interested in sleeping. So, we loaded him up to drive around until he fell asleep. In case you're wondering, the Dakotas are quite beautiful this time of year.

Saturday morning we got up and swam at the hotel, which Jordan enjoyed immensely. Then it was back out to the farm for a huge lunch. Huge, by which I mean a lot of food, and huge, by which I mean, a lot of people. I lost count somewhere around 40 people. I think Jordan enjoyed the attention, even if it meant sharing the stage with Eliza, Skylar, Drew, Tatum and Tony.

Saturday afternoon we headed back to DFW, again delusional that we'd have an easy drive. Dinner was at McDonald's in Moore, then a stop in Purcell to change a diaper, followed by Jordan screaming from Pauls Valley to the Red River (not kidding about that). We made another stop in Gainesville, and then made it the rest of the way home. Jordan either went to sleep somewhere near Valley View, Texas, or I went deaf there. Not sure which. :-)

It was great to see everyone in Oklahoma. They're thinking of making the last weekend in July an annual event, since it seems to work with a majority of schedules. We're planning a trip back north sometime later this year.

Are there pictures, you ask? Of course. We'll post those in the coming days.

July 4th

Jordan's first Independence Day started early as we headed out to the largest 4th of July parade in Texas. We had a great time watching the bands, the firetrucks and police cars rolling through.

We did miss the Arlington High School band, but the Martin High School band was OK. Not as good, but just OK. :-)

Here are some shots from the parade, from our perch at the corner of West and Abram streets.

Jordan watching as the parade starts (perched on Grandpa).


The Arlington Police Department Color Guard, escorted by motorcycle officers.

Elvis isn't dead. He and some look-a-likes ride motorcycles in parades now.

Dad takes a picture of Mom taking a picture of Jordan.

We left the parade midway through to return home, clean up and head over to Mimi's apartment complex for lunch and a patriotic celebration. The country duo they brought in did a fantastic job, and the food (St. Louis ribs, cole slaw, corn on the cob, beans, rolls and cherry cobbler) was fantastic. Jordan had a blast. Some pictures from today:

The view from above the dining room at Fox Run.

Jordan uses his spoon as a drumstick to keep rhythmn to the music.

Since Jordan is a bit sensitive to noise, we're going to pass on the fireworks this year and try those another time. Today also ends Dad's vacation, so he'll be back at work bright and early (6:45) tomorrow morning. Time to get back to "normal."