Texas Bluebonnets

I absolutely love Texas Bluebonnets! I remember when I moved to Texas (I was 14), I fell in love them. It's so pretty to see them on the side of the road when you are driving. I never had my picture taken in them, but I remember seeing families having their pictures taken in them. I decided a long time ago that if I lived in Texas I would take my children to have their pictures taken in the bluebonnets. Last year we found a great place so we decided to go to the same place this year. Well this time there wasn't any there! So we had to go to Plan B. When I went to Kroger the other day, I saw some on the side of the road. It wasn't the most ideal place to take pictures, but there was enough for us to get some good shots. We got several sweet pictures of Allie but I decided not to bore everyone with all of them. Here are just a few of them.

Yes, all you Texans, she is holding one! (I say that b/c at one point you weren't allowed to pick them b/c they are the state flower, not sure if that is still true or not) We had a hard time getting her not to pick them. She is used to picking dandelions and thought it was okay.

Love this close up! She just looks like a sweet little girl! I can't believe she will be two in 11 days! She has changed so much in a year. This time last year she barely had any hair and the hair she had stuck straight up like a feather!

Strawberry Cake and a Diet Coke

Most of you know that my sweet Allie girl is allergic to eggs and peanuts. We discovered this last year right before her birthday. Needless to say it has been quite the challenge and we are hopeful that she will out grow it. My little sweetie has only had cake one time and that was for her b-day and Benedryl helped washed it down. I've never really looked into finding other ways to make a cake without eggs b/c we try not to keep sweets in the house. Well, with her b-day coming up, I decided that I needed to find something that she will be able to eat.
A couple of co-workers of mine told me a weight watchers recipe for cakes without eggs. All you do is take any cake mix and any diet drink, mix them together and follow directions on the box for cooking time.
Last night I tried out my little experiment. I used a strawberry cake mix and put one can of Sprite Zero (I cooked mine at 350 for 20 min). It came out looking like a normal cake and it tasted so good! For the topping I used fat free cool whip since I'm trying to follow weight watchers. Maybe some of you already knew about this, but I thought it was too good not to share. What a healthier way to make a cake and tastes just as yummy. Allie has yet to tried any b/c last night she was already in bed and tonight she wouldn't eat her dinner so I didn't feel right giving her cake. Hopefully she will get to indulge tomorrow!
Now I can't wait to make her pig cupcakes (farm animal theme) for her birthday.

Happy Meal

I decided that Allie and I needed a much deserved "girl time" tonight. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her during Spring Break and she hasn't wanted much to do with me until a few days ago. With Jarod being out of town I thought it would be fun for us to go eat at McDonalds. I've never taken her there (we don't eat fast food often) and I thought it would be fun for her to have her first Happy Meal and then play.

There was lots of drama there tonight with kids crying and fighting. Allie and I got situated at our table in the play area. She was very excited about her food, the other children and of course the play area. She was so excited that after one nugget, some milk and a few apples she wanted nothing more to do with her food and was ready to play. From now on, I think I will eat outside of the play area then go play after she eats. She had a great time (not that she could do much) and I'm glad that we got to do that together even if she didn't want to eat with me.

Of course when we got home she said "Mommy, I want to eat, I want to eat". So I get her the rest of her dinner then it is time to head upstairs for her bath. I make sure that I have everything I need so I don't have to go back down the stairs (takes me way too long). She gets her bath, we get in her room and I realize that I forgot her cream for her eczema that I had just gotten at CVS downstairs. Ahhh! So I tell her that I'm going to close her door and that I will be right back. She understands but when I go to close her door she has this look on her face like "I'm sorry" and she pees on the floor. I had forgotten to take her to the potty after her bath. She refuses to go before her bath. So I grab an old burp rag and go to clean up, forgetting that I just had knee surgery 2 weeks ago, I squat down. Immediately I collapse to the floor, I have pain running up my knee and I almost have tears in my eyes. Sweet Allie comes over to me, bends down, puts her hand on my shoulder and says "Mommy, you okay?" "Yes, Allie, mommy is okay." Allie, "Mommy hurt knee?" "Yes Allie, mommy hurt her knee." Then she just leans over and kisses me. It just melted my heart. That was all the girl moment I needed!

Easter

We had a great Easter and we hope everyone else did as well. We started the morning off at my parent's church in Arlington. They had a huge Easter egg hunt. There was a contest amongst the adults classes to see who could donate the most eggs. Well they really went above and beyond. They had over 12,000 eggs! I couldn't believe it. They only hid 3,000 for ages preschool to 3rd grade. Needless to say there were plenty of eggs to go around for all. Allie's basket was very full. She loved finding the eggs. Most of the pictures I got of her were from the back or the side or she is looking down. She was a girl on a mission. For lunch we headed to my Granny's in Dallas and had another egg hunt. She loved that one too! She liked it so much she started taking her eggs out of her basket so Poppy (my dad) could hide them again. Crazy girl! I don't think she realized there was candy in them until we got home.





This is Allie taking her eggs out and if you look closely you can see my dad in the background hiding her eggs for a 2nd time!

Love this picture! She was determined to get all of the eggs in the bushes instead of the eggs by her feet.

I know she isn't looking in this picture but I wanted to show how full her basket was and we kept adding to it. I also didn't realize I had bent down that low. Not bad for a girl who had knee surgery 10 days earlier.

The one picture of her looking at the camera!

Mimi, Allie and Poppy

Surgery

Well, everything went as well as could be expected yesterday. We got up around 7:00 and I showered, cleaned that bathrooms, did some laundry and cleaned the kitchen. Jarod went to the store for a few things we needed to get us through the weekend. We planned to leave the house around 11 to take Allie to Carmen's. Unfortunately are plans changed b/c we had to take Allie to the doctor. She has been fighting a cold for almost 2 weeks and she kept messing with her left year. I was very worried that she had an ear infection and I knew it would complicate things more if we waited until after I had surgery. Our doctor's office was wonderful and worked us right in. They were running behind and I told them I had to be at the hospital by 12:30, so the doctor skipped other patients to come see us first. Allie ended up with an double ear infection. I sure am glad we went!

We got to the hospital by 12:15 and met my parents there and got the paperwork started. I was supposed to be taken back for surgery by 1:30, but it was about 20 min. later than that. I don't even remember being taken back. Gotta love drugs! I came out of surgery pretty well. I was really out of it and complained I couldn't breathe even though I could.

My parents went and got Allie. I have no idea what time we headed home. I was still pretty out of it and very nauseated. When I got home I used a crutch for support and Allie seemed a little confused as to what was going on. I fell asleep a lot on the couch and finally went to bed around 9. I was able to walk up the stairs which totally amazed me. I couldn't believe I didn't have to use crutches or scoot up the stairs. I woke up a few times a night to go the bathroom and Jarod was great to help get out of bed. I was still hooked up this nifty ice machine and in order to get up he had to unhook me.

I was still pretty sick this morning and my mom had to take me to the doctor by 8 so they could take the tube out of my knee. On the way there I got sick in the car. When we finally got there, I was able to walk on my own. The doctors said my knee looked great. It was barely swollen and they were impressed that I was already able to walk on my own. They said that my knee had no torn cartilage and all they had to do was shave bone behind my patella and tighten my knee cap to the correct spot.

Once I get passed feeling sick, I will be doing pretty well. Tonight I was able to eat rice and some crackers and I'm starting to feel a lot better. I'm even thinking I may be able to make it to church on Sunday, but I don't won't to jump the gun too soon.

I could not have gotten through the last couple of days without Jarod and my parents. Jarod is so helpful and so supportive. He's been a great nurse! My mom really helped out a lot today with Jarod being at a conference and Allie loved hanging with my dad. I'm so blessed to have so many people who love and care for me.
Thanks to all of you for your prayers.

Let it Snow!!!

WOW! Only in Texas can it be 70 one day and have snow and sleet the next. This is the 2nd snow we've had this week. The first one wasn't as much and didn't stay around. This afternoon around 2:00 we started seeing huge flakes fall just in time for dismissal at school. It was absolutely beautiful. Of course I didn't have my camera with me at work so I took pictures when I got home. The one above is of our little back yard. I couldn't believe how much snow had fallen. I wanted to take Allie outside and play but she has a horrible cold and I knew if we got out there she would not want to come back in. She loves being outside no matter how cold it is. I have been afraid that they would cancel school tomorrow, but luckily we have a 2 hour delay. Yea!

This is a picture of our street.

Our shrubs took a beating!

This is our neighbor's house across the street. I couldn't leave Allie in the house by herself to go across the street and take a picture of our house with the snow.

My Little Diva

Well, obviously it has been a long time since I posted so I thought I'd share some recent pictures of Allie. She is really into dressing up these days. I don't think these are the cutest pictures of my child, but they are definitely some of the funniest! The tiara she has on is from a teacher I work with and I bought her the sunglasses at Valentines. I think the yellow visor came home with Jarod one day from something or another.

GO MEAN GREEN!!!!!!

What a cutie!!!

Where is my boat?

I guess I will write a quick update on the happenings of the Varner family. February was a very busy month for us. We had lots of birthdays to celebrate and I feel like we've had something going on every weekend. This weekend I'm looking forward to staying home and Jarod and I will be cleaning and putting stuff away (notice I said Jarod and I; he's a fabulous help) before I have surgery next week. I can't believe I'm having surgery in 8 days. I've been working really hard the last month and my knee has gotten worse. Just another sign that I'm making the right decision with having surgery. Work is still as busy as ever and I'm getting ready for Open House at school next week. Needless to say next week will be my busiest ever. I have my pre-op on the same night as Open House and I have to get everything in order before I'm out.

Jarod has also been busy at work. A week ago we went to UNT and Allie got to see her first college basketball game. She enjoyed the cheerleaders and the band the most. He is up for a promotion, so cross your fingers that the board approves it. He does not think it will go in affect until October.

Allie will be 2 in April and I honestly can't believe how quickly time is passing by. She has changed so much in 2 years. Currently she is talking all of the time (full sentences), she is very observant of everything around her and has a great memory, she sings almost every song she has ever been taught (her current favorite being head, shoulders, knees and toes), she can sing the ABC's all the way through J and mumble to get to P, when she sees letters she knows they are letters and calls most of them A or B, she currently thinks that every car is either blue (my car) or red (Jarod's car), she still loves to dance and we have dance parties in the kitchen together, she enjoys reading, playing with her dolls and acting like a mommy (she will be a good big sister one day!), she can also have quite the attitude and be a little bossy (I wonder where she gets that from?). And even though she can be quite the prissy girl, she still loves playing with her cars and playing outside.

I hope everyone has a good week.