My Pa

At the amazing age of 97 years old my Pa passed away last night. He was my great grandpa, and great great grandpa to our 4 children. Words cannot describe what a very special man that he was. He loved his family with all of his heart, and he made that so very obvious.

Raymond Cecil Fant, my Pa, was a decorated World War II veteran. He was a POW shot and captured by the Germans. He spent more than 9 months in a German prisoner camp, and came out of captivity weighing around 90 pounds. He received a Purple Heart for his bravery....and all of this only begins to describe what a wonderful man that he was.

We saw him the weekend before Christmas this year. He was at home, in a hospital bed, receiving around the clock care, my Granny never left his side. He recognized us, and gave us hugs and kisses. He ooohed and ahhhed over the girls, and he was very proud of the boys. Caden got a real kick out of Pa because he thought that a mole on Cade's face was a tick. ; )

I wish that I had a scanner. I would scan some of the cherished pictures that I have of him. I was his first great grand baby, and he and my Granny were so proud when I was born. These small town folks braved city traffic and drove to Dallas from Texarkana and spent weeks at a time with my brother and me. Pa and Granny would have done anything in the world for us, and I knew this at a very early age. They worked hard to keep in touch with Caleb (whose middle name is Fant after Pa) and me even after my parents got a divorce.

I will always remember Pa in his Wranglers, and pearl snap shirts. He will always have a Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie in his hand,The Price Is Right will be playing on his TV, and his undivided attention will be given to me whenever I want it, that's how it always was. In my mind I will be standing in line with him at Luby's, and he will be telling me how proud of me that he is. He will tell me not to settle for any bad guys, and to make sure that I finish college and get a good job.

In the end I know that I made my Pa proud. He told me so every time that I saw him. I am more grateful than I can ever describe that I am one of the very few people that has gotten to have their great grandpa as a part of their life until age 29. My children will be some of the few that have ever met their great great grandpa. And Caden will hold special memories of Pa, I know that because he burst into tears this morning when I shared the news with him.

Sometimes it is amazing the way that things happen. Carson was sick throwing up overnight last night. I decided when he threw up for the 4th time at 6:32 this morning that I should put my absence in the sub system. I got on the computer and I noticed an e-mail that had been sent only minutes before. It was from Julie, my step mom, and the subject was Pa. I didn't even have to read it to know the message, I just knew. If events hadn't lined up that way I probably wouldn't have checked my e-mail until late this afternoon. Granted, I probably would have received a call before then, but I believe in my heart that my Pa wanted me to know right then.

Thank you Pa for my lifetime full of memories, I love you.

Cowboy Day

Today was "Cowboy Day" at the kids' school. The school does "Cowboy Day" in conjuction with The Fort Worth Stock Show, which is in full swing. The kids get to dress up, have a cowboy lunch, play cowboy games, and do cowboy crafts. Needless to say Carson has been looking forward to wearing his cowboy hat to school for quite sometime! They all wore their "cowboy duds" with their rain boots, since I refuse to go out and buy them cowboy boots that they will wear once.
Carson reassured himself tonight that "his boots were real cowboy boots". After a little questioning I found out that a couple of kids told him that "his boots were just rainboots". I felt sad for him. : ( Next year I vow to buy my children "real cowboy boots". Who wants to be known as the mom that sends their kids to school in rainboots on "Cowboy Day"?!

Cowboy Carson chhesing it up before leaving for school.

Cowboy Cuties heading for the tree to take apicture.

Our Very 1st Stomach Bug!

This weekend the girls came down with their very first stomach bug! Can you believe that neither one of them has thrown up (aside from tiny spit-ups when they were infants) until this point?
Well it all started when I got home from school Friday afternoon....I pulled a bright blue note out of the girls' backpacks that said "please make sure that you are washing nap mats because several children in our calssroom have gotten sick in the past week"....uh-oh. I didn't think too much of the note until we were at Luby's eating dinner. Ella Cate REFUSED to eat anything...normally at Luby's she eats more than Carson! She was still acting chipper, but on the way home from Luby's she got very quiet. Just as we were pulling into the garage we heard the oh so lovely sounds of puking. All I can say is it was everywhere...all over her, the carseat, and the van! Yuck! Sam quickly told everyone to hold their nose, and he grabbed Ella Cate. Thank goodness he is better at me at handling puking! We got the girls to bed, and I then proceeded to sanitize everything! I waited on pins and needles all night for her to throw up again, but she didn't. Saturday morning Ella Cate seemed herself so we went on with our day. I convinced myself that she had gotten sick from something she ate, because noone else seemed to be feeling bad.
Fast forward to Saturday evening at 7:00 pm (24 hours after El's puke session). Sam was doing bedtime routine with the girls. He was sitting on their bedroom floor reading "Please Puppy Please" to them. He said just as he finished the book and went to pick up Emma Claire he heard her burp, and you guessed it...she threw up all over the carpet that is not even a year old. "Oh well" I thought as I shop-vaccumed the floor, "she will just throw up once because that is what El did." Oh was I wrong! I guess illness really does affect people differently! She proceeded to throw up in her bed 15 minutes later. I guess after that she knew what it felt like to throw up, and she would cry for me right before she threw up. I would grab her and run to the potty, and she would throw up like a big girl, this happened 3 times...poor baby! She was so miserable! She threw up for the last time around 9:00 pm Saturday night, and she woke up better this morning.
Noone else has gotten sick yet, but believe me...I am watching and waiting. I put a bucket in Carson's bed at nap today, and I gave him instructions on what to do if he felt sick. I am sooo tired of cleaning up vomit!

Message from Caden

I found this written on the DoodlePro this evening after the game. Caden was devestated, and I guess he had to blame someone!


On another note....Grandad (Sam's dad) drew this on the DoodlePro when he and Nana were babysitting for us one night back in December. Portrait a la Slick....I thought it was pretty good, and I fully admit that I could never do this good of a job! ;)

Long Time, No Post...

I cannot believe that I have written NOTHING in over 2 weeks! I will give myself just a small break... I have been sick with pneumonia for a week, and in my opinion I have been near death more than once! I am praying hourly that noone else in my house comes down with this nasty bug. Here are a couple of random pictures (taken the week before I was sick...my camera did not see the light of day the week I was sick) of happenings around our busy house. Can you believe that we still bathe all 3 of them together!? We obviously need a MUCH bigger tub, but they have so much fun together!

I am not sure about the pose the girls were doing, but everyone was dressed and ready to go to the gym.

These are Carson's shoes that he got as a Christmas present. However Emmy has adopted them and wants to wear them all of the time.

The girls LOVE their kitchen that Santa got them. They have really surprised Sam by playing with it daily....he said that it would sit around and collect dust.

Emmy...notice the Dora nightgown...another current fave of the girls.