Catching Up - Finally!

The time has come! Can you believe it? I, Jessica Yanel Tomás-Rogers, am blogging for the first time in a LONG time. I know it has been a few weeks, so I'm going to condense as much as possible...
(Okay - so when do I EVER condense?)

WORK:
I have been working on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at A Advanced. That seems to be going pretty well. It's funny because my boss tells me to do things one way, and his wife tells me to do them another way, or she has already been doing them another way, so I am learning to compromise and just start over again. (Yes, I know that I'm going to receive questions about that comment from both of them, but it's really no big deal!) I think that we are getting caught up on stuff little by little. I still have to learn how to do a few more things so that Andrea doesn't have to do them, but until I can get everything else caught up, that may not be possible. Oh well - one step at a time.

KIDS:
Jaydon and Jacoby have been going to Aba's house on the days that I work. I took this job so that I could bring the kids to work with me, but Aba INSISTS that she wants to watch them, so whatever. It's nice on me, and at least Jaydon can play with other children and outside. Jaydon had been sick with bronchitis and fever last week. He was coughing non-stop. We took him to the doctor and they gave us 2 prescriptions. He is such a trooper though and besides the cough, you would have never guessed that he was sick. It's funny how resilient children are. I'm worried though because he is still coughing and it is still congested and both of his prescriptions are gone. I may be taking him to the doctor today instead of to speech because I can't risk him getting worse. I just don't like the way he sounds and I want them to listen to him again - just to reassure me that he is okay, and we aren't dealing with pneumonia or anything.
Jacoby is so handsome! He's growing so much and I can't believe that he's 5½ months old already. He is a "mover & a shaker". That little boy won't sit still for anything! He isn't crawling, but he is scooting on his tummy and turning both ways and it's just funny to watch him. He grabs everything, and the little hairs on my head are no exception - OUCH! He will get up on all fours, but then he just falls down again. I'm not a fan of the crawling because then you REALLY have to keep everything clean and off the floor. In a way, it was nice that Jaydon went straight to walking at 10 months. We'll see what Jacoby does soon! We cannot lay Jacoby down to take a bath anymore...he INSISTS on sitting up which is fine. This is about the time that baths become fun...for the next 2 years anyway until they start telling you that "I don't need a bath today" or they glue themselves to the ground and they weigh 55lbs. so you can't lift them into the tub anymore without killing your back. Fun times! Oh - we also bought Jacoby his first gum (tooth) brush. He really likes that little thingy in his mouth and since he's eating so much baby food, we feel it's a must.

HUSBAND:
I couldn't live without this man! He is so wonderful. I know it's hard on him in the mornings to get both boys ready, take them to my Mom's and then get to work, but he is doing great! He also picks them up on his way home. I leave EVERYTHING ready for him so all he has to do is drag the boys out of bed and change them. Their food and bags are ready to go, their clothes are picked out, so it's not THAT bad. He got to stay with them over the weekend - by himself - for 24 hours and I know he enjoyed it. (More details on that next...)
Thanks honey for all that you do to help our family and for being such an involved Daddy!

BABY SHOWER:
On Saturday was my friend Julie's baby shower. Baby Garvey is due on September 7th. I co-hosted the shower with 2 other girls. We had it at a BEAUTIFUL home in New Hope/McKinney. I cannot even begin to tell you how pretty this home and the land was! It's not that it was a HUGE home, it was just the customization and every detail about it. Too nice for words! The million acres they have doesn't hurt, either! :)
So I decided a few weeks ago that I would leave on Friday afternoon and spend the night there because the baby shower was at 11:00 AM on Saturday and it is a 1½ hour drive each way. I didn't want to have to leave at 6:00 AM on a Saturday morning and then rush. So I left at 3:15 on Friday afternoon. I got to Stacey's (the lady's house where we were having it) about 4:30 and we hung out for a bit and did some yard work. Then we went to Sam's to buy the food and drinks. It was a brunch, but we went a little overboard. (Very typical of me if you don't know me by now!) We got 2 different kinds of quiche, 3 types of deli spirals, cinnamon rolls, fruit (strawberries, mandarin oranges, and grapes), 3 different types of Otis Spunkmeyer muffins (chocolate, banana nut & blueberry) and then juice, water, tea and coffee. Then of course we had a cake. (More details to follow on this ISSUE - yes, the cake was an ISSUE...)
After Sam's, we came home and unpacked groceries and then we went to dinner at Jalapeño's. It's a little Mexican restaurant and probably the only place that would have allowed us in. We looked like COMPLETE trash and we stunk too. After that, we went to Julie's house and hung out with her for a couple of hours. Then we went back to Stacey's and started setting things up. We went as far as to make name cards for food on the computer. YA - OVERBOARD! It was all REALLY pretty and I know that Julie noticed every detail so that made us feel really good. We didn't go to sleep until 2:30 and I was up at 6:45. Cock-a-doodle-doo! That's me...4-6 hours of sleep and I'm done. I've been that way for the past 10 years.
So we hung up some plants outside, swept a bit, and then finished setting everything up. We got the food ready and then went to get ourselves ready. The cake arrived at 10:30AM and I was still getting ready, so I didn't see it until a few minutes later. Let me rewind a bit... I ALWAYS get my cakes from a GREAT bakery in Hurst called Creative Memories. I have turned a few people onto them, so I know they are good. Their cakes are ALWAYS designed to perfection - ALWAYS. They taste good too. They are NOT the "best" tasting cakes, but to me, when you host something, sometimes looks are more important. Their cakes are good - don't get me wrong! (Their petite fours are even better, but you have to get them to make them fresh.)
Well, Julie's father-in-law (her husband's Mom's current husband) is a baker. He makes some of the BEST tasting cakes ever. His designs/decorations leave a bit to be desired...okay, a LOT to be desired. He offered to make Julie's cake for free, and I didn't want to cause family drama so I agreed to it. I mailed him a picture of what I wanted the cake to look like with VERY specific directions on everything about it. (Yes, I'm OCD and very anal!) I called him a few days later and he said that he had received it and he was going to "alter it just a little bit". Okay - fine. I have given you the picture so how bad could it be?
AWFUL - PATHETIC - GROSS - NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WHAT I WANTED! ..and that's being nice!
The cake had a baby on the top laying on her back covered with a blanket and her eyes closed. Before I tell you what that looks like, can you just visualize where I'm going with this? THE BABY WAS HAND CARVED AND ITS HANDS WERE BIGGER THAN ITS HEAD...THE CAKE LOOKED LIKE CRAP AND I DESCRIBED IT AS: "AN OVER SIZED CHRISTMAS ELF LAYING UNDER A BLANKET IN A COFFIN." What on Earth? What was he thinking? So we ALL got out laughs on that - even Julie. She knows how bad his designs are and she had told me that I didn't have to use him, but I wanted to be nice. Needless to say, Julie probably won't use him again and I know that the girls at the shower won't either. The moment when we saw the cake was just priceless. Still laughing about that! I will ask Julie to send me the pictures of it again and then I will upload what it was supposed to look like so that you can see the comparison...or the NOT comparison. (Update: Cake pictures have been added below!)
Other than that, the shower was perfect and Julie got some cute and necessary stuff. She got a few of the big registry items which was nice.

FRIENDS:
I am supposed to go to lunch with Andi & family this week. I want to try Circle S, so hopefully that happens. We are playing it by ear at this point.
I am supposed to meet up with Mike & Sandra and their children, but I haven't heard from Sandra. Hello Mrs. Calderon-Garcia...where are ya? I want to see the children!!!
I am supposed to go to the water park this Saturday with Jaydon & Jeremy. We are thinking somewhere small. Anybody else want to go? Zane, Maddie, Ash, AnaLisa, Peyton...any takers? (Okay, so those are obviously the children, but any of their parents want in?)
RC still owes me a Mac & Cheese recipe. My husband keeps asking when I'm going to make it, but I have to tell him that I can't because I DON'T HAVE THE RECIPE! :)

CLOSING:
I have to call Cathy back. She called me on Saturday while I was at the baby shower and I haven't had time to call her back. Bad friend!
I have to call my Dad back who called me on Monday while I was at work. Bad daughter!
I have to finish helping my sister find a new car. Bad sister!
I have to call and cancel speech today and make a doctor's appt. for Jaydon. Bad mother!
I have to finish cleaning my home. The kitchen is done, but I still lack everything else. Cleaning (THOROUGH cleaning) has become my Wednesday chore and most of you know that I cannot stand a dirty home. Bad housekeeper!
Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the 'ole blog. Jeremy has to work at night and it doesn't allow me time to blog. Then I am NOT going to do it at work because one of my biggest blog readers is my bosses wife...enough said! Bad blogger!

I hope everyone has a good week, and you finally got a nice dose of the Rogers Family blog!
Tootles...

Blogger Note: Remember that you can click on any picture image to enlarge it.

This is what the cake was supposed to look like. CUTE CAKE, HUH? The ONLY thing I wanted changed was the color. I wanted pink & brown instead of pink & green...

...and this is what the cake looked like...

Enough said!