I am getting better!!!!

Look... only 9 days between posts. That is a considerable improvement from the last time. I hope this posts finds you all well. This is a week of bittersweet for the McMahan/Beal family.

Friday evening, we got the unexpected news that Aunt Barbara had passed away. She is the most fabulous person you could meet. She has a way to make you laugh no matter what the conversation. She has the most gorgeous full lips that people pay thousands for. We love you Aunt Barbara and while you are absent from body, you are with us in spirit. Please visit http://www.mem.com/display/biography.asp?ID=1376456 to learn more about her.

On Saturday, My parents, Conor, and I made an early morning trip to Amarillo for my cousins graduation. It brings back some awesome memories from when I graduated from High School. It made me so proud. Yes, I even cried. Not just because it was a High School graduation, it was so much more than that. My cousin graduated from the Richard Milburn Academy. For those of you who don't know it is an alternative school that gives you a "second chance". As I sat in my chair and listened to the commencement, it made me realize these kids didn't have an easy journey in High School like most of us take for granted. They had to work extra hard with many hardships to achieve the same goal. It made me really appreciate what they had to do to get where they are today. I don't have pictures right now, but I will upload when I get them in.

Moving on.... In order to prepare Conor for his swimming lessons which start next week, the mini pool was in running order on Sunday afternoon! I really think he is going to LOVE this!!! He calls it swimming, even though the pool is no wider than 4 feet and only 6 inches deep.

Lastly, Cookie and Paw are in town!!!! They arrived yesterday afternoon. It is always such a pleasant visit when they are here. Conor loves to visit, even though it takes him a few hours to reaquaint himself.

So that is all for now. Next week should include adventures of swimming lessons at the "Y".

Family Update

Ok, in my first post I mentioned "if I do a good job at this blog thing, you will learn a lot about our family". I'm a little behind. I guess I just have to be in the mood to start writing and we have been very busy lately. Easter, Mother's Day and Craig's Birthday, as well as two business trips for Craig this month have taken place. Other than that nothing major has happened. I decided to post a few pictures of our family. Hope you enjoy.

About a month ago, we decided to landscape our flower beds. I never realized that my son would be such a horticulturist. He is very involved in the digging and watering of the tree and plants.

Moving on to Easter....

Conor had a very cute party at school. I absolutely love the daycare that he goes to. They are the best in town by far and they love him like their own. You just can't beat that.

Easter Sunday was spent at my Mom and Dad's house. Conor did a spectacular job of hunting eggs in the front yard. We learned our lesson though on using hard boiled eggs. Each time he picked one up he would throw it the basket. By the time it was all said and done, they were all cracked. We are sticking to plastic for a while.

Next in line..... Craig's 28th Birthday 5/10!!!! He swears he feels and looks older, but I tell him he is getting more handsome by the day. Unfortunately, on his Birthday he was in Dallas on business due back in Lubbock around 8 that night. He didn't get much time to celebrate, but we at least has presents and cake when he got in. My husband always gets on to me because I am a "practical" gift giver. Clothes, tools, stuff for the house are gifts that I usually give. This year, I got a wild hair and attempted to be fun. I am roaming down the toy aisle at Wal-Mart wondering what would be fun and what would he enjoy. Then strikes me, Craig is a huge fan of anything Remote Controlled. I quickly load up a cool red dodge offroad looking truck. Needless to say, the gift was a hit.

Mother's Day was wonderful. My Dad and Craig cooked fabulous lunch for my Mom and I. We got beautiful cards and some cool gifts. Conor gave me a digital picture frame full of pictures. AWESOME!!! I am so lucky to be a Mom. There was a point in my life, where I was told that I may not have children. I am just so fortunate to have my Conor, I just can't Thank God enough for blessing me with him. I have grown so much as a person because of him and I love myself now more than ever because of the person that I have become.

And lastly, I want to mention Conor's hair cut. YIKES!! I now know what the heck a "2 guard" really means. My Dad, who is a hair stylist, warned me before he made the first cut. I told him it was ok, a "2 guard" would be just fine. Besides it is summer and the kid needs short hair to keep cool. Well, my Dad runs the clippers right down the middle of Conor's head and we all gasped in shock. Any shorter and my little man would have been bald like Lex Luther on Smallville. Of course there is nothing you can do, but it took some getting used to. When I picked Conor up from school the next day, his teacher told me she had to look at him twice because she didn't recognize him. Ooopsy!!

So, hopefully, I have gotten you all up to date with our lives. I will try to do a better job of posting. Have a great rest of the weekend!!!!

Coming soon..... Conor and Mommy will be taking swimming classes at the "Y" starting June 5th. Wish me luck!!

1st Post

Hey Everyone,
So I see that tons of people have these blog things, and it peaked my interest. I love to blab about what is going on in our life, so this sounds like it is going to be fun. If anything, I will have some funny journaling to look back on in a few years.

Lets jump right in. I won't tell you our entire life story, that would take too long. I will let you know who we are and how we got to where we are today.

My name is Mika. I am a life long citizen of Lubbock, Texas. I graduated from Coronado High School in 1997, South Plains College in 2001, and Wayland Baptist University in 2005. I have worked for Wells Fargo Bank as an Operations Analyst since 1999. I am married to a crazy person named Craig. We met in November of 2001 and have been inseparable since. We married on October 12, 2002 and had our first (hopefully of many) child on December 21, 2003.

Craig is 1996 graduate of Cooper High School. He attended Lubbock Christian University for a while. He currently works for Texas Tech Health Science Center in Lubbock as a PC/Network Technician. After Craig graduated from high school, his parents, Bud and Ann, made the decision to retire to a small town in Western Tennessee called Bolivar. It is about an hour outside of Memphis.

Before Craig and I actually met, we had a "run-in" with each other at Static, a local night club. It was the night of one of my friends bachelorette party. We had gone from club to club and finally ended up at Static. My friends and I mutually agreed that it was late and time to go home. We all (so I thought) gathered our things and walked out of the club. I get half way out the door only to learn that I was heading solo to the car. I turned around to walk back in and this smart a$$ bouncer told me that I could not go back in. I tried to reason with him, and the only "advice" he could give me was to get back in line to go back into the club. So, I am thinking, #1. How could someone be so rude to a woman who is obviously all by herself in the parking lot of a night club. #2. What harm could it have done to just let me go back in and find my friends? Needless to say, my friends finally came out and the rude bouncer and I went our separate ways. A few months later, I meet this guy and I kinda like him. We started dating and sharing all about our lives. When talking about where we have worked in the past, Craig shared with me that he was a bouncer at Static. Being the person that I am, I can stay upset about things for months, and in some cases years. I proceeded to tell Craig about this rude bouncer. The stories matched up and it turns out Craig was the bouncer that was so mean to poor innocent me.
In Craig's, defense, he states he "was just doing his job". I say he still could have let me back in! Funny story, huh?

So now, we move on to our son. Conor is the light of our life, the apple of our eye. He is two and has the attitude to show it. He loves Apples, Bananas, and Corn Dogs. He enjoys watching Blue's Clues, the Backyardigans, Chicken Little and countless others.

If I do a good job with this blog you will learn a lot about our family.