Things that Make you Go Ewww

We have about a hundred trees in our yard (not really), so we have tons of leaves, pine needles, and limbs. They accumulate in a pile for me to burn every so often. Since we've been in this drought, I haven't been able to burn for several months. Finally, the burn ban in our county has been lifted! So, I started burning... (this pic is at the end of two hours work)

After finding a snake (which I did not get a picture of), I found this guy. He is a frog. I have lived in ETX for 30 years now and have never found a frog this big just out in the yard/woods. Toads, yes. They are like cats in the Patterson Addition--everywhere. But not frogs.

You could tell he was different than a toad. His head was more pointed and he really watched you, turning his head as I moved my hand. Weird.

Look at those legs! I knew he was a frog once I saw those.

This is behind our house. We have a creek that runs through our yard and empties here. I thought it would be a good home for him.

Good luck Big Guy!

Turkey Week

For Thanksgiving this year our family trekked up to Topeka Kansas to visit Mark and his fam. The drive wasn't as bad as expected and I'm really glad we went. Cate loves to get to play with other girls (which doesn't happen often), so she had a blast, as did the rest of us. I know my mom will read this so don't take offense Mom, but Nicole cooked a huge Thanksgiving meal single handedly and Ben and I both think it was the best one we've ever had! There were five pies!! Thanks Nicole!

We Be Yammin'

Fabulous Las Vegas

Just the Girls...

Can you tell that Cate's feet are airborne from excitement?

This past week, Mom, Cate and I hopped a plane to Vegas!!

Not quite for the typical reasons...we visited my brother and his family. More pics to come on that, but for now I just wanted to say to Mom and Cate, thank you. I had such a fun time with both of you.

Mom, we haven't spent time together like that in a looong while, and I miss it. I'm glad we went together. I've always been thankful I got you for my mom and I know I don't show it or say it much. But being with you this week was a blast for me.

Cate, how did I get so lucky? You were a perfect angel child. I couldn't have asked for a better behaved kid. You sure made this trip easy on me and I really enjoyed getting to be with you. When Taylor said we were friends, she hit the nail on the head. I'd never thought of it that way before, but I sure felt it this week.

I love you both dearly!!

First Home Game 2011

Dear Connor...

Connor loves ice cream!

This has been hard.

It is awful for me to watch you leave the house every morning in tears. You don't like school--it is too long. I agree wholeheartedly.

It comforts me to know that when you get there you are happy again, smiling and laughing and even participating in class. PE was hard the first week for you, but yesterday you told me it's your favorite thing.

I know you have friends and that helps me too. You are such a leader. That is one of the many things I absolutely love about you. You stand up and command attention from everyone around you. It makes me eager to see what you will become someday.

You need this. You need the education obviously, but you need to be away from me and around other people. I think I've helped you get this far, but you need others to teach you more. I know this and it helps me. There are a lot of days that I want to pull you out of school and wait until next year. But I realize that's not the best option for you.

I hope you are a good example. I truly believe you are. You have never been a follower and I hope you can lead others to choose the right. Make me proud Connor--I know you will.

Love,
Mom

And then there were two...

Two at school.

And two at home.

I am anxious

I keep getting asked what I will do with just Cate at home. It will be nice and quiet for sure. But, I can't say I'm really excited about it.

I will miss Connor.

And Caleb. Caleb has already done one year of school, though.

Connor is a leader. He takes Cate on adventures to the zoo in our backyard. And they also go to Great Wolf Lodge every day and sleep in a hotel. They play well together and I will miss that. She will too I suppose, when she realizes it's just the two of us everyday.

What are we going to do?

Fun in the Sun and Sand

Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island
This was Connor and Cate's first time at the beach and Caleb's first time that he will/does remember. They loved it! Boogie boarding on the waves and playing in the sand didn't get old even after 5 hours!

Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens
This is a huge rainforest habitat contained in a glass pyramid. There were several animals and fish living here. The butterfly section was really cool. They had 3 white-faced-something monkeys that are all brothers and liked to wrestle. There were some other smaller really scary looking monkeys. None of these were confined in any way. It was pretty cool to see them roaming around but the scary ones totally looked like they might jump on us at any second. They didn't :)

The Strand District. La King's Confectionery.
Galveston has a historic section with tons of shops and cool old buildings. La King's is an eclectic sweet shop that features ice cream, candy, and soda fountain goodies. We just had the ice cream and it was pretty good.

The Aquarium Pyramid at Moody Gardens
Favorites were the sharks, seals, penguins, and seahorses.

We stayed at the hotel at Moody Gardens which is somewhat of a resort I suppose. They also had a third pyramid dedicated to a Discovery museum and IMAX ride-film. There was also a large old timey paddle river boat that took you out for a short ride, Dinos Alive exhibit, and a small water park.

This. Was. In. My. Closet.

Yes, its tiny.

But, still.

I don't know what kind this is, so please enlighten me. I've found this kind at the house before.

Let's hope this is the LAST one.

Documenting, not bragging

These are some of my most recent projects. From top left clockwise: Ruffle bag, baby owl hat, popcorn bag, circle granny square pillow.

Independence Day

Swimming at the dock.



The boats lining up to grab their spot for the show.



We had a good time at the Lake House. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

They've Changed a Little

Lucky Seven

I have avoided blogging about Caleb's birthday because if Caleb is turning another year older, it means I am as well. We share our special day, just like my brother and I shared it growing up. And this birthday for me was somewhat of a 'big' birthday. Not that I have the photos to document it. Which I suppose is for the best, but for some reason Ben does not take pictures of me even when he is behind the camera.

Caleb requested a Dallas Mavericks cake which turns out is very hard to do. The horse and basketball logo doesn't look all that complicated, but with butter cream icing it just doesn't translate, for me at least. So I did some of the logo and included his name and age where the horse should have been. You really can't see the cake in this picture and you're not missing much.

I've seen a lot of interviews for kids on their birthdays lately and decided to try it. Here are Caleb's answers for this year.

1. Who is your best friend? Travis

2. What is are some of your hobbies? Practice soccer

3. What is your favorite animal? panther

4. What is your favorite food? pizza

5. What is your favorite dessert? brownies

6. What do you like to do with your family? play

7. What do you want to be when you grow up? Not sure

8. What makes you happy? Being around my family

9. What makes you sad? When I’m away from my family

10. What is your favorite movie? Cars

11. What is your favorite book? Diary of a Wimpy Kid

12. What was the best part of your b-day? swimming

13. What do you like to wear? Regular clothes

14. If you could go anywhere for vacation where would you go? Dallas

15. What is your favorite game to play? Blurt

16. What is your favorite sport to play? football

17. What is your favorite team to watch? Buckeyes

18. What is your favorite thing about school? science

19. If you had $100 what would you buy? A car-when I’m old enough to buy one

20. What is something that happened to you this year that you hope you never forget? My birthday

Father's Day

Lovin' the Lake

My cousin Melissa and her hubby Todd visited my parents at the Lake House this past week. We spent about four days out there in the water.

A Decade of Love...and Sometimes War

On June 2, 2001, this happened:

(This is the only pic from our wedding on my computer. Isn't it weird that we used to use film??)

We started out by celebrating with the kids on Thursday. Jason's Deli and Lunar Mini-Golf.

On Friday, we dropped the kids off at Gma's and Gpa's and headed to Dallas.


WoooHoooo!! No kids!!

We ate at a nice Mexican Restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. We saw some historical markers and took a few night pictures.


Saturday we visited the Dallas Arboretum which was quite impressive.


And finished off our quick getaway with Freebirds burritos and Sprinkles cupcakes. Both are to-die-for.


And if you live in E TX good news--the manager told us Freebirds is coming to L-view and Tyler!!! That alone made our trip worthwhile :) No such luck with Sprinkles I'm afraid...

Thanks Ben for an awesome 10 years!! Here's to MANY more!!

Speed. I am speed.

East Texas Track Club All Comers Meet in Hallsville

Long Jump- 2nd Place
800m- First Place
400m- First Place

Congrats Caleb. You make me proud.

Just to prove I could

Ever since Nicole introduced me to Ana White and her fab furniture building website, I've wanted to build a bed. I've done a few of her other projects and thought it was time to tackle the beast. I chose this one because it looked cool and the storage could come in handy.

It took a good few hours in Lowe's to choose all the wood. Then I spent the rest of the day cutting the wood and the next two days at Ben's shop building. My SIL Becca helped me begin the building. I finished up alone and along the way learned how to use a pocket hole jig. Scary. I spent another two days filling holes, sanding, and painting.

Overall, I spent about $130 and approximately 15 hours to cut and build the bed. It sounds like a lot but it went pretty fast.


I also wanted to build this cool stool to help Cate get into the bed. It took a couple of hours and Sarah and Becca helped me with that too.

Cate loves the bed and now that we have another full bed, we can fit more guests!!

*The quilt on the bed is one my great grandmother pieced together. She completed the top and I put a back on, quilted it, and bound it. It won't stay on Cate's bed. My next project is a quilt of her own.

Have you pinned yet?

So my latest love on the www is Pinterest.


So awesome.

You know how you see cool things in magazines and tear out the pictures and save them in a notebook for further reference? You can do it online now too. See a picture somewhere and love it? Pin it!

It's a website that allows you to have your own space to save anything you see on any website. It saves a picture of your cool find with the link from the source. Other people on Pinterest can see the things you pin and vice versa, so stuff kinda spreads like wildfire.

I've become quite addicted.


See?

The bad thing is you have to be invited. So thanks to my friend Ralphie, I'm in. And you can be in too. Just ask me and I can invite ya!

It Happened Again

I reflect...

I really considered doing a post yesterday in dedication to my mom just to let her, and the world, know how much she means to me.

I didn't.

Because I'm a slacker.

And I didn't think I could be eloquent enough to adequately convey my feelings.

So...I love you Mom and I really look up to you.

Any who...

After deciding I wouldn't be composing an elegant dedicatory post, I turned my thoughts toward my feelings of motherhood. As in me being a mom.

And this is a little hard for me because I don't think I have the feelings of a typical mom. I know I have been blessed with extremely easy and awesome kids.

But...

I often wonder if the moms who put heartfelt confessions of how much they love being a mom are just making it all up.

Whoa!! I know you're shaking your head now thinking how awful it is that I actually just wrote that.

But each time I read one of those blog posts (I just read three different ones), I feel horrible. Why don't I feel like them? Why can't I just LOVE being a mom? It's something I've struggled with for almost 7 years now.

I just feel like it's a really hard job that doesn't seem to be very rewarding. Sure, it's cool to hear them laugh and see them all playing together peacefully. But sometimes it would be really nice to just be alone. And yes, I do get some alone time. But I feel like the few hours a week I do have, are not nearly enough and always leave me craving more. I'd like to clean the house and actually have it stay clean for the rest of the day. I'd like to be able to fix a meal and not hear everyone complain that they don't like what is on their plate. I'd like to do laundry and it not take the entire day.

SELFISH, I know.

It seems I have a hard time focusing on the positives of being a mom. And I do actually realize there are some of those too. Believe it or not, I have actually improved. I feel like I am much less cynical than even last year. I try to count my blessing. I try to have an attitude of gratitude. But there are times I feel sorely under appreciated. I enjoyed Mother's Day, but it left me wishing every day could be Mother's Day in the sense that I felt somewhat appreciated, when I usually don't. I wasn't showered with gifts or even service. But the kids did seem more thankful that I'm here. I realize they don't understand all that I do for them. I know I didn't understand everything my mom had to go through. And maybe later in life they'll reflect on how much I actually worked for them as their mom.

Right now I'm trying to focus on enjoying being home with them. I'm trying to LOVE having them as little people that I get to take care of. I know it's not the easiest or funnest. But I only have a few years with them. I need to cherish this time and relish it.

And I'm trying.

Really.

Another Hair Clip

I've wanted to make some flowers for headbands lately and gave this one a try. I found the tutorial on Little Miss Momma here though I did things a tad different. I hand sewed the circles of lace to the felt instead of gluing and added a clip so the flower can be interchangeable.

It's that Time Again!