the busy..

...weekend is starting! Last night I finished getting all supplies for baby shower I am co-hosting this weekend. Got the pedicure during lunch today. Tonight is Danielle's dance class. Picking up flower arrangements Friday during lunch. Friday night is Danielle's dress rehearsal. Saturday 1pm is the baby shower and Sat night is the dance recital. Perhaps Sunday we can finally get the house back in order after the steamcleaning adventure :-)

BTW--if you are a woot fan, it's woot-off time! (See link to "my current shopping addiction" at right for woot)

clean carpets!

Danielle spent the night at my parents so Trey and I took advantage of the couple time to vacuum and steam clean the carpets in all 3 rooms! Aren't we romantic?? lol!

before the rains came

Yesterday evening, before the rains came, Danielle and I went out front to play with chalk. Neighbor Alison came over and we ended up doing an impromptu chalk representation of the months of the year. Then for the photos you, of course, must be fun and goofy.

Here's January snowpersons.

February, sweethearts.
lucky leprechauns finding a pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow in the clover patch for March.
opps. Somehow a fat chick brought the Easter eggs instead of a bunny this April.
beautiful May flowers.
diving into swimming pools on sunny June days.

saluting our Armed Forces in July.

yummy pie and all American baseball games in August.

oh brother. Back to school in September. (You can tell Danielle is just a kindergarter--she doesn't get why it wouldn't be fun to go back to school.)

YIKES! Scary Halloween things for October.

Yummy Thanksgiving in November. When I was drawing the turkey Alison started drawing these yellow rings; she insisted that her dad puts pineapple rings on their turkey. When Trey came out he wondered about them and said "really? Most people put the pineapple on the ham but that sounds interesting." Then when Tony (Alison's dad) came over he said "What are those?" To which I said "the pineapple rings. Alison says you put those on your turkey." Tony started laughing and said "Alison, we put the pineapple rings on the ham, not the turkey." It was so funny. So that's what the yellow rings are on the turkey.

And Christmas for December.

Alison's older brother commented that we did a lot of work for the rain to just wash it away and we said "oh well." Sure enough, it's been quite a steady rain last night and this morning. At least we have the photos for the memories.

Happy Memorial Day!

Addi's party

Yesterday Trey and Danielle went to Addi's birthday party. It had 2 ponies and a horse! Here's a few photos: sassy cowgirl!

Chris, Addi & Rhonda

I'm blue

Mark Rothko, Untitled [Blue, Green, and Brown],1952 (alternatively dated to 1951), Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia

About Mark Rothko: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rothko

meanies

So some meanies cut the blooms off my Easter lillies and left them lying on the sidewalk to die.
As well as the new growth on top of my bougainvillea.
Trey thinks they may be the victims of pre teen boys.
What a mean thing to do.

a few pics from the start of birthday party season:

At cowgirl Ruth's:

At Wonderwoman Elissa's:

It's FRIDAY!!!!

Yea! It's Friday! It's been such a hectic week for me; I had 2 trainings that I instructed and it just wears you out! One training was prior to a conference we were conducting and the other was during the conference. Plus, conferences just wear you out. You have to be "on" the entire time.

Last night was Goddaughter, Cari's graduation from preschool. I will stick up a photo when I get one. I took a ton of photos but let her dad take the card home so he could put them on his computer.

The birthday party season begins this weekend! Two this weekend and one next. Have a great Friday!

Oh! Danielle's caterpillar made a cocoon so we'll have a butterfly soon!

My dad . . .

. . . is out of the hospital! Yea!

yumm . . . pie

So for a Mother's Day outing we decided to go blackberry picking. We got to the spot we've been watching only to find that we aren't the only ones who found the patch. So Danielle and I walked over this ridge and found a bunch of blackberries that had not been touched. So we picked enough for a pie. Here's the making of the pie:

My cute hubby with his creation:
Here's Danielle in goofy anticipation of yummy pie. Danielle found a black swallowtail caterpillar on the trip so she was thrilled. In fact, she had taken a bowl with holes in the top in hopes of finding a caterpillar so it was a good day. She's named the caterpillar Zazzee.

Dreams really DO COME TRUE!!

Danielle and Charlotte were IN the Disney Princesses on Ice show tonight!!! While I was at the concession stand, Terilyn and the girls were sitting up in our cheap seats when this guy comes by and asked the girls if they were looking forward to the show. Then he asked if they would like to BE IN THE SHOW!!! The girls, of course, said "yes." So I came back to find Terilyn and girls walking to the front saying "Come on. We're in the show." So we got to sit in seats ON THE FLOOR in front of the ice rink for the whole thing with 2 other lucky girls and moms. During the Ariel portion a boat came to pick them up and wheel them around for the Under the Sea song and skating routine. WHAT A NIGHT!!!

On the front row:

getting in the boat:

here we go out on the rink:

really in the middle of the show:

Danielle getting out of the boat:

Charlotte getting out of the boat:

With the guy who made it all happen:

I'm so full...

This evening my mother and father in law came through Austin so they treated us to dinner. We originally went to Pappadeux but the wait for a table for 5 was an HOUR AND A HALF!!! So we went across the highway to Carraba's Italian restaurant. It was very yummy for the most part. Unfortunately, my eggplant parmesean was cold. At first I tried to eat a few bites but it was really cold. I had given a portion to Trey and he thought it was cold too. So we sent it back but while waiting the appetizer, bread and salad caught up with me so I was completely full when I was given an entire new portion of very warm e.p. I felt I had to eat at least a few bites of it and now I am pretty miserable because I am so full!! The rest of the meal was VERY good though. Carraba's calamari is always PERFECT and the shrimp Trey had was delicious!! I'm not sure what shrimp dish it was though . . . Danielle was allowed to make her own little pizza and it was so cute. My in laws got back safely to Houston.

My brother in law is recovering from his surgery; it didn't go as perfectly as we hoped but he is doing well. Continued prayers are welcome.

Tonight is Disney Princesses on Ice! Danielle and I are going with our friends, Terrilynn and Charlotte.

Blessings and prayers

We've been Blessed with some beautiful blooming flowers--roses, Gerber daisies, some lily like things--and lots of beginning fruits--tomatoes, limes, lemonquats, figs--in our yard this week.

My dad is getting better, finally, and our BIL is going in for surgery tomorrow. So continued prayers for good health are welcome.

Our pastors have a beautiful new granddaughter.

Tomorrow Trey's parents are coming to visit and have dinner. So we are very Blessed.

We're close to the weekend . . . may you all have a good night and day.

lightning bugs, butterflies, ladybugs, bees

It's been muggy lately with all the rain we've had but for the most part, May has been decently pleasant this year in Texas. The last few days we have seen so many lightning bugs, butterflies, ladybugs, bees etc. Saturday morning I mowed the front lawn and ran into one of our bushes and thought "we really need to trim these things" until I looked up and saw all of the butterflies and bees I disturbed on the blooming bushes. They were beautiful. Plus, I recently read an article about the honeybee colonies disappearing in Texas so I'm all for honeybees.

Last night Danielle and I went for a walk; she had such a good time catching lightning bugs . . . well . . . she had fun pointing them out for me to catch. After we caught 6 of them my sweet girl decided that we should let them all go. So we opened the lid and watched them fly off 1 by 1.

Hope I don't give you nightmares about bugs, Mandi :-)

The owls

are getting so BIG! Aren't they cute? Look at how the babies all huddle together away from mom now.

picnic with family friends

Today we had a picnic with some family friends, the Watts (www.wattslife.blogspot.com). Danielle and Ruth have been friends since about 6 months old so they had a lot of fun. It was so cute when they first saw each other they hugged then held hands and ran ahead of us to this fountain. It turned out to be nice enough weather. We were worried because it was kind of drizzly at first. We had a good time chatting with Jeff and Mandi while the kids played. And Weston is oh-so-cute.

what a week

What a week. Some of you may know that my dad had to have surgery to remove a tumor in his back; That was on Tuesday. There was a spinal fluid leak so they had to do surgery again this evening but everything is looking much better. We just got home from visiting and he was very sleepy so we left to let him sleep. Prayers are very powerful and always appreciated.
May you have a good weekend~~

not so jaded

And then I read an article like this that is inspiring and become not so jaded: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/LearnToBudget/LessonsFromLivingDownAndOut.aspx


Funny line from the article: "Broke" is temporary. It's running out of money before you run out of month (and being thankful that Seattle is overgrown with blackberries in the summer, because at least you've got a free source of fruit until the next paycheck comes in.

jaded

I'm getting so jaded: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/TheWarForYourElectricBill.aspx?GT1=10018

From the article: "Texas residential customers already pay some of the highest prices for electricity in the country. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a residential customer in Texas paid an average rate of 12.09 cents per kilowatt-hour. Only the Northeast and California pay higher rates."