Oberpriller blog

new blog

2009-03-10T08:31:00.002-05:00

If you became a follower and/or lurker and your invite to the new blog was lost and/or blocked, send me an email to ang_ober@yahoo.com The invite email will come from Angela O/Google. You have to sign in with a Google account though I've found that a yahoo account works. I've been told that hotmail accounts do not work.

Good-bye, 2008

2008-12-31T23:59:00.000-06:00

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne ?

Chorus
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld Lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang sine.
Chorus

Christmas recap

2008-12-31T22:27:00.004-06:00

Well, it has been a whirlwind Christmas as usual for us. We've gone to Houston, back to Austin and back to Houston. Seen the Seattle crew, the church crew, one of the Arkansas crew, the Houston crew and the Dallas crew. Wrapped presents, opened presents and played with presents. Eaten fudge, turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, pralines, cookies, stuffing, green bean casserole and many other yummy things. We've thought about Christmas cards, New Years cards and have now resolved ourselves to Valentine's Day cards. Mostly importantly, we've praised, worshipped, prayed, taken communion, sung hymns and celebrated Jesus' birth. Merry late Christmas.

spaghetti intro

2008-12-22T22:19:00.000-06:00

Sunday Christmas BBQ w/ good friends

2008-12-21T22:17:00.000-06:00

Oberpriller Stevens family Christmas party.

2008-12-20T23:45:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from the familyyyyyyy . . . .

Jingle All the Way

2008-12-17T09:02:00.002-06:00

D's school play was last night. Was composed of pre-K, Kinder & 1st grade. D had big role of Mrs. Claus. We were very proud; she did GREAT!

yummy candy (and we have all consumed WAYYY too much)

2008-12-17T08:30:00.002-06:00

Monday night T came home and made all sorts of taffies and brittles. He just wanted some so he made them. He took one batch to work yesterday. Is planning on taking even more to work, some to choir and some to a family party this weekend. We all ate sooo much Monday night that it made me a little sick. But, seeing as Tuesday was a new day, T instructed me before he left:
"This is for work. this is for choir and this is for this weekend."
"In other words, don't eat it today while you are at work?"
"Well, you can have a little. But yes, don't eat it."
I was good. Only ate 2 little bitty pieces. (But it is now Wednesday and he didn't instruct me this morning...)

quick list

2008-12-15T13:18:00.003-06:00

fri night the whole family went out to eat at macaroni grill
sat night we went out w/ some of t's buddies for good tex-mex and then to wine bar
walked around neighborhood last night to see the lights
woke up early morning to RAIN (that's a big deal - we are in an extreme drought)
spending the day inside b/c is COLD outside
have made chicken stock for chicken soup and have pork shoulder for tacos in the crock pot.

Avocado milkshakes

2008-12-12T09:28:00.002-06:00

My friend, Mandi, is currently living in Brazil and has commented several times about how the locals eat an avocado - in a milkshake! So T and I decided to try that out. There are 2 recipes on www.allrecipes.com. It's actually pretty good that way. I know it doesn't sound good but it is.

D is going to be Mrs. Claus in the school play next week and she has been memorizing her lines. We've slightly modified her Little Miss Muffett costume from Halloween for her outfit.

S is driving me crazy; she has taken to squealing and screaming quite loudly ALL THE TIME she is awake. S is also eating like crazy - 4 jars of baby food, oatmeal, lots of crackers and breastfeeding yesterday alone.

T continues to have conference calls at night. Work, work, work but glad he has it!

I'm getting the house better under control. The kitchen and den are mostly picked up most days. Started working on the master bedroom. It is a constant struggle for me.

Happy weekend!

sitting pretty

2008-12-10T09:18:00.001-06:00

faith gift

2008-12-08T23:15:00.000-06:00

My talented friend, Kathy, made this beautiful necklace and gave to me as a gift.

Small town Texas wedding

2008-12-07T09:29:00.003-06:00

Last night we went to an absolutely lovely, beautiful, elegant and fun wedding. I knew it would be all of those things because we are friends with the groom's mother and she is all of those things. It really was amazing. But you know that you are at a small town Texas wedding when the preacher begins the ceremony with a mini sermon on how the work of a marriage is like cheerleading and gun collecting!

fashionista

2008-12-05T22:59:00.004-06:00

Trey's CIL, Denise, shops a lot and has some fantastic taste in clothes. D is fortunate to get some really cute hand-me-downs from that side of the family. Two pair of warm up pants convert to shorts by zippers around the upper thighs. So today D wore the BRIGHT green pair and unzipped them to make her shorts. It is cold today in Austin and D couldn't get them rezipped. Neither could the teacher so she was sent to the nurse's office. One of the ladies in the front office helped her rezip them. It just cracked me up that she was sent to the school nurse for that. Those pants were the talk of the 1st grade today.

Also, tonight our church choir participated in a benefit concert. Trey did wonderful!

Us as elves

2008-12-04T09:36:00.003-06:00

click here: The O Elves

new things

2008-12-04T09:29:00.002-06:00

S is getting ready to crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth and back and forth.

Yesterday evening was beautiful so spent some time outside. I noticed that D has learned to climb trees quite well. All thanks to neighbor A for instructions. Earlier this year D got really good at the monkey bars. I remember last year that our God daughter C learned the monkey bars; C got so obsessed that she got big blisters on her hands. But she continued to play on the monkey bars at every recess.

Remember how fun those little accomplishments were? We should all remember to appreciate ourselves more. Why don't you celebrate an accomplishment you've recently made?

cheesecake

2008-11-29T23:44:00.002-06:00

S got very hungry driving back from Houston and I had nothing to feed her. She really wanted D's chocolate chip cookie so D shared with her. That wasn't enough for S so I pulled over to the next available place (you know what it is like with a screaming-at-the-top-of-their-lungs baby.) That place happened to be Jack-in-the-Box and the only thing I could think she could have without choking was a slice of cheesecake. S enjoyed it very much. D was a great helper and feed S about half of it but S kept biting D so I finally said "just give her the rest and let her feed herself." S was perfectly fine with this. About 10 minutes later both kids fell asleep for the remainder of the trip. When I got home and finally saw S, this is the mess I was greeted with:

She was completely happy though. It was funny.

Texas Renaissance Festival

2008-11-28T23:52:00.002-06:00

really cool swing

D was in heaven - fairies, fairies everywhere.

SANTA!! So glad we ran into him here instead of having to go to the mall this year.

The gnome creeped me out - I didn't expect D to hug him but she had no problem with him . . .

The fest was REALLY cool. We had a good time and, of course, spent a fortune.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T23:58:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours - - - Yummmm - pie - - - my mom:

My MIL & T's cousin, G.

T's aunt MA

G again
D

My love, T

Neighbor S

My FIL

T & my mom feeding S her 1st bites of pie.

One of the funniest things this day was at dinner when T was theorizing that infants cannot taste tartness. He then fed her a little cranberry and said "see." About 5 seconds later S gives this little shiver then gags and tries to spit it out. Poor thing...I don't like cranberries either.

great weekend

2008-11-25T08:50:00.002-06:00

We had a great weekend. In summary:

Saturday afternoon I went to a Holiday Tea hosted by my friend, Lisa's church. It was very inspirational.
Saturday evening Trey and I had Date Night with dinner at Moonshine Grill and then concert at Emo's. We went to see Delta Spirit, who you may recall my mentioning from their performance at ACL Fest this summer. We talked to the lead singer for a bit before the group went on. We also got their newest CD.
Sunday we went to church and D stayed afterwards to do some fun things with the youth group.
Sunday afternoon we all drove down to San Marcos to watch cousin, Kristi's teams cheer in their cheerleading competition. Both teams did well and got bids to Nationals. Yea, Kristi!
On the way home we stopped at the gigantic Cabella's

It was a fun weekend. :-)

recent photos

2008-11-21T12:06:00.006-06:00

This is my pink dress from when I was a baby. My mom has a pro portrait of me in this dress. I also have a photo of D in this dress. adores her Daddy
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yummmmmm. "Dad is great; he gives us chocolate cake."
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Every grade for D's school gave some type of program in honor of Veteran's Day. D's grad sang "This Land is Your Land." Contrary to how it appears here, D actually enjoyed singing the song.
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me rocking the girls to sleep. Doubt I'll be able to hold them both at the same time much longer...
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Look at D swim!!! This last session of swim lessons has been awesome. D would barely go under water and now it is no problem. She has improved soooo much. Her teacher was new to the school but I think the best teacher she's had.

so proud. ---------------------------------------

"Hey! Look at what I did - I tipped it on its side!"

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Fall soccer end-of-season party at the bowling alley.

cool trophies with balls that spin
S just couldn't stay awake...
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Neighbor friend had school play last night. A was Cavegirl in the beginning of play. The chorus was sitting on the side in front of the stage. When they stood up one poor girl hit her head on the fire alarm and set it off. The poor kids didn't know if they should continue or leave the building. It was so funny.

D brought flowers for A. We enjoyed the play; it was a musical about the history of Rock n Roll.
A changed into surfer girl for the Frankie & Annette part of the play. Then Elvisssss came on stage.

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Yes, we continue to be busy. I've wasted enough time on the computer this morning. Guess I need to get housework done. Happy weekend!

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. . . this way and that way and this way and that way . . .

2008-11-19T09:33:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was one of those days when both T & I zig-zagged all over town and passed each other only briefly. It started Monday night when I was petting Izzy (short for "Isaboy" when gender was discovered after original naming of "Isabella") and found two big holes and a smaller one in his right side. Once we cleaned off we could tell was definitely a bite mark. It looks a lot like the bites Sadie has given Daisy but the vet couldn't say that it was definitely a Sadie-bite. We would be extremely shocked because Sadie LOOOOOVES the cats. Sadie GROOMS them -- seriously. (It is one of the weirdest things.)
So, yesterday morning I took Izzy to the vet while Trey dropped D off at school. I noticed a stray dog (male pit bull puppy) hanging around in the morning. By early evening the dog was still hanging around and one of the neighbors separated and held the pup when it jumped on another dog on a walk with the owner. Another neighbor said they've seen and feed the pup for two days. I then decided to take the dog to the Humane Society but did not want to take him in the car with the kids. Trey got home and took the kids to get some food then D went to the neighbors. I went first to the closest SPCA, who told me I had to take the pup to Town Lake (hated doing that but what else to do?) Trey had taken S to a church meeting with him so I stopped by the church on the way home to do the switch. Had to stop at the pharmacy to pick up Rx (will NEVER recommend Wal-Mart Rx to anyone - took TWO DAYS and MANY PHONE CALLS to get filled) then over to neighbors to pick up D then finally home.
So, long day - started at 6:30 and went to 9:30. Busy, busy, busy.

mmmm...prunes, mashed peas

2008-11-15T21:51:00.002-06:00

mmmm...prunes, mashed peas but YUCK on pears. S has been started on solid baby food and likes oatmeal, grits, prunes, mashed peas and butternut squash baby food. She is ok with rice cereal but absolutely hates pear baby food! So surprising since it is so sweet. S also likes some little cracker-like things called Baby Mum-mums that my SIL introduced me to.

D has been pretty good with her Halloween candy. One of the dogs got into the stash the other day and the full-sized Snickers is now GOOOOOONNNNNNEEEEE! oh well.

It has gotten WINDY and chilly here. Possibly getting into low 30s tonight. Amazing Texas weather...

Caswell lunch

2008-11-13T18:50:00.002-06:00

Today my mom and I went to lunch at the Caswell House. It was the 25th anniversary of their Christmas lunch. The house was decorated so beautifully, as usual. Our lunch was green salad, a slice of Mexican beef casserole and a slice of green chile casserole with rice and beans. The dessert was a gingerbread (or pumpkin) cake milk chocolate truffle and a red velvet cake white chocolate truffle. It was lovely.

owwww, my head hurts...

2008-11-12T12:42:00.001-06:00

Just got back from lunch w/ D...who knew 1st graders could ask so many questions?

our easy dinners

2008-11-12T10:03:00.003-06:00

One of the best book purchases T ever made was this cookbook called How to Cook Without a Book by Pam Anderson. To the advanced cook I am sure it is very simple, but to me it breaks down how to do simple things (like how to saute) that other cookbooks tend to assume you know how to do. It is also filled with simple sauce recipes that we tend to use on sauted chicken breasts. The sauces always follow a simple formula--

measure pan sauce ingredients in a measuring cup (liquid always totals 1/2 cup).
pour liquid into hot skillet once meat has been removed.
reduce liquid to 1/4 cup
Tilt the skillet and whisk in butter or cream, and spoon over each portion.

Last night I made the Chicken with Lemon-Caper Pan Sauce. It's 6 TB chicken broth, 2 TB lemon juice, 2 tsp capers and 1 TB butter. I served with mustard greens and mashed potatoes. It was quick, easy and yummy. D eats it with no complaints as well.

learning about the spoon

2008-11-08T23:45:00.000-06:00

where is that spoon?got it.almost there. another toothless grin.

What happened????

2008-11-05T23:24:00.000-06:00

I blinked and my little girl turned into a big girl . . . I was so surprised at the change two missing front teeth can make on a kid's looks. When I picked D up from school I was greeted with her pointing to her mouth and a big toothless grin. Then it really hit me . . . my little girl is growing up TOOOOO FASTTTTTT!!!

my vote is cast...

2008-11-04T12:08:00.003-06:00

crossing my fingers . . .

elegant 75

2008-11-02T21:42:00.002-06:00

One of the most elegant ladies from our church is turning 75. You would NEVER guess that she is 75. She is so intelligent and kind. Her family had a party for her at the Allan House here in Austin. It was a lovely party. S was passed around all over and was very happy about it. D had a blast running around with her church buddy. It was BEAUTIFUL weather so we sat out on the second floor balcony for most of the event.

T made yummy ribs for dinner once we got home. Such a sweet hubby.

Though we are both a little grouchy from lack of sleep. Off to bed now . . .

the loot quest

2008-10-31T22:04:00.002-05:00

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-10-31T16:23:00.002-05:00

LITTLE MISS MUFFET sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey. Along came a SPIDER who sat down beside her. And frightened Miss Muffet away . . . Happy Halloween!!!

pumpkin to jack o' lantern

2008-10-30T23:59:00.000-05:00

Friends of ours have a pumpkin carving party every year; this years was last night. It is so much fun. All the kids and pumpkins -

Trey won 1st place with the werewolf w/ blue LED eye. D got 3rd place with the smiley pumpkin 2nd from the left.

Looking forward to Halloween tomorrow!!!

owie

2008-10-29T21:34:00.002-05:00

The tooth fairy will be visiting our home tonight...it is a well deserved visit. Danielle knocked out one of her upper teeth tonight at soccer game. Trey wasn't there yet and I was walking over to the field so we both missed the whole thing. Thankfully one of the other moms (whose husband is a dentist) saw the whole thing and brought a crying D to meet me halfway. After dinner, warm bath, Meltaways, bedtime story and visit outside to show us where fairies come from, we finally sent a sleepy girl off to Slumber Land.

Samantha has discovered her tongue. She spends quite a bit of time with it sticking out. S also makes hilarious faces right now. She is quite entertaining.

I got a little Halloween decorations up today. This year is very low key. Will have to pick up candy tomorrow.

Trey is on one of many conference calls tonight.

Tomorrow we are going to a pumpkin carving party. Fun!

Hangin'

2008-10-28T08:54:00.002-05:00

My friend, Cindy, is back stateside and in Texas this week so all the girls went out Sunday night to Chuy's for dinner and drinks. Yesterday we all met for lunch and included our/my former coworkers. We ate at Hut's Hamburgers. Trey also joined us. Then I dropped by the office to see a few others and drop off some maternity clothes. I'll upload a few photos once I find the computer cord. Must clean up house some to accomplish that!

$1, $2, $3 . . .

2008-10-25T19:35:00.002-05:00

Friday night we spent getting ready for a garage sale. This morning we woke up early to set stuff out and had a not-as-successful-as-we'd-like garage sale. Didn't get rid of the couch or loveseat but we were successful in selling one of the cars. Hooray!

yep, I knew it

2008-10-23T21:25:00.002-05:00

Now I've got the cold. I knew it was going to happen. And we're having a garage sale Sat. morning. We have it planned with a neighbor down the street so I don't feel I can cancel...

yawns and yucks

2008-10-22T07:54:00.002-05:00

We are very sleepy in the O household this morning as S has got her 1st cold; we were up half the night suctioning yucky stuff out of her nose and soothing her. This morning seems better. Hope to catch a nap later. Yawn . . .

Maker Faire 2008

2008-10-19T00:19:00.000-05:00

gray skies . . .

2008-10-16T10:42:00.002-05:00

We made it back to Texas...and we've been exhausted since. If the house weren't such a big mess I would definitely be taking advantage of the gray skies and lovely RAIN we've been getting. It is nice and cool out. Windows are open and am itching to get the Halloween stuff out. Hope it stays this nice for Maker Faire this weekend.

Old haunts . . .

2008-10-11T16:46:00.006-05:00

Thursday we traveled up to Arkansas for my 20th HS reunion. (We went to Trey's back in June.) We're, of course, staying with my best friend since jr. high. Below are a few photos from yesterday and earlier today. D, S & M (BFF's daughter)My childhood home ---Us at the HS ---
We didn't want to go to the game so we all stopped at one of the few places to get an alcoholic beverage in J'boro ---My sweetie & me --- At the bonfire---

Sat afternoon at Crowley's Ridge Nature Center ---

4 mon check up

2008-10-07T12:19:00.003-05:00

S had her 4 month check up yesterday and she is doing well. Dr. was very impressed with trunk control - meaning S holds herself up very well and is not wobbly. S is 25" long (75th percentile) and 15lbs 14 oz (90th percentile). We started on rice cereal this morning. I will upload photos later.

Into the Wild

2008-10-03T23:03:00.003-05:00

One book that I have given away several times is Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. It is the true story of Chris McCandless' life. Sean Penn wrote the screenplay and directed the movie version. We watched it tonight. It was very impressive. The movie is very true to the book and the acting is superb. The actor who played Chris McCandless did a fabulous job. Scenery was also fantastic. Highly recommended -- both the book and the movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/

officially SAHM

2008-10-03T18:13:00.003-05:00

My last day of work was today. My lovely coworkers had a wonderful potluck for lunch in my honor. I will miss talking with everyone every day but I am excited to begin this new chapter in my life.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Kid update

2008-10-02T22:57:00.002-05:00

Samantha learned to roll from back to front this week. Monday night I put her down briefly in her crib and when I went back in she was on her tummy. Since that night changing her diaper has been quite the challenge. She immediately tries to flip over any time she is on her back.

Danielle continues to do well in school. She discovered Junie B Jones books in the school library and is so proud of her reading. Tomorrow is spelling test day. Some of this week's words are chop, pond, hop, hopping, body and crop.

yummm . . .

2008-10-01T23:10:00.002-05:00

Yesterday my coworkers and I went to try a place called Torchy's Tacos on S. 1st. I had the pulled pork taco and the fried avocado taco. Then, curiousity got me and I had to have a little Nookie. Nookie is a fried chocolate chip cookie. Since this is my last week at work, I decided that we all should have a little Nookie so I bought a dozen so everyone could try it. The owner stopped by our table several times (&, of course, Lauren knew him - she knows everyone)!! It is a VERY cool place. I plan on taking T there soon.

2 days of work to go . . . it's bittersweet.

ACL Music Fest - Day 3

2008-09-28T23:05:00.002-05:00

D went with us today. We went to the Austin Kiddie Limits area and made a bean tamborine and had some lemonade. Then we checked out Stars, Neko Case (zzzzzzz), Blues Traveler, Galactic and, because D wanted to go back to the sand area, a little of Kevin Fowler. Actually, T said and watched all of Galactic (and LOVED them) while D & I played in the sand. But . . . no it's over and just in time. I don't think we could have lasted another day.

ACL - Day 2

2008-09-27T12:59:00.000-05:00

D went to friend, Cari's; S went to my parents'. T and I braved ACL music fest day 2 alone. Today we saw Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (fantastic), checked out the art area, then caught Robert Earl Keen (always good), MGMT, John Fogerty (until you see him in concert you don't realize how many hits he's had), The Black Keys then - subject to much debate between T & I - Robert Plant and Alison Kraus. (I wanted to see the other top biller, Beck.)

ACL music fest - day 1

2008-09-26T23:59:00.000-05:00

Day 1 of Austin City Limits Music Festival. We saw Rodney Crowell, Yeasayer (I thought they were terrible), What Made Milwaukee Famous, Vampire Weekend (below) . . . Trey listening to the music . . .

my favorite act, Delta Spirit (next 3 below) . . .

Mates of State - I didn't care for them but must be b/c I'm OLD. We were the oldest people in that crowd and all of the teens/college-aged around us sang and danced to all of their songs, David Byrne and, finally, G. Love & Special Sauce (below).

Take your daughter to work --

2008-09-25T22:05:00.003-05:00

My mom had an appt. today so I took S with me to work today. It just happened that the communications dept had the photography equipment set up for some brochure photos so we got a couple of professional photos of me and S as well. Everyone enjoyed having S there. She was really good all day except for when we went to lunch at Chuy's!

T picked up D from school so they got a little father-daughter time in today.

ACL fest (Austin City Limits music festival) starts tomorrow!! Yea!

weekend pics

2008-09-23T17:49:00.003-05:00

Trey's parents came up this weekend. We went to D's soccer game Saturday afternoon.
Of course we had to get in the spirit for the UT game that evening by putting S in her UT outfit. We watched the game while eating an amazing dinner - steak, baked potato, grilled squash and salad. With chocolate pecan pie and Blue Bell ice cream for dessert, of course.

Sunday after church we went to Sampaio's http://www.sampaiosrestaurant.com/, a yummy Brazilian place to eat...
Miss you, Mandi.

xoxox

2008-09-19T18:10:00.006-05:00

Trey came home with flowers for me tonight. :-D

wrong one

2008-09-19T18:10:00.003-05:00

Airhead thing I did this week:
A coworker in another department got married last year and is expecting a baby boy in the next few weeks. I've talked to her several times over the last couple of years but never knew her husband's name. I really thought we had discussed her changing her last name and I thought she had. Since her maiden name was very common and she continues to use it as her last name, I just thought she married someone with the same last name. This coworker's first name is fairly uncommon. Last night I went to Target and looked up a baby registry under her name and bought a couple of things. When I met her husband today I was a little surprised as he didn't really look like a "Richardo" -- the father's name on the registry -- but you never know so I didn't think too much about it. Then . . . people started addressing him as "Mike." Yep, I bought gifts from someone else's registry.

attitude!

2008-09-17T21:28:00.003-05:00

Wow - Samantha has developed a little attitude! If she is not being held or being talked to she found her voice and let's you know she is NOT HAPPY!

Danielle had soccer practice again and did really well. She seemed to really enjoy it tonight.

beautiful moon

2008-09-14T20:34:00.001-05:00

happy early birthday, batman!

2008-09-14T20:28:00.003-05:00

Trey wanted Kelley's Chocolate Pecan Pie for his birthday. I ended up making 2!

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-12T22:13:00.002-05:00

With Hurricane Ike looming out in the Gulf, my office decided to keep spirits up by having a hurricane/tropical party. We all came decked out in Hawaiian gear with native Hawaiian, Amy, bringing flowers for our hair and snacked on Hurricane punch and chips and salsa (well, we are in Texas after all). Here's a photo:
Lots of prayers are going out to those affected...

Fitness Thursday

2008-09-11T19:40:00.003-05:00

Thursdays at D's school's morning assembly are Fitness Thursdays. Some of the parents usually stand over to the side and listen to the announcements. When I was standing over to the side today, the principal requested some teachers come on stage and help lead the fitness program. Then the principal requested some parents come on up as well. D looks over at me with a look like "oh!!!! PLEASE do it!!!!" So why not? I did it. I was the only goofy mom on stage leading the Chicken Dance for a bunch of elementary students...but my precious D was beaming at me the entire time. :-D

dinner

2008-09-08T20:01:00.002-05:00

Tonight we had Butternut Squash Pizzas http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Butternut-Squash-Pizzas-with-Rosemary/Detail.aspx I used this crust http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quick-and-Easy-Pizza-Crust/Detail.aspx I liked the pizzas just as they are; Trey thought it needed a little alfredo creamy or buttery sauce.

Just realized that the only meat I've eaten today was a little bacon.

good article on marriage

2008-09-06T12:29:00.002-05:00

I especially like the paragraph "Make your marriage a safe place."
http://www.crosswalk.com/marriage/11580884/

upcoming bazaar

2008-09-03T20:45:00.004-05:00

Last night was my UWM circle meeting. We discussed our plans for the upcoming bazaar. Our circle usually runs the kitchen. About a year and a half ago the city got really picky on kitchen inspections of the local churches. Our church had to do some renovations and learn some food preparation instruction. Now we're all ready for our bazaar in Nov.

family & UNO! photos

2008-09-01T17:03:00.004-05:00

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Went to UNO! tournament/birthday party Sunday evening at friends' house.
Adriana wins best crappy prize of remote control low rider with hydralics - "Yes!"
The overall winners - birthday boy got 1st place!

Trey and I were not big winners but did get crappy prizes of McDonald Happy Meal toy (Trey) and some stylin' yellow and gold clip on earrings (Angela). It was a fun night.

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes..."

2008-08-30T10:34:00.003-05:00

What a different week it has been that sets the pace for this month . . .

Danielle enjoys school and has made a new friend, Lucy. We're a little concerned about the homework - so far has been WAAAYYYY too easy. Will be talking to the teacher Tuesday to find out if this is typical or just review for first week of school.
We found out that our eldest dog, Sadie, has cancer. Don't know how long she has - sometimes this type is quick, sometimes is longer.
Also found out that Sadie has been running our house in the "dog pack order". We hired a trainer, Gary, from Barkbusters (http://www.barkbusters.com/) and he is FANTASTIC. It's a non-physical way of understanding and training your dogs and we have just been amazed. We're still working on Sadie (the highly intelligent dog) on her one bark that escapes when the doorbell rings. But it is GREATLY improved.
Our new office desk was delivered - yea! We're still working on all the computer set ups, etc.
Had Samantha's 3 month portrait done.
I returned to work for 1 month. I am helping transition and train before returning to SAHM status. :-) My mom is helping us out with the kids.
Danielle started soccer practice with her new team.
Trey received praise and a bonus for a training he did at work. :-)

So it's been a crazy, hectic week. Looking forward to October...

1st day of school

2008-08-25T10:23:00.001-05:00

Danielle is off to her first day of 1st grade.

Meet the teacher

2008-08-22T18:50:00.002-05:00

Today was meet the teacher at D's new school. The teacher seemed very nice and is big on language arts. That sounds good to me. We also met a couple of the other kids in D's class. We also met the librarian and one of the school counselors. D is VERY excited about school starting on Monday.

We eat all we can and sell the rest . . .

2008-08-20T17:27:00.005-05:00

Today we toured Blue Bell. They make the BEST ice cream (though I do enjoy a good Ben n Jerry's). No photos allowed inside but the outside grounds were very nice. First we watched a brief film on the history of BB. Then we watched Snickerdoodle, Mint Chocolate Chip, Cherry Vanilla, Lowfat Strawberry, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough in the pint size and ice cream sandwiches being made. At the end of the tour everyone got a free scoop of ice cream; they were very BIG scoops! I got Dutch Chocolate. Danielle got Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Alison got Mint Chocolate Chip and Nannie got Turtle Fudge. Afterward we went into old town Brenham for lunch at this cute place called Must Be Heaven.

slip 'n slide

2008-08-16T22:47:00.002-05:00

Went to a FUN 1st birthday party for friend, Kathryn, and it had a HUGE inflatable slip 'n slide. Samantha was passed around all the adults who wanted to hold the baby while we all had a BLAST playing.

gearing up for the fall

2008-08-16T09:29:00.002-05:00

We registered Danielle for school last Thursday. She is so excited about starting school. We also bought all of her school supplies. One more week to go.

Arggh! Sunday at Pirate's Cove - Galveston Beach

2008-08-12T10:14:00.004-05:00

We met this little girl named Sarah. She found a hermit crab and brought him over to show us.

3...2...1...Blast off!! Saturday at NASA

2008-08-12T10:10:00.003-05:00

Now on to Dallas . . .

2008-08-07T08:42:00.003-05:00

Tuesday afternoon Danielle, Samantha and I headed to Dallas to visit the cousins on the Williams side (Trey's family is much bigger than mine.) Here are some photos:

on the trampoline -

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playing computer games -

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dinner time -

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out front for some photos -

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playing puzzles with the little one ------------------

I've enjoyed working with our vendor located in Dallas so on the way back we stopped by to see them. (Rich and Lisa; Bob was in MN.)

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When we arrived home (after stopping at my parent's for my birthday cake) I was greeted with a drawn message from my wonderful hubby -

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Whew! What a busy couple of weeks. But FUN, too.

swim lessons

2008-08-04T16:48:00.000-05:00

D started her swim lessons today.

Happy late Independence Day!

2008-08-03T11:49:00.002-05:00

Part of the cousins' visit included the planned late-4th-of-July celebration yesterday at Aunt Donna and Uncle Billy's. Here's a few photos.

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The kids loved riding the wave runner; Trey even taught Danielle how to drive (with him on of course.) I'm sporting a big bruise from a particularily big wave on the waverunner. Scott taught several kids how to waterski. Amberlin actually put down Breaking Dawn to swim. There was a ton of food and we all had a blast.

swim little fishies

2008-08-01T10:36:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we all went to cousin Denise's neighborhood pool. It is a really neat pool and all the kids had a good time. We even got Samantha and Sydney in the water for a while.

1 vs. 9

2008-07-30T12:18:00.003-05:00

Poor Trey. We're thrilled to have my MIL, SIL and nieces in town. That makes 9 females in the house to Trey's 1 male.

Last night we went to Chuy's for dinner. Yummmmm.

fruit wands & mini cupcakes

2008-07-26T07:41:00.002-05:00

Last night we spent a lot of time getting ready for Danielle's birthday party this morning. Cari spent the night so she got put to work as well. The girls put together the fruit wands (grapes, honey dew, pineapple, catalope and strawberries on a wooden skewer) and Trey did most of the mini cupcakes and made the orange flavor and colored icing. This turned out to be a lot of work and a late night . . . and I blame Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade cooking show. Last week Danielle and I watched it and it was a fairy princess party with fruit wands and mini cupcakes! So Danielle then had her heart set on that. Pictures to follow later.

Totally digging this song right now

2008-07-24T21:03:00.004-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94QMihIC9m8

new member of the family

2008-07-24T20:59:00.002-05:00

Danielle has been attending a fun day camp with two of her friends this week. Wednesday the camp went to Build A Bear. Danielle made and adopted a pretty creme-colored bear named Fluffy. Fluffy has black eyes and three little bows. On of the bows broke so we'll have to fix that.

H20 park

2008-07-18T23:59:00.000-05:00

Took Danielle and neighbor to the water park in Cedar Park today. My parents live close by so we dropped Samantha off so I could play as well.

You may recall that my parent's house flooded last summer; it is almost fully restored. The teak floor that held up a lot of work is absolutely beautiful. The brand new carpet is so soft and nice, too. With two dogs, four cats and a six year old it's been a long time since I've seen an unstained, clean carpet--haha!

Anybody do this Facebook thing? Gina got me on that so I'll have something else to also spend time on the computer.

Have a good weekend.

long "day" at "work"

2008-07-16T22:43:00.004-05:00

This afternoon Danielle, Samantha and I finally made it to see my coworkers. We were gone all afternoon! It was fun catching up with everyone and introducing Samantha. Danielle enjoyed the mounds of candy she received while visiting all the offices. And BONUS! My former supervisor (now back in a new position) happened to have a frozen casserole for me in the freezer! We had it for dinner and it was great.

Samantha is also learning to smile. You hold her in front of you and grin big and greet her and she will give you a little smile back. She is also experimenting with all sorts of new squeals and sounds.

Danielle has been giving me a little bit of trouble lately. She really resist minding the first time I tell her to do something. She also seems to do it more with me than Trey. I know part of it is jealousy and part of it is boredom (especially as neighbor friend is gone until tomorrow.) Next week should be more fun for her as she will be attending a day camp with two friends.

Our 1st baby is 6!

2008-07-14T07:10:00.003-05:00

Our 1st baby is 6! For her birthday we went to church, lunch, swimming, to get shakes and had brownies with frosting at home. Can hardly believe she is SIX!!!

intro

2008-07-11T12:14:00.002-05:00

After my dr. appt yesterday we finally made it down to D's former school to introduce S to her class. D was very proud. We stayed about an hour and brought cookies for snack. (Co-workers: I promise to make down to see you soon; two outings was all we could handle yesterday.) The other day D set up for a picnic in her room:
Samantha in something other than pink or purple:
A long time ago I promised photos of D's PINK fairy room. Here are two:

crank

2008-07-11T12:12:00.002-05:00

We watched a really bazaar & interesting movie, Crank, a few nights ago. Neither of us can figure out who requested on Netflix; I think it was recommended to me but cannot remember by whom. It was enjoyable, but bazaar.

pics from the weekend

2008-07-07T10:50:00.002-05:00

BIG bed

2008-07-06T19:35:00.002-05:00

The roommate of a friend of mine is moving from suburban Austin (~3000 sq ft house) to San Francisco (600 sq ft apt) so he is selling off all his stuff. We chose to purchase his king sized sleigh bed. We (correctly) knew it would fit in our bedroom but never imagined how BIG it is. It is REALLY tall. Now all of our other furniture looks WAYYY too small. It's very comfortable but we laugh almost every time we walk into the bedroom.

1 month check up

2008-06-30T12:51:00.001-05:00

was this morning. Samantha weighs 11 lb 8.5 oz (97th percentile) and is 22 1/4 in long (90th percentile.) She got a vaccination so she is a little cranky.

1 month

2008-06-27T12:08:00.000-05:00

Samantha is 1 month old today!

one new photo

2008-06-25T08:20:00.002-05:00

We're testing out the new camera so have one new photo for y'all.

movies

2008-06-23T01:10:00.002-05:00

Went to see Kung Fu Panda w/ D & S Friday morning. Tonight D spent the night with a friend so T, S & I went to see Incredible Hulk. Both were very good.

2008-06-23T01:08:00.001-05:00

not sure what i did. Will try to fix soon

really hot

2008-06-19T08:49:00.002-05:00

Last night D & I ran up to the store to pick up some things and fill up the car on gas. After we got back on the road D asked "what are those 3 numbers under the direction on the mirror?" I replied back "that's the temperature. Wait, it's 3 numbers?" and looked at the temp . . .

it was 100 degrees F . . .

at 8:30 at NIGHT. Whew, it's HOTTTTT.

we are still here . . .

2008-06-18T07:43:00.003-05:00

I had all these unrealistic ideas that once S got here I would be able to do all kinds of things with D, keep up with my blog, catch up on housework, reading, etc. Of course, it is only 3 weeks in and the house is a little cleaner, I have been reading and I've done a few things with D. (However, the mom guilt is in full swing and I feel like D is completely ignored most of the time.) Since last post, though, we have done a few things including:

got D her first library card (a disappointing experience w/ Anderson Ln library branch)
attended 2 b-day parties this weekend
celebrated Father's Day
D & I ventured out to Sunday school
ordered a custom-made computer desk
D & I had 6 month dentist appts.

As soon as I can get a spare moment (and the returned ability to type w/ more than 1 hand,) I will post more photos . . .

Dr visit updates

2008-06-12T17:05:00.003-05:00

Today was dr appt day! We had the vet in the morning for Daisy, Ped. appt for Danielle and Samantha and post-delivery appt for me!

Samantha has surpassed her birth weight and is 9 lbs. 7.5 oz. She has grown to 21 1/4 inches. Touch of jaundice still - but expect to clear up. Danielle had a follow up after her last Rx.

Dr E, my ob/gyn, is a wonderful man (and I would highly recommend if you need an ob/gyn in the Austin area - email me if so) and gave Samantha a Daily Bible. He wrote her a very sweet note in it as well. Interestingly enough, the reading of my favorite Bible verse falls on D's birthday. For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41:13.

Sara Hickman

2008-06-12T17:01:00.002-05:00

Tuesday night Danielle and I went to the district UMW dinner hosted by our church. The special guest was Sara Hickman and she was fantastic! If you have never checked her out you should swing by her website www.sarahickman.com Not only are her songs incredible, fun and entertaining, Sara is an incredible person and very kind. She autographed and gave Danielle and Samantha her Newborn CD.

Friday photos

2008-06-06T10:36:00.000-05:00

I don't think her big sister loves her - do you???

photo update

2008-06-05T22:31:00.004-05:00

update

2008-06-04T09:17:00.002-05:00

well . . . we do have photos but the computer is not cooperating with me to let me download. But I will give a brief update. Monday Danielle and I gave Samantha her first sponge bath. Samantha lost the little bit of umbilical cord yesterday. It looks a little herniated but she seems to be doing fine. Yesterday was a busy day with trips to drop off and pick up Trey from work and trip to the vet's office. Thankfully, my parents live near the vet's and I was able to have one of them sit in the car with the kids during the visit. Yesterday afternoon Danielle helping feed Samantha some formula and loved helping that way. She wants to do it today as well. Last night, Kory, Susie, Raquel & Drake brought over dinner and visited. Today my friend, Paige, is bringing lunch. Baby's fussing - gotta go.

transformation

2008-06-02T12:32:00.002-05:00

Since we've been back home we've had lots of people around and our house has benefitted. The yard and kitchen look like they've been transformed. We've got the brick area back in the front yard, the trees have been trimmed enough to see the house, the broken bird bath has been pieced back together. the kitchen cabinets cleaned and polished and, from the generousity of many, a mini flower nursery is set up on top of the aquarium.

Samantha is a very peaceful baby. We had a jaundice problem up until yesterday so we've made several "fun" outings to the lab for blood sticks. Yesterdays came back good so no more! Yea!

Danielle is having some problems adjusting to less attention. There was so much commotion this weekend then last night a breakdown at bedtime. At least she is able to verbalize that she feels she is not getting enough attention "nobody plays with me." Right now she and Grandmama have gone to the movie then to see her Pop before heading home. Tonight Trey will watch Samantha so Danielle and I can spend some time together.

Trey had to head back to work today. He got a good night's sleep so I think we'll be getting into more of a routine this week.

Thanks for all of your nice compliments. I'll post more photos when I get a chance.

Danielle's kinder graduation

2008-05-28T16:52:00.001-05:00

so proud of our girl!
Friend, Walker and Danielle

photos

2008-05-28T16:38:00.003-05:00