project 365, week 35

i think i need "a look". i hesitate to say "new look" because in order to have a 'new look' you have to have had an 'old look'. i've wanted to get a blog design for, well about a year; thats how long i've been blogging. maybe i'll ask for one for my anniversary present....its coming up at the end of the month (no thats not a hint, allen. i'm thinking out loud...or whatever kind of thinking this is). i've entered countless contests with no luck. its just not something i want to spend money on. i'd rather have a new shirt or go on a date with my husband. but i see other peoples cute blogs and i have blog envy. i blame you, sara, with your cute red door, and music notes, and bible/coffee mug pictures. i'm kidding. kind of. ;-)

oh, well. you'll find out what i've decided to do around the end of september. our anniversary is on the 22nd. you'll be waiting on pins and needles until then, i'm sure.

we had some good rain this week. a crazy wild storm blew in wednesday night, taking our electricity and one of our trees with it. right as i was putting the kids to bed, the power went out and they both freaked out and wouldnt let me out of their sight, even with candles lit and flashlights in hand. they were up till about 1030 that night. the next morning i woke up to find a large pear tree in our backyard uprooted and tossed against the fence. our back neighbors fence was knocked down flat and many others in our neighborhood lost sections of fences and chunks of shingles off their roofs. another storm came thru thursday night, but it wasnt nearly as bad.

our tree got hauled off today, and we may look into having a roof put over our deck to provide the shade that the tree no longer can.

the second week of homeschool went really well, even with molly here. she sat and listened to the stories or looked at her own book while i was working with colby. i think we're going to be just fine.

potty training has been put on hold. she was doing really well for about 2 weeks, then she started having multiple accidents a day, and i have better things to do than clean up pee all day. if it was a matter of her not 'quite getting it' or 'still learning to know the signals' it would be one thing, but she just doesnt have time to stop what shes doing and use the bathroom. grr. i'm not going to stress over it though. colby was 3 & 1/2. i'll start stressing in a year.

time for pictures!

SUNDAY, august 23rd

the last sunday before promotion to new classes next week. tori and i took our girls down to south austin for lunch and shopping. a few of them got these crazy mustaches in a costume shop and wore them the rest of the afternoon.

MONDAY, august 24th

i had to take colby to the e.r. saturday night because he had been having trouble breathing all day, and his nebulizer treatments werent working. i called the after hours line and the pediatrician told me to take him in because the only way he was going to get any relief was by getting a steroid in his system. monday he was still coughing so i took him in to the office. they started him on a 5 day steriod treatment. the last treatment was yesterday and hes fine now thank the Lord. i cant let him do anything when hes coughing like that.

TUESDAY, august 25th

molly wanted to get out and swim in the kiddie pool.

colby didnt want to join her, but he was willing to fill the pool.

WEDNESDAY, august 26th

this is good to know. i might assume someone driving a zebra striped car was taking some kind of hallucinogen, but since theres a sign right there on the window, i'm no longer concerned.

THURSDAY, august 27th

our sad fallen tree

FRIDAY, august 28th

a trip to old navy yields a new friend for mojo. look, shes still sporting the glamorous white sock/ruby slipper combo.

SATURDAY, august 29th

we (and i do mean we. i helped.) cleaned out the garage today. i can park my giant suburban in there...for now.

have a splendid week!!

project 365, week 34

molly was with her mimi this week, so colby had me all to himself. we had a great time.

i used the opportunity to start school with him this week. there were some bumos in the road, but overall it went very well, and i look forward to what the year holds.

we'll see how this week goes with molly here....fingers crossed.

the pictures arent very exciting or artistic this week. i even have one picture twice...sort of.

SUNDAY, august 16th

i took molly to mimis. i actually took her to aunt nitas house in waco (thats mimis sister and she was there visiting for the week). traffic was awful there and back. i hate seeing brake lights on the interstate!

MONDAY, august 17th

colbys first day of school!! here are some of the books we're using.

TUESDAY, august 18th

mom took colby and i to hamilton pool. its a sink hole with a natural spring that keeps it full. you have to hike 1/4 mile down to it, then of course back up when you're done swimming. it was so much fun. we may take our friends later in the week!

WEDNESDAY, august 19th

i went to IKEA to browse the organizational options for the kids' rooms. we have a toy nightmare. plus i'm wanting to move all the toys out of the playroom and into their respective places (mollys room or colbys room), and get a table and chairs where colby and i can sit and do his school work. the only pictures i took this day were of the things i found at IKEA, so i could report back to allen.

THURSDAY, august 20th

WICKED round two! after seeing it in san antonio in june, i bought tickets so i could take my dad for his birthday (its here in austin now). what was neat, though, was a friends of ours had 2 extra tickets, so she sold them to allen for a bargain and allen took colby. we all really enjoyed it! this is me and my daddy before the show.

FRIDAY, august 21st

busy day! molly came home, surprise college graduation party for a dear friend of ours that afternoon, then on to dinner at some friends' house. i didnt even think about pictures till it was almost dark, so all i got was molly swimming after dinner.

SATURDAY, august 22nd

woohoo!!! project reorganize! after a family trip to IKEA, we came home and allen spent the next 3 hours building everything we bought while i gutted the kids' rooms to prepare them for their new toy bins. we got one of these for each of the kids, a small toy box for all mollys dress up clothes, and a table with 4 chairs to put in the playroom (i guess we'll have to rename it since there arent any toys in there anymore!). i will sleep so good tonight knowing everthing has a place. my soul is at peace. :) does this picture look familiar?? (see wednesday)

have a fabulous week!!!

definitely a monday

the morning started out pretty normal; breakfast then the gym.
today was colbys first day of school, homeschool to be exact. he technically isnt school age (he turns 5 in october so actually has another year before hes supposed to start), but he's so stinkin smart and he wants to learn, so i'm starting kindergarten with him this year.
the reading and Bible lessons were great, but when we started the handwriting he started sssttttaaaaallllliiiiiiinnnnngggggg.
let me interject here that he has been super excited about starting 'school with mommy', however when the handwriting lesson was taking too long in his opinion (because he was stalling), he looked at me and said, "this isnt as great as i thought it was going to be."
we got through it though, and successfully i would say. i'm looking forward to wednesday when we pull the books out again.
then, for the sake of all who would come within smelling distace of me today, i went to take a shower. i started the water and my phone rang. it was my sweet friend lauren who i hadnt talked to in a week (we were both on vacation), so i answered it and we proceeded to catch up.
i forgot the shower was on.
i dont know what made me remember, but 20 minutes later, i did.
upon exiting the surprisingly still hot shower, i realized i had neglected to shave my left leg. my right leg? smooth. i didnt feel like getting back in so i just made sure to not allow anyone to touch my left leg today (i get requsts all the time. you?).
at 12:30 colby was hungry. i ate before i showered (probably while the water was running with no one to clean), but somehow managed to overlook feeding my son. his lunch? peanuts. thats what he wanted. fine. its protein. and.....fiber? whatever, it could be worse.
friday my kids' lunch was a less than stellar grocery store donut, eaten in the cart while i shopped to fill our pathetically bare fridge. so, i'm thinking peanuts are definitely a step up on the 'whats appropriate for lunch' list.

the day got better. we got all our errands run and had a great time. we even met some friends for a starbucks pick-me-up and they went shopping with us.

why is it that the crazy things always happen on mondays? does anyone else share my sentiment?

project 365, week 33

we took our family vacation this week. nothing fancy. we just went down to san antonio for a few days and hit some of the hot spots down there. for the lowdown and a ridiculously adorable video of molly, check out the post right before this one.

heres our week...

SUNDAY, august 9th

we were invited to lunch by some people from church. they're fabulous people with amazing kids (in our youth ministry). i look up to dawn as a mom, a wife, a leader in the womens ministry, a fabulous decorator, and a fellow blogger (hey, girl!). their son plays tenors in the marching band and he pulled them out and gave us a little demonstration. i played percussion for a few years myself back in the day, so i loved hearing his mad skills! :)

MONDAY, august 10th

vacationing we will go. today was the san antonio zoo. i actually have a great picture of a rhino i was going to post in honor of my husband...not that hes a rhino; they're his favorite animal. but it was giving me trouble...the picture, not the husband. so you get pelicans instead.

TUESDAY, august 11th

sea world. love it.

WEDNESDAY, august 12th

we took the kids to schlitterbahn for the first time. we had so much fun.

i cant wait till they're a little older and can really ride everything...and not be exhausted by 4pm.

i just realized he's running. "no running!! you'll fall and bleed!"

THURSDAY, august 13th

we spent the afternoon at my parents house. they hadnt seen the kids in a few days and were leaving friday for a get away. i love the way my mom decorates. this dress form is in her bedroom (which is decorated kind of beach-y in a shabby chic kind of way...got it?) with a grass skirt on it. not sure if she added the shells herself. she probably did, because thats the kind of thing she thinks of. if i did that it would look ridiculous, but she can make anything work.

FRIDAY, august 14th

the kids and i did a super fun art project today; the messy, no clothes, must be done in the backyard kind of art project.


SATURDAY, august 15th

as if we didnt do enough swimming this week, we went to the pool this afternoon. isnt the sky beautiful? and hot looking? it was still 100 degrees at 7 o'clock this evening. if you want to be outside, swimming is pretty much your only sane option.

i took this picture with my phone...i guess thats why theres a white border around it???

molly heads off tomorrow for her week at mimis. colby and i will have to find some fun 'big kid' stuff to do while shes gone.

have a great week!!!

family vacation

we had a fabulous vacation!!

monday we went to the san antonio zoo. some friends met us down there and we spent the day together. tuesday we went to sea world, saw a few shows, rode some rides, and spent about an hour at the waterpark. wednesday we went to schlitterbahn in new braunfels. so. much. fun. the majority of our time was spent in the kiddie pool areas (which are fantastic), but we rode some rides there too. the great thing about schlitterbahn is there are no height requirements on the rides, so it was up to us what we wanted to let our kids try. they rode some pretty big stuff. strap those life jackets on and they're good to go-especially colby. hes a pretty good little swimmer for a 4 year old with no lessons.

anyway, we had an absolute blast and the hotel was fantastic. it always helps to have a nice place to come back to when the day is done. when i asked colby what his favorite was he said, "everything!!!" i think thats a great answer.

heres a video of mojo falling asleep on the way home from schlitterbahn. we had stopped almost immediately for some dinner, knowing we were on borrowed time before we lost her. we were almost too late....

the girls on the train at the zoo...

...and the guys.

we got to see the fish feeding at sea world. this diver had a mic in his scuba mask so he could talk to us as he was feeding. colby was riveted; he's been saying for 2 years he wants to be a diver when he grows up.

sea world on tuesday. that poor penguin must be terribly hot, and i've heard thats not good for penguins.

brushing their teeth has never been so much fun!!! it must be the fancy mirror.

the obligatory hotel lobby picture.

colby going down one of the 'kid' slides. he was bored with it after a few times. he wanted to ride 'the big stuff'!

the turtle slide at schiltterbahn. not that water is not shooting out of her head.

project 365, week 32

mom, molly, and myself spent the first half of the week at the beach; our first 'girl trip'. we had such a great time. no agenda, nowhere we had to be. those are the best kind of vacations. we ate great food, did some shopping, and soaked up some sun (in a very 50spf kind of way).

colby spent the week at mimis in houston (molly will have her week pretty soon).

they did this last summer, but it really affected molly this time. she cried for him, asked for him, and was pretty much in a funk all week without her brother. no fun for us in that capacity, but i know colby had a great time at mimis house.

on the upside, we're very close to being potty trained.

actually i've personally been potty trained for several years now. i meant molly. those of you that have been down the potty training road understand why i use "we". can i get a witness?

anyway, so that should be an interesting obstacle this week on our family vacation; pull-up or no pull-up? that will be the question at hand.

SUNDAY, august 2nd

papa and mimi came to hear allen preach and then took colby back to houston with them. molly was of course upset, so her consolation prize, if you will, from mimi was a small build-a-bear of sorts. it did the trick.

MONDAY, august 3rd

to galveston we go, to galveston we go.....

after we checked into our hotel, we went to the strand, a touristy shopping district. outside one of the restaurants was this very large chess set. molly played with it for quite awhile. although none of us had a clue about chess, so she just kind of clumped different pieces together.



TUESDAY, august 4th

beach day! we were out from about 9am till about 4pm. i'm the only one that managed to get sunburned despite the 50spf, or 'flannel shirt in a can' as my mom lovingly refers to it.

WEDNESDAY, august 5th

on the way home we stopped in brenham to tour the blue bell ice cream factory. we missed the last tour of the day, but the $1 bowl of ice cream made it all ok.

THURSDAY, august 6th

double date with some friends down to south congress in austin for 'first thursday'.

stores stay open late, vendors selling all kinds of stuff (we even saw glass bongs and pipes-only in austin) out of tents, live music, delicious food. we had a really good time.

there was a fairly good size group of people standing along both sides of the sidewalk (so you had to walk between them) holding signs that said 'free hugs'. i had to have a picture...but i passed on the hug. weird.

FRIDAY, august 7th

our last night with just mo. she wanted a donut and pizza. in that order.

theres a new organic environmentally friendly pizza place up the street i've been wanting to try, and it just happens to be next door to dunkin donuts. does anyone else see the irony?

so while i waited for our pizza, allen and molly walked next door and got a donut, which she ate first, followed by 2 slices. i love her.

SATURDAY, august 8th

its was a little cooler today. i think it only hit 99 degrees. i guess molly couldnt handle the temperature drop. she spent the last half of the day in mittens and her winter hat.

check out saras blog for more pictures!

project 365, week 31

i have been in a mucus funk this week. i started feeling really crummy saturday morning-ish, but felt a little better sunday, so i thought i had shaken it off. turns out i had just powered through it for the sake of having to sing in church sunday morning. when i got home from church that afternoon i was wiped out.

monday morning i thought working out might help me feel better. bad call. i came home, crawled into bed (leaving my children with the run of the house...you can imagine, i'm sure), and didnt get our again until tuesday morning, and it was only to move to the couch.

fortunately i have a fantastic family and a mom and memaw that live in town and can help with the kids when such things happen (thanks, ya'll).

after that its been a little better each day, but i'm still not 100%. the crazy sinus pressure is lingering. no fun.

at least i've rejoined civilization. thats good news for everyone. :)

tomorrow allens preaching and his mom and stepdad are coming to hear him, then taking colby back to h-town with them for the week. mom, myself, and molly leave monday for 3 days in galveston; our first 'girl trip'!! i'm excited to have that time with both of them! hopefully it will produce some good pictures and even better memories.

SUNDAY, july 26th

the kids found my tap shoes and we all took a turn with them. i've got the fever......must. do. a. show. soon.

MONDAY, july 27th

this was really all i could take a picture of. i spent pretty much the whole day right here.

TUESDAY, july 28th

the obligatory potty training picture. apparently, washing hands takes priority over putting her panties back on.

WEDNESDAY, july 29th

my friend leah and her kids evan and ruth (my kids' best friends) came over and we loaded up and drove about 40 minutes away to cabelas, a sportsmans supercenter-dream-come-true. why on earth would we take our children there? for the turkey nightlights of course. who wouldnt want a night light that looks like a turkey? really.

ok, really....

there are 4 areas of once-alive-but-not-so-much-now animals displayed in their 'natural habitat' as though they were alive and right there in front of you. theres also a walk through aquarium full of freshwater fish (the kids love it!). its like going to a natural history museum where you can have lunch and buy a rifle if you feel so inclined.

but seriously. a turkey night light?

THURSDAY, july 30th

allen took the day off, and we were going to take the kids swimming. however God had other plans and made it rain!! sweet, sweet rain! colby has been wanting to go to innerspace caverns for weeks, but we were going to wait until molly had her week at mimis to take him. i went to the website on a whim that morning and saw that molly is free, so we decided to go ahead and go that afternoon. our timing was a little off so molly was tired, therefore not really in the best of moods to spend an hour and a half walking through a dark muddy cave. colby really enjoyed it though, and the experience was overall a success.

FRIDAY, july 31st

i started reading this book on tuesday. i think kristin chenoweth is amazingly talented (she was the original galinda in 'wicked' on broadway), but i was disappointed in her biography. it was very well written, but i lost some respect for her as a person. shes still crazy talented, though.

SATURDAY, august 1st

lunch at zpizza after some outlet mall coupon shopping (colby needed new shoes in every category! that kid is growing!!). molly was gracious enough to allow colby a sip of her lemonade.

have a blessed week!!