Ellie Katherine

While Ellie was "performing", her big brother Trent was off to the side making faces, which apparently she didn't appreciate. She decided to take matters into her own hands...then quickly regretted the decision after she thought she had actually hurt him! I love how you can read her face like a book! Love that sweet baby girl!

The Surprise Pics

Just a few of the pics from the boys weekend in Austin...they had sooo much fun and came home talking a mile a minute about all the players they met. They couldn't get over how big the guys were and how nice they were! What a special day for my boys and their Daddy!

Before the game waiting on the Longhorns to arrive....
Here they are with Aaron Smith, our friend of a friend...he had a great game, made some great tackles and even dislocated his thumb and had it popped back in socket-which my boys thought was sooo cool.

The boys with #32 Eddie Jones, defensive end for the Longhorns.

#2 Sergio Kindle, another defensive end for the Longhorns, and probably one of my boys favorite players. He wasn't in the room with all of the other players, but on their way to the car, they spotted him across the street. He was so sweet to stop and sign their balls and take a picture.


The boys with PawPaw. Thank you PawPaw for the tickets to the games, (and for the yummy key-lime pie you brought me home from Papadeauxs!).
What a fun boys weekend away!

The Surprise

For those who know us, you will understand just how special this day is for my boys-all THREE of them...

My husband has been a Texas Longhorn fan since-well, all of his life. So when I met him, I became one as well. It wasn't as automatic as you'd think, but after 13 years together, I can say I am now a fan too. We have gone to many games together and as soon as the boys were old enough, we started bringing them along. The boys love it! They love getting to the stadium early so they can stand along the railings and watch the players warm-up. Getting an up-close glimpse of their favorite players is one of, if not the highlight of the whole experience for them. It's been especially fun these last few years because a friend of ours has a nephew that plays on Special Teams for the Longhorns, and so the boys feel like they have a special connection to one of the players. Which brings me to "The Surprise"...Thanks to B's dad we have access to Season Tickets, and we just happened to have tickets to the UCF game today, however last Sunday B and I were talking and because things have been really busy lately, and because we already had the chance to go to the Longhorn/Texas Tech game this year, we decided not to go to the game today. Well, the very next day I get an email from the mother of the Special Teams player that we "know", asking me to give her a call about the game this weekend. I was a little confused (how did she get my email, seeing that I really don't "KNOW" her or her son at all!!) and VERY curious. I immediately called B, read him the email and suggested that he give her a call right away and find out what this was all about. Of course, he couldn't hang up the phone fast enough and call her. :) So, turns out, she got wind of how much my boys love the Longhorns and going to the games, and thought it would be fun to give my boys a chance-if they'd be interested-to come into the locker room after today's game to meet the players, take some pictures and get some autographs.

WHAAATTT???!!!

How fast do you think my husband jumped on that? Are you kidding me? I could NOT believe it. What an opportunity for my sweet boys-B included!! Of course B asked me to come along, but, as hard as it was, I passed and told B to "hang up the phone and call your Dad and tell him!!!". He did and they got to work planning the surprised. We decided to keep all of it a secret. The boys knew NOTHING until Paw Paw pulled up in our driveway yesterday and told them to put on their shoes because they were going to the Austin!!! Oh, the look on their faces!! They were sooo excited-and they didn't even know the half of it yet! This morning they woke up early and headed to the Stadium. B needed to meet Mr. & Mrs. Smith to get their passes, and when they did, she told the boys what they were getting to do after the game! B called me right after and I promise you I could "hear" the grins on my boys faces while they each told me about their special surprise! I sooo wish I was there to see it for myself, but at the same time, I am so glad that they are getting to experience this with their Daddy and Paw Paw! What a special memory they will have for the rest of their lives! When I talked to Jake, I got a chance to remind him of the true Giver of this good gift...and his words were, "I know, Mom, I know! I can't believe it!". Well, believe it son, and honestly, as good as this is, with Christ, it only gets better!

James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

Hook 'Em Horns!!!
I'll be back next week with pics!!

Halloween '09

Princess Ellie, Rocky Balboa and Elvis...



SCORE!!!


Hanging at the Brinkman's afterwards!
Fun, family, and friends-doesn't get any better than that!!!

Happy Fall!

I've been trying to get motivated to update this blog for weeks now, but every time I thought about it, I also thought about how looong it had been, and all of the things that we have done since school started and quickly became overwhelmed! I am still not sure of where to begin, but we'll just see where this post takes us...

First, Ellie started her second year at KK! She loooooves it! She loves her teachers, her friends, her backpack, her lunchbox, and on and on it goes! We'll see how long this love affair with school lasts....she is my social child, and I have a feeling as soon as she realizes that not every teacher is going to give her a skittle for cleaning up or doing her work, she might be over it pretty quick! :)


Next, Trent turned 7!! We had a great time at his Carnival themed party! It threatened to rain all day, but held off until the party was over! I can't believe he is 7 years old!! Where have the years gone???

We had bat-spin races...

a water balloon toss.....
cookie cake...
and a jump house!!


The very next weekend we headed to Austin to watch the Longhorns play the Red Raiders! It was a fun time with the boys! We ate some yummy hamburgers at Hut's, then headed to the stadium to watch the players warm up and then up to our seats for the game! It was a really good game, which made it even more fun! :)
Posing in front of Tower! The boys were sooooo tired, it was after 11pm, extremely humid and crowded-but still a fun day.


So, that gets us through September....

October so far, has been a mix of weeks full of rainy, lazy days with not a lot to do - to crazy busy weeks full of Flag Football, Family Reading Night at school, Harvest Festival, Tyler Lee Football games, and the dreaded Flu (we think)...still to come this week - Costume Parade at KK, Pumpkin Carving, and Trick-or-Treating!!!!! I can't believe it's almost November!

My goal is to post our Halloween pics before Christmas! :) ha!
Happy Fall y'all!

Back To School

Today was the big day for our family...first day of school! Everyone was excited and up early! The hallways were buzzing, full of kids and parents shuffling their kiddos to their new classes. When I got home, a wave of emotion came over me-time is passing-quickly.

As the Lord would have it, my devotionals for the day were all about trust...and releasing the ones we love into the Father's care. He gently and lovingly reminded me that they are much safer with Him than in my clinging hands and that when I release my children into His care, I free my hands so they can hold tightly to Him. The same presence that comforts me, comforts them. What a wonderful reminder-because they belong to Him, His presences goes with them.





Happy First Day of School Jake and Trent! It's going to be a great year!!!

I'm Out...

Okay, I'm officially out...out of ideas, out of energy (thanks to the 100+ degrees temps), out of patience, and out of plain ole' "umph", the kind of "umph" that makes you get up and actually want to DO something!!

This is our last week of Summer (boo, hiss!!!), and while I really do hate to see it go, part of me welcomes the new school year...so in honor of the new school year ahead, here are some of my favorite things about school!

*new school supplies
*a routine
*new school shoes! (do I still get some even though I've been done w/ school for quite some time now???!!!)
*new friends
*college football
*getting closer to my favorite season of all...FALL!!!


And in honor of our FABULOUS summer, here are just a few of my favorite moments from "The Summer of '09":

*swimming at MeMe & Poppy's
*visiting with the Cassels!!!!
*movie nights
*family bike rides
*our "rained out" Rangers game with my family
*the "Kacoons"-that's right I said "K-acoons" ;)
*movie day at the Glenney's
*playing Spades at my in-laws and kicking SERIOUS bootay!
*my weekend in Austin w/ B!!!
*Florida!!!!

I could go on and on...but like I said, I'm too tired!!!!

Happy last week of Summer!!!
(whew...I need a nap! hee hee...only in my dreams!)

Slow Down!!!

This morning I was talking with a dear friend of mine who lives out of state about our Summers and what all we have been busy doing...and it hit me-Summer is almost over. I hate even typing those words. In a few short weeks, we will be school supply shopping, buying new school shoes, new school uniforms....and I will officially be the mother of a Forth and First grader, and a 3 1/2 year old who will be starting her 2nd year of pre-school.

How did this happen??

The realization has come at the perfect time...these past two weeks, we've had no plans, just long Summer days, full of fun, sun, playing, swimming, reading, resting, watching movies....and if I'm honest- arguing, boredom, attitudes, impatience-ALL of us-which is a part of it...but a hard part, and a part I was growing VERY weary of. Realizing that sooner rather than later, I will be sending 2 of my 3 off to school for hours each day, is forcing me to stop and change my perspective. How many times did I hear it when they were babies??.... "Enjoy this time, it will go so fast!!" THEY WERE RIGHT! It DOES go so fast. Too fast.

So, thank you Lord (& Amy) for reminding me of that, and help me Lord, to keep that perspective when I'm breaking up the next argument, or hearing "I'm hungry" 5 minutes after I've just cleaned up breakfast...this will pass....all too quickly I'm afraid.

Summer Days

Happy Summer!!

Miles of Piles

Lately my house has been overtaken by piles...

Some are mine, most are not.

So today I decide to combine all of the little piles that I found in my kitchen/breakfast/den area and make one big pile.

Here is it...


And that doesn't even include the 4 bedrooms, hallway, dining, living room and bathrooms!
The kids will be thrilled when they see this waiting for them to go through and put up! :)

Put Me In Coach

It's Springtime and you know what that means for our family.....

BASEBALL!!!

So, if you call and we're not home, we're at the ballpark cheering on our boys!
Go D-Backs and Cubs!!!!







And little sister is having her own fun at school this year making new friends and just being the little social butterfly that she is!!!



It's crazy busy some days, but it's fun!
Happy Spring!

Where to Begin????

Y'all, I can't even believe it's been so long since I've posted anything. For a while, I contemplated just deleting the whole blog because I felt so bad about it! I have been a bad, bad blogger, but I'm gonna try and do better!! :)

Since I seriously have no idea how and where to begin catching up, I'll just take this opportunity to invite y'all to my very own pity party, where I will be serving myself a HUGE slice of "humble pie"....

I am convinced that I have the worse case of Poison Ivy known to man. Seriously. It's baaaaaddd. Long story short, B gets poison ivy, one week later, suspicious spots pop up on me....I ignore it until I feel like cutting off the right side of my body due to all of the itching, (oh the burning and itching!!! Will it ever end????) then I finally give in and go to the Dr., who kindly informs me that I do NOT have poison ivy, but shingles instead. WHAT???? So, I spend the next week FREAKING out over the fact that I have shingles. I google "shingles" no less than 215 times trying to figure out how I ended up with this....all the while, milking this thing dry...poor B!!! He has "NO IDEA how I feel", "I am soooo tired", "I can't beliieeeeevvveee this is happening to me", and "no! I am not cooking, are you crazy? I have shingles for goodness sakes!"...on and on and ON-until yesterday, when I had to go BACK to the Dr. (my REAL DR. this time, not just the random Dr.-who by the way, I am sure is a lovely person, but apparently needs to brush up on his studies a bit) who informs me that I have poison ivy.

Um, I'm sorry, what?

Yes, poison ivy, which now, by the way has spread ALL OVER MY UPPER BODY due to the misdiagnosis! So, she then proceeds to give me the BIGGEST SHOT EVER in my boo-tay, puts me on some serious steroids and sends me home....tail between my legs, face a little red (from humiliation, not the rash), and a little more humble.

So, B, um, sorry about all that whining, and Ali, thanks for bringing us dinner that night, and Mom, thanks for coming over that Sat. and Shan, Kalen, Stac, and Renae, thanks for reading all of those pitiful emails....uh, yeah, I think the Lord has used this to reveal some heart work that needs to be tended to... :)

Virus, Get Thee Behind Me!!

We've been sick. When I say we, I mean Jake, and now Trent.
Just when you get one well, another one bites the dust. I can't really complain...it's very mild, just annoying, :) fever and headache that goes away once the Motrin kicks in. I don't mind being at home, actually, I would say I am a homebody, but 3 days in, and looking at the prospect of 3 more days in...and that's if Ellie doesn't catch it, I feel myself wanting to throw a pity party....BUT then I read a post like this, and realize, yeah, I can do this any day.

Perspective, it's a good thing!

A Not So Broken Arm

Not too much going on around here these past two days. After our trip, it has been a week and a half of getting back into our groove. Catching up on laundry, puppy-sitting for my parents while they were away, a great dinner date with some old friends and enjoying the long weekend.

There have been a few high-lights, one of which was the dreaded phone call from the school nurse....It was last Thursday-I had just put Ellie down for her nap, was about to start ironing, when the phone rang. It was the school nurse. Uh-oh. She proceeded to tell me that Trent fell at Recess and that another little boy then fell on top of his arm, and that it was hurting him a lot and it was even a little swollen and I should come get him and have some x-rays taken. Okay...at that point I have to admit the adrenaline started pumping. I'm not the parent to handle broken bones...but here's the thing, B was out of town that afternoon, so apparently I was the parent. Of course, my mind starts to race...here is a little glimpse into the thought process that followed...

Ellie, she's asleep, so I'll call mom to come watch her...oh no, mom is out of town, and oh yeah, I have the puppy, I need to crate her...okay, I'll wake Ellie up and take her with me...that should be fun.
Now Jake, oh shoot, he's off campus today, how am I going to get Jake? I can't wait until 2:30 for Jake to get back to campus before I take Trent to the Dr. -and speaking of Dr. do I just take him, or do I call???
I call the Dr. - "no we don't do x-rays, but if you want to make an appt. we can schedule you one for later this afternoon and if he does need x-rays, we will send you to the other office, etc."
O.K. Now what?
Call Kelli, "Uh, Kelli, this is one of those days..."
(Thankfully, she stepped in rescued Ellie, picked up Jake, and sent me to a place that took x-rays and got us in and out in less than 45 minutes-I know, a rare medical miracle.)

So back to Trent, when I arrived at the school, I was mentally prepared for the worst. What I ended up seeing was my precious middle son, flanked on each side by the nurse and his teacher, with a make-shift sling on his arm and a slight grin on his face. Hhhmmmm. He doesn't look like he is in that much pain. Well, maybe he is just being extra brave. I hugged him and got a good look at him and right then knew, uh, he is going to be just fine, but after the nurse cornered me and suggested that I might even want to let an Orthopedic Surgeon look at it, I thought maybe he is just being REALLY brave, and that even though he can move it in any direction without even flinching that it could still be broken...I'm not a Dr., what do I know? However, maybe I should become a Dr. because as my gut suspected, he was fine. No break, and by the time we got back to Kelli's to pick up the other two, he was jumping on the trampoline and riding the electric scooter. Oh well, maybe he just needed a little extra TLC-and that, he did get. The funny thing is, that by the time Kelli got back to school to pick up Jake the rumors were flying...Trent broke his arm!!! The bone was sticking out!!! Ha! I bet there were a lot of disappointed little Kindergarteners yesterday when he returned arm-in-tact. Oh, and those of you who know Trent, won't be shocked to read that he proceeded to wear the make-shift sling all weekend...not so much at home, but mainly any time we went anywhere in public or had company. Oh yes he did. He said it made him feel tough. Oh these little boys-how boring life would be without them.

Colorado Springs

Oh. My. Goodness. There are no words I can use that will do this trip justice, but I have to try. First of all, thank you again B. What a weekend! And thanks again Mom, Dad and Glenney's. The kids had so much fun...we appreciate y'all so much.

Okay, here's a quick recap...okay, so it turned out to be not-so-quick of a recap after all!
Friday morning...up before dawn to catch our flight-stinks getting up that early, but it paid off, because we were in Colorado by 10 am!
First of all, it was C-C-C-OLD! When we left DFW it was almost 70 degrees...at 8am!!! When we landed in Colorado it was about 40 degrees colder, with winds about 25 mph AND SNOWING!!!! Yippee! So, first things first, we found our rental car...which was halarious! It was ELECTRIC BLUE...really, it was purple, and this picture doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea!

So, we loaded the car, and headed downtown to find this place that we had heard would be really good for lunch...and it was! I'm still dreaming about that table side guacamole! After lunch we walked around and went through some of the shops downtown.

Next, it was on to the Garden of the Gods. Okay, so-not so hip on the "Gods" part of it...but since I know the Truth and the Creator of all things, it was a lovely and stunning sight to see! :) The rock formations are amazing!!



We had to make a snowball to show the kids!
It was finally time to check-in, so off we went to find the Broadmoor! It is a beautiful place. The room was fantastic, so big, with a mountain view! Next on the agenda, was a NAP! Ahhh, yessss. It was lovely. When we woke up, I opened the curtains and it was snowing HARD! The sky was gray, and it was coming down hard. You would have thought we were a couple of 8 year olds, who had never seen snow! We jumped up, threw on our clothes and headed out to enjoy it! At this point, I have to say, I think we both for a moment wished our kids were there to see it....but the moment passed! Hee Hee! :)


We stopped by the fire-pit to warm up...see?? Cozy!
That night we went to dinner at the Golden Bee. It was like an old Irish Pub. The fish and chips were great and at 8pm, they passed out song books and a man came out and we all sang along as he played the piano. :) The waitresses at random times, for no apparent reason, would throw these sticky bees at you throughout your meal...check out B's, bees!
Saturday the weather was clear, cold and beautiful! We worked out, and then decided to take the Cog Railway up to the top of Pike's Peak. It was breathtaking...literally!!! The views were spectacular, and we were even able to see some horned sheep, which they said was rare for this time of year. The temperature at the top was -15 degrees, with the windchill it was -60 degrees, yes, that is right...-60! Needless to say, we didn't stay at the top long. Which was great, because as I said, it literally took my breath away. It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest the entire time we were at the top!
(one of the views from the top)
It took forever for us to warm up after that trip, so we hung out in our room watching a movie- so relaxing!!! Saturday night we dressed up for dinner and went out for steak, which was delicious! Before we headed out for dinner, check out the view from our room....
I know, beautiful!
So, that's about it in a nutshell-of course it was all this and so much more! A wonderful weekend away, but today, it's back to reality, which really isn't all that bad either! :)

Leaving On A Jet Plane

THIS...



is where I'll be in less than 24 hours thanks to my hubby! (The Broadmoor, in Colorado) Of course it won't look like this in January...instead we'll be surrounded by snow-capped mountains, a warm fireplace, enjoying lots and lots of yummy coffee, uninterrupted conversation and snuggles!
I love you, B. Thanks for planning such a special time for us! And a big thank you to MeMe and Poppy and The Glenney's for keeping the kids for us! I can't wait!!
I'm off to pack!!!