scrambled eggs

Kiss the Cook~Our New Kitchen

2010-10-10T21:16:00.018-05:00

Hi! I'm back. I do realize and am a little embarrassed that it has been almost a year since I last posted. I really fell off the wagon and didn't really think I had a lot to post about or rather wasn't ready to post(talk) about. I could have filled my blog with stories of my kids and their activities, but most of us are doing the same sort of things and quite frankly isn't that what Facebook is for? My little family has been through a lot and I "think" I am ready to share our story. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do on many levels and will bring you up to speed in the coming weeks. However, I didn't want to miss Kelly's Tour of Homes this go around as we are in a new home. We sold our previous home extremely quickly and are now "renters". We have never been renters in our 19 years of marriage, but here we are. Let me say the phrase "Less is More" speaks volumes to me these days.

Isn't that island to die for?? When I walked into "the rental" I just held my breath and prayed that our Big Daddy would go for this house and think that "the rent" was something we could manage. One of the things that I am most proud of is that I have not purchased much for our new place. I have actually only purchased 2 things for this kitchen and that was the barstools. I knew that we would really put them to use and bought them 50% off at I O Metro.

This little hutch was something that I bought ages ago in Canton. It was made out of old fence pieces and was supposed to be a potting table, but I bought it, painted it, had a cute cushion made for it and used it as a changing table for my boys in their nursery. I had still had it in my youngest room and we had games and toys on it. One of the fun things about moving is getting to use your stuff in different area. Some people are really great about moving their stuff around in their house, me not so much. It takes a move for me to shake things up!!
BONUS!!! It had a desk for me!!! I was so excited!!! Big Daddy knew he couldn't say no!!!

This rug was the "other" purchase that I made for the kitchen. Clearance at Target for $20.00. It's not perfect colors, but works for me!!! You can also see on through to the butlers pantry, pantry, and dining room. I am going to post the dining room and family room in the next couple of days. Like I said, I have a lot of catching up to do!

Looking into the butler's pantry. I have a ton of dishes and love to see them all displayed in the doors. I especially love the plate in the top window. It is from the church that I grew up in.

We used to use these at our monthly fellowship dinners. A couple of years ago when my sister and I started to really collect white dishes our mom was able to get us each one of these from our church. My sister Cindy and I were both married at 1st Christian Church.

OK, I now have to preface the next part of this post...It is all about the pantry. I would not normally post about my pantry, but my sister worked like a dog to make this little closet of heaven look so cute! All along this journey of selling, moving, etc...I could see God's hand on every aspect of this basket turn over!!! (Literally if you could see the baskets I have and "HAD".) THAT is another post!! Anyway I was blog stalking one night during the weeks of our move and right before we moved all the pantry items I ran across a blog where a very clever girl had "re-mixed" her pantry and WAS INSPIRED!!!!!!!! I don't dare tell you her blog until the end, because mine pales to her's!!!

The crazy thing has a glass door. I am thinking I want to get a vinyl monogram for my door to soften things a bit. Plus since it is a rental I can easily remove it. My inspiring blogger also has a vinyl lettering business as well. Maybe I will figure it out and get something ordered.

One of the things that she suggested was putting things that you would use together, together. All the baking things in one basket, all the spices together, all the coffee/tea/filters together. Another tip was putting heavy things like cans down low. I thought that was clever!!! I would have thought to put my can goods more at eye level, but they are cute!! Basket of food are cute!!

One thing I wish I could have done was paint the walls, but I am thinking I might paper the back walls with scrap booking paper and double sided tape. If I get around to it, I will do another post on it!!! I promise!!

You would think it is hard to keep it all straight and looking cute, but not so much. The only thing I see that happens is that when I unload the groceries it takes just a few extra minutes to empty the snack like items into the basket. I used to just dump them into my baskets.

I use the picnic baskets and other baskets to store things in as well like koozies and lunch boxes.

OK, this is a little bit of a kitchen tip that I have learned during my move. Did you know that if your facet is the American Standard that they have a LIFETIME WARRANTY??? SO if your sprayer button doesn't work any longer on your sink then they will send you new facet for free!!??? If your facet is all torqued like this one, they will send you another one for FREE??? HOT DOG!!! I'm sorry they won't replace your "gold package" just because it went out of style, but they will replace something that is broken.

I also dig the little sponge holder thing that I got at Target. I was used to having one of those tilt door things in front of my sink to hide the sponge, but didn't have one here. Plus I was getting grossed out with it just laying in the sink all the time. It's a good thing!!!

That is about all I have about all of this for now. I am already 3 days late on this post, but I do want to give a shout out to my sister and niece for all their hard work getting us moved and organized.

OK, as promised check out House of Smiths and see Shelley's amazing pantry re-mix!

A Day of Silence for...

2010-07-01T11:30:00.002-05:00

Show Us Your Life~Holiday Traditions~Advent Mailbox

2009-11-29T15:47:00.009-06:00

I have been away from blogging for several weeks, but I just couldn't resist doing a post about holiday traditions the Kelly at Kelly's Korner is doing. Probably like many of you, our family has a ton of traditions, but a favorite tradition for my boys is one that my sister started for them several years ago and they look forward to it every year when they see the little red mailbox come out of storage. We have an Advent Mailbox.

This little mailbox sits at the foot of the stairs and each morning there is an envelope inside that contains a single piece from...

this nativity scene. This is the sweetest little clay nativity scene every. I think my sister got it from the Cokesbury Bookstore. They look so forward to seeing what is in the mailbox each day and adding it to the Creche. (This picture was made from the Santa's Secure Workshop Location... aka...my bathroom. )

This little insert tells you what piece is for each day There are a couple of days that it wants you to make paper things like a road, etc... However, on these different days I on put a surprise treat in the mailbox to make it special for the boys. This year I am planning on putting the fixins for s'mores and homemade hot chocolate mix. We have an outdoor fireplace and they LoVe to make s'mores and hot chocolate. I thought this would be better than candy. I think that will give me something extra for four days.

On Christmas Day is when Baby Jesus goes into the mailbox. I have him nestled into a pretty gift box on a bed of raffia, for our most precious gift from above. They are so excited amongst the hub bub and excitement of Christmas Day to finally get the baby Jesus and add him to the scene.

Since my boys are getting older and they still "Believe" I want them to "believe" that Big Daddy and I have nothing to do with the advent mailbox. We hide the envelopes and put them in the mailbox after they go to bed at night. I have also wrapped up the actual creche and am going to have my neighbor put it on our doorstep and ring the doorbell this year. A little mystery for this magical time of year.

Day one will start with Mary...

"But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." Luke 1:30-32

This is such a fun way to get the Christmas season going and to remind us daily the real reason for the season. Thanks Aunt Cindy for starting this wonderful tradition for the boys. I have a feeling I will be doing this one for a long time.

DipTacular!~Bleu Cheese Chips

2009-09-06T13:28:00.012-05:00

BooMoma is hosting this week DipTacular in honor of the return of college football!! Oh Yea baby!!! We love football, it doesn't matter what it is PeeWee, City League, Big 12, SEC, WAC, or even high school. Like I said "We love football!!" Go Red Raiders and Allen Eagles!!! Anyway, she was wanting suggestions for your favorite dip to munch on while rooting for your favorite teams or tailgates. My go to dip is called "Bleu Cheese Chips" and is a total pour and go. Three very simple ingredients...

Kettle Chips, Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper.
+PLUS+

Prepared Pico de Gallo from your produce section.

+PLUS+

Small Container of Bleu Cheese Crumbles.

= HeAvEn!!!!

Here is the process...Get a nice size serving bowl like a pasta bowl. Pour chips into bowl. (Tip: cut the bottom of the bag and pour out of the bottom where all the "Uglies"(crumbles and broken chips) are first, that way they are in the bottom of your bowl). Then pour your prepared pico de gallo over the the top of chips and sort of spread it out. (No need to drain) Then sprinkle the small container of bleu cheese crumbles on top. Don't mix it up, it sort of looks like a pile of nachos. Put a nice large serving spoon to the side. Viola!!! It holds up well because the chips are so thick. If you want to you can pop it in the oven and melt the cheese a bit to add a twist to it. You will be the HIT of the party. It looks like something so special, but it sooo easy!!! I get giddy thinking about someone else trying this because it is so delicious!!! CrAzY SiMpLe ToO!!!

Show Us Your Life~School Pictures

2009-09-05T13:48:00.013-05:00

This week on Kelly's Korner she is having everyone show their old school pictures. I don't really have access to old school pictures from "the good old days" since my mom has all of those at her house so I thought I would show pics of my boys and the first days of school this year. I have been wanting to post about the first day of school, but time has just escaped me and plus I have just been just too tired from starting as a school nurse at the brand new elementary school here. WHEW!!! I'm tired!!

One of the biggest traditions of starting school is getting in the mail a letter from your new teacher. This is the way that the kids find out whose class they are going to be in. I will never forget when Big Boy got his first letter for Kindergarten. I started crying because Mrs. English had told the class to wear something red, white, or blue for the first day of school since it was the school's colors and we had just bought a cute red and white polo shirt for the first day. I thought that was just precious and that was when I knew I would be in a heck of a mess the first day of school if I was already crying over the teacher letter!!!

Since I am a school nurse I had to go back to work when the teachers did. So my mom came and stayed with us and the boys during my while I was back at work. I made her PROMISE me that she would take a picture of the boys opening their teacher letters. They had been stalking the mailman and I knew there was NO way they would wait until Big Daddy and I got home from work.

WhooHooo!!! We got the teachers we were hoping for!! Big Boy got Mrs. Angie Butler and Little Man has Mrs. Laura Gongos. Both are some of my favorite teachers at their school. We are already off to a great start!

The next big event was Meet The Teacher night. This is the Thursday night before school starts and the students get to meet their teachers, bring their school supplies, buy spirit wear, put money in lunch accounts, and sign up for tons of volunteer opportunities. Of course, I couldn't go with the boys because I had to be at my new school this year. Big Daddy was on his own with some help from my mom. He did manage to get a few pictures for me. Thanks Memommie!!

My baby is starting Kindergarten this year and he is so excited. I made for each teacher chalkboard painted buckets with goodies like Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer(the nurse in me), extra school supplies, bottle of Smart Water, and snacks from my boys. Little Man is giving his to his sweet new teacher.

Unwrapping the school supplies that we bought LAST MARCH!!! Yes!! At Kindergarten Registration Round-up. I LOVE LOVE the wrap packs!!! No driving around town looking for that special sized construction paper, plus it all goes in a community stack anyway.

WHOA!!! Third grade!! Our school is two-story and it is a BIG DEAL moving to the second floor. 3rd-6th are upstairs.

Big Boy had to go right out the back doors of the school after a quick Meet The Teacher to get to football practice. Poor thing had to wear his football pads/pants and cleats to Meet The Teacher. So much for looking cute and dressed up!!

Little Man checking out what it feels like to sit in Big Bros. 3rd grade desk. I think he likes it!

Big Boy and Mrs. Butler

On the first day of school I make signs for the boys to hold that shows their grade, year, and teacher's name. It is a tradition that we stole from my neighbor Judi and her family.

The boys are sporting their new red, white, and blue school spirit wear shirts. Yes!! Both boy's letters told them again to wear the school's colors. I swear I didn't cry this year!!

I tried real hard not to think about not being with my boys on the first day of school. My mom was a teacher and she was never there at my school with me. My dad had to do all the duty on the first day of school. I don't think I am warped or was emotionally disturbed by it, so I think they will survive without their Momma there.

Big Boy is looking like he is the only one who has a parent snapping pictures!!
Come on DUDE!!! Just one more with a smile for your Momma, and I'll get out of here and leave you alone!!!

I can't believe my big boy is a third grader!!!

I also wanted to show you my entry way table and iron tree. I love to decorate it for back to school. It starts out the fall decorations and this means the pumpkins and fall leaves are not too far away...

I put their pictures from the first day of school in the little school house picture frames.

I found these ornaments at Hobby Lobby this year. I have been looking for those little paper mache' apple ornaments that come by the dozen and can't find them anymore. You would think Hobby Lobby would have them since they have had Christmas decorations since May.

I looked forever for a school garden flag. I don't love this one, but it works! We have gotten off to a wonderful start to school. Now its time to get down to work!!

Sweet Home Alabama~Gulf Shores

2009-08-14T02:37:00.009-05:00

Welcome to another installment of Kelly's Korner~Show Us Your Life. This week Kelly is featuring favorite vacation spots. Welcome to our Sweet Home Alabama. The Hargrove Clan has made Gulf Shores, Alabama our summer beach tradition.

We fell in love with beach vacations 10 years ago when we first went to Destin Florida with my sister's family. We can hardly wait to sink our feet to the white sugary sandy beaches each summer.

We pretty much just hang out at the beach most of the days, then head to the pool , then back to the beach, etc... This year we invited our friends The Arrington's to come along and we had a total blast. It was so fun for our boys to have friends to play with 24/7.

We have always stayed at The Beach Club at Fort Morgan and love it!!! It is out from Gulf Shores, but well worth the few extra milesbecause it has a real resort feel to it. This is what I love to do the most at the beach, sit under the umbrellas and read. Check out the boy's trench in front of our chairs.

A little "Hot Box" on the lawn. Why is it baseball is never too far out of our minds??

Of course, our other main activity is EATING!!!! This is our clan eating at Lulu's. LuLu's has gotten so big a popular now. When we first starting going to Gulf Shores, it was a little bitty place and now it has tuned into a money making empire!!!

Of course, what would be a trip to Gulf Shores without eating at Lambert's? Home of the "throwed" roll! If you have never been there, it is a Gulf Shores MUST!!! They actually throw their delicious yeast rolls to you. The kids love this place and the food is so good and cheap!!!

We also went to a new place called The Hangout. Very Fun!! I would say it is like Lulu's meets Joe's Crab Shack.

If you have ever been to Gulf Shores, you know where this is...Souvenir City. The best place to buy those souvenirs.

We also spent one day at Waterville, the local waterpark. We usually do this mid-week to break up the beach for the boys. This was particularly fun because our boys experienced a roller coaster for the first time. Look at Little Man's face in the last seat...it says it all.

Pure Delight!

A visit to The Track to ride go-carts

One of the things that I love most about this trip is that is full of family time without all the distractions of work, home, school, sports, etc... We just get to enjoy being together. We ( Me) wanted to take some pictures on the beach. The last two times we had a photographer come out and take our pictures and I am so glad we didn't this time because it was so windy. I can't believe I wasted one minute fixing my hair....that was 30 minutes of my life that was totally wasted that I will never get back. It looked a total mess!

However, I did get a good one of my boys.

While we were on vacation, Big Daddy and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.

pause...sigh..., ok back to reality...

We had a wonderful time making memories with our friends.

Bye, Gulf Shores...we will see you next year...

Be Still...And Glue A Few Cracks

2009-08-02T12:49:00.006-05:00

You know that it has been a long summer and time to start thinking about getting back into the routine of school when you have this.....

plus this....

equals this...

Uh Oh, not a good thing.

Let me start by saying, I was not having my finest parenting moment(s). My big boy and I had already been at sorts with each other earlier in the day when I felt he was being ungrateful for something I had done for him. He is too much like me and has a big problem with pride; and he had done a little self imposed time out in his room. Big Daddy kept telling me that I needed to talk to him and tell him he could come out of his room...well, I never sent him to his room in the first place, he left and went up there on his own devices. Why should I tell him to come out? Quite frankly I was enjoying that the family room TV was off for what seemed like the first time all summer and I could not hear iCarly or Wizards of Whatever.

He later came down as they were all going to our elementary school to work on baseball (little man has a try-out for a select team tomorrow). Some how big boy had a brain lapse and thought nothing of playing with a beach ball that was in the house. That is when I heard the crashing and tumbling of things...I have never quite seen that shade of green on my big boy...especially when he had to bring me the broken "momma bird". I was fuming and grateful that they were leaving for a while. I was in dire need of a self imposed time out.

I sat down after they were gone and went to work on momma bird, both of us "momma birds". I kept telling myself that this was a 3.99 trinket from Garden Ridge, why was I so mad? Good golly!! Do I want my babies to think of me later as a mom that always loses her cool?? Do I have to much pride to be the first one to speak and make up? Sister you are the adult here!!!

As I glued and put her back together, I thought we are all alot like this broken momma bird. We all have moments that we snap, someone throws a ball at us and knocks us off our rockers, or we're just not equipped, but we most of the time can easily be fixed with little or no damage done. I would rather bear the cracks, than my precious babies bear the cracks any day. Food for thought. Thank you Jesus for this learning moment! I am listening!

Momma bird is mended has returned to watching over her nest... Thank goodness there is a Big Daddy bird tending the nest with her.

Not Your Everyday Scrambled Eggs!!

2009-07-20T00:42:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the new look of Scrambled Eggs!!! I won a blog makeover from Tricia Nae and she did a great job of re-designing my blog!! Thanks Tricia!! I have a lot to post from the last week. I turned the unmentionable BIG 4-0 and my fabulous friends and family helped ease the pain by helping me celebrate. I also just returned from a beach vacation and have pictures to post of our relaxin, chillaxin good time, but gotta get the groceries bought and the laundry done then I will get them posted.

Let Freedom Ring!!

2009-07-04T00:01:00.002-05:00

I love the 4th of July and love to decorate for the 4th of July even more. I think there is such a long break from Easter to another holiday and that is why I love to decorate for it so much. We are going to my mom's (Meemommie's) for the 4th of July and it is full of family traditions, but I thought I would share my entry way decor for the 4th. I got this cute pillow at Hobby Lobby last year, but I saw it again there this year.

I love to decorate the entry way. I do something here all the time. I had to adjust some of the decor to incorporate the hard earned baseball trophies from the end of the season. They have found their way up to the boy's bedrooms and Big Daddy's office.

I bought this iron tree a couple of years ago and have LOVED it!! I love figuring out a theme for it for each season or holiday. I found these lanterns in the dollar section at Target last summer. Perfect!!!

Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty

These red chairs are from Garden Ridge, sometimes we drag them out the front door and sit on the porch and watch the kids play in the cul-de-sac.

My boys rooms are sort of Texas lodge, meets Americana, meets sports. So I snag these throw pillows from their beds this time of year.

You can do alot of decorating with little flags from Dollar Tree. Poke 'em here...

there...

and everywhere!!

Little bench on my front side porch, the bench is from Canton Trade Days. (It starts this weekend).

I will have lots of fun pictures from our trip and activities/festivities to post when I get back. My mom doesn't have Internet at her house, only at her little office. Maybe I can hi-jack off someone's wireless in her neighborhood.

Everyone have a wonderful and safe Independence Day. Enjoy your families, traditions and make some new cherished memories.

Show Us Where You Live Fridays~Backyards

2009-07-02T13:31:00.008-05:00

Welcome back to Kelly's Tour of homes. This week she is featuring backyards (YES!) and garages (err...NO!) When she put out the schedule about 6 weeks ago (Spring) I thought I would be so excited to show our backyard, the flowering bushes, pots with plants, etc... Well, that was before this Texas heatwave and everything looks like it is about to kill over. Hello Summer in Texas!!

The pool looks refreshing doesn't it?? Well, its NOT...the water is 90 degrees. UGH!! This is just the first of July. Come August and September (our hottest time in North Texas) it will be a shrimp boil for my little shrimpies. Cue Margaritaville, oh yea, I already did that:-)

I was out taking these pictures this morning and the temperature was already 97 degrees. I thought I better get them taken because we are expecting friends over to swim in a bit and the toys and floaties would be everywhere. We built the pool the end of 2007 and as Big Daddy says "we have gotten our monies worth." The boys swim for a bit, then they ride their bikes, then back to the pool, then some baseball or basketball, back in the pool..... you get the drift.

Big Daddy and I each had our non-negotiables, his was the rock waterfall on the hot tub...

....and the palm tree. He loves them, me not so much. Only at the beach.

Mine was the fireplace and sitting area. S'mores galore and plus it is a fun place to decorate.

I got this Smith and Hawken lantern last year at Target, but my sister has turned me onto these outdoor candles from Target. They are battery operated AND have a timer!! They are in the outdoor section at Target. I love walking by the windows and seeing the lanterns on out by the pool.

Looking back towards the house from the sitting area.

This is under the patio and we love hanging out under here too. Big Daddy installed the TV out on the patio and I love to sit out here on the couch and watch Food Network and not be out in the sun so much.

We get to enjoy the back patio in cooler months with this patio heater. I love having the chance to sit outside when it is chillier, but we are all still toasty. This would be on my list of My Favorite Things if I were Oprah. Excuse the cruddy beach chairs, but we like to sit on them in the water on the tanning ledge. (once a country girl, always a country girl). My city girl friends all have them now too.

What would pool side be without "grab yourself a coozie for your beverage" from the basket 0'coozies?

Shoes, um I mean Crocs the boys footwear of choice during summer by the back door. Funny to see how each one wears the straps. Front or back??

Big Daddy and his Dad built our arbor. Big Daddy was like, I know why those are so expensive to have built. He doesn't want to have to do that again anytime soon.
This is a close up to the finish on the decking. It has what they call a Tuscan finish. They do all the scoring for the tile look by hand and there is sand placed on top before it is dry to make it not as slick. It can be hot to walk on, but good golly, it is 101 this afternoon anything would be hot.

That's it...that is probably more than you wanted to see, but one last picture. This is what is going on while I do this post. Wiffle ball, swimming pool style. Stay cool everyone!!! See ya next week.

We Are The 2009 PBA Champions!!

2009-06-30T23:20:00.001-05:00

Show Us Where You Live~Masterbedrooms

2009-06-26T18:28:00.008-05:00

Welcome back to the latest installment of Kelly's Korner Tour of Homes. This week she is peeking into master bedrooms. I have had a hard time tearing myself away from the television to get my bedroom picked up from watching all the Micheal Jackson and Farrah Fawcett coverage. Plus, my kiddos love to lounge in our bed and watch all the Drake and Josh's that they have DVR'd. We are in total summertime mode. (Actually just yelled at my boys to get out of my room for about the 100th time today...when you jump in the middle of the pillows on the made up bed, you have crossed the line!) Like I said, summertime!!

In all of my other homes, I always had different color paint, usually dark colors on the walls so when we moved into this house I decided to keep it light and neutral. The paint throughout our house is called Wheatridge by Ace Hardware. We toured a Southern Living featured home and that was the paint that had been used and we loved it.

I got the bedding from Stein Mart, it was actually a "bed in a bag". This bedding seems so hot to me right now, it is 101 degrees in Dallas right now. UGH!!! Plus, our bedroom faces the West and it feels about 101 inside. I made the floral arrangement above the bed E-ons ago...another model home inspiration.

This is what I am reading right now, when I am not obsessed with reading blogs. Creative Correction was suggested by my sweet friend Susan in my bible study and is written by Lisa Whelchel, you remember her?? Blair from Facts of Life?? This is a great book for with ideas and suggestions on disciplining your children (instead of yelling, like I just did). I love the section at the end of each chapter called "The Toolbox". I highly recommend it! Maybe I need to quit reading blogs and re-fresh myself and load a few tools into the Mommy Toolbelt!

Big Daddy's side of the bed, no books there!! Just the remote and sweet pictures of each of my boys the day they left the hospital.

We moved this credenza into our bedroom when Big Daddy started working from home. His office was too crowded, so we had the space in our bedroom. See that cute computer screen wallpaper?? It was free here at Whitney Caroline Designs. Check her stuff out, really cute!!

Closed the doors to the armoire for the picture only!!!

You can't really tell much about the picture above the armoire, but it is a Windberg of a church that Big Daddy bought me as a wedding present almost 18 years ago. Not crazy about the blue and mauve mat, but that was what was so "in" 18 years ago, at least its not a picture of ducks and country crockery!!

Look there, see how the door doesn't open all the way?? There is a weird little nook behind it and it made it tough getting the furniture in here.

The chair was a Salvation Army find for 20.00 and I had it recovered and I love it, unfortunately our little kitty does too, and I was noticing some scratchin' action going on on the ottoman. UGH!! The botanical print was a hostess gift that we got from one of our wedding showers.

These pillows are from my sister, mom, and my good friend Anna. My mom always signs her letters and cards "Hugs, Mom." So she couldn't resist the HUGS pillow.
OK, I am a cord cover FREAK!!! Love 'Em!! Gotta Have 'Em. You can always find them for less than 10.00 at Hobby Lobby when they go on sale for 50% off. I was bending over adjusting the cord cover, and look what I found in the magazine basket!!

How did that get there??!! Finders Keepers!!! I think I will just head on down to Sonic for Happy Hour!! Momma needs a "Coke". (all varieties are called "Coke" in these parts!!)

Thought I would add a picture of the straw that broke the camel's, uh I mean Momma's back that provoked THE yellin at kids moment! Why does everyone have to be within 10 feet of me at all times?? Yes, that includes you too Big Daddy. Man, I just made the bed!!

See ya'll next week...these boys are taking me out to eat tonight. The kitchen is CLOSED!

UPDATED*****If you live in North Texas and get WFAA Channel 8, Lisa Welchel will be on Good Morning Texas on Monday June 29th at 9:00 CST.

Flat Stanley Project~NYC

2009-06-25T13:37:00.007-05:00

I was clearing through one of the stacks of school work that came home at the end of school and ran across Zack's Flat Stanley Project. When this project came home we knew immediately where we were going to send Zack's Flat Stanley, to my niece Hannah who lives in New York City. Stanley's first stop was Times Square.
On Broadway

Headed towards his first subway ride...

Then to the Hershey's store

Stanly and the GIANT Hershey syrup bottles

One last ride on the subway, and then back to Texas.

It was fun to see where all the many Stanley's visited

Thanks Hannah for giving Stanley such a great trip!!

Baseball~The End is Near

2009-06-24T10:15:00.005-05:00

I can't believe that the end of baseball is near. Back in January, yes, that's what I said "JANUARY" that we would have sat through 50+ games for one boy. The end is near!!! Hallelujah!!! Me and my washing machine need a break!! Our team moved to a competitive league this season and finished in first place for league play! WOW!! The boys have worked so hard and we are extremely proud of them. There have been more exciting games this season and each game could have had a different outcome. The talent of these teams are very close so any given day you never knew what to expect.

We finished playing league play, but still had the end of season tournament and placed second.

Our team getting their 1st place league trophy(s)

Big Daddy handing out individual tournament trophies to the boys.

Our Champions!!!

The boys got some hard earned hardware!

Oh yea, and a little recognition for the lady who keeps the "whites looking white".

Like playing in ONE league is not enough...the end is near, but not over yet. Our other league has one more weekend filled with End of Season Tournament coming up to finish off the season.
What in the heck did we do the 10 years before we had kids??

Show Us Where You Live~Bathrooms And Then Some

2009-06-12T19:43:00.011-05:00

Welcome back to the latest installment of Kelly's Korner Tour of Homes. This week she is featuring where babies are bathed, girls primp, boys experience their first shaves with Dad's, and mom's escape to... maybe once every three days. You guessed it...bathrooms. Come on in and take a peek.

This is our master bathroom. Rather, I should say the "Family Bathroom". It seems that everyone takes their bath or shower in our bathroom. It actually makes for easy cleaning for me as I only really have to clean one bathroom and maybe just a couple of pottys. (My boys tend to tinkle in EVERY single one in the house). You too? I figured as much.
We want to remodel this bathroom, but can't really land on exactly what we want to do yet. Do we want to replace the wallpaper or do we want to just texture the walls and paint.? I am inspired by so many of your bathrooms and would like to rip out the cabinets, re-tile the floor and shower and for sure get rid of the "gold package" fixtures and lighting.

I love silver frames, accessories, and LAMPS!!

That picture of my oldest little baby...he is only 4 mos old and standing up!! (holding on of course). It is one of my favorites. Now he is eight!

YUCK! The clear shower doors. A nightmare!!

I bought this cute wire tower at a garage sale. I keep it here in the bathroom, but use it at a lot at parties and showers. As you can see by the basket of tub toys, the boys bathe here.

I love having this shelf in the bathroom. In our last home I had it hanging in our kitchen, but could not find a good spot for it once we moved. On a whim when I was nesting like a crazy woman the week before our baby was born, I thought of putting it here. It was a fine sight 9 mos. preggers and helping Big Daddy hang this heavy load up.

I don't have much to say about this picture, except....warning... I live in a house with all boys.

OK, I just wanted to share with you one of my most favorite summer time bath products. I love Calgon's Hawaiian Ginger Body Mist and Lotion. It smells just like tropical summer without smelling like suntan lotion. People always ask me what I am wearing when I have this on.

Looking into our downstairs guest bathroom.
I love walking by and looking in and seeing my little lamp.

My sister and I both bought these little bird feeders at Canton Trade Days a couple years ago. I never could really figure out what to do with it, so I put dried black eyed peas and tea lights in it.

Upstairs Guest Bedroom bathroom.

This is the other side of the guest bedroom bathroom and you can access from the hallway.

Our boys have a jack and jill style bathroom.

The little wooden basket was mine and probably my sister's when we were little.

Big Daddy made the little shelf for me when we moved into our first house, back in the day when everything was mauve and country blue. Boy, has my taste evolved!! Now its black, if ever in doubt, paint it black! That's my theory.

Big Boy's side of the bathroom

I added the ribbons to the top of the shower curtain to spruce it up.

OK....I would be remiss if I didn't include a picture of this...

This is a picture of our back yard and fence. Did I mention I have two boys who love to "water the plants?" I think that qualifies it as a bathroom. ;o) Keepin' it real folks!!! See ya next week!

Jackpot!!!!

2009-06-08T23:32:00.002-05:00

I have to share with you!!!! I just found out that I won a blog makeover from Tricia Nae!!! Whoo Hoo! I am so excited and can't wait to see what Tricia comes up with! Stay tuned!!

Show Us Where You Live~Offices & Boys Rooms

2009-06-06T13:09:00.015-05:00

Welcome back to another addition to Kelly's Korner Home Tour. This week she is featuring home offices. We have a true blue "Work from Home" office in our home UGH!! I am almost embarrassed to show you, but here goes...

Big Daddy owns a landscaping company and truly works out of our home and out of his truck. This is the view from the front door. That is what is so bad, it is one of the first things that you see when you walk in our front door. When we did our wood floors we had a lot of woodwork re -stained. However, we haven't gotten around to re-staining the woodwork in the office. Everything in our house had this 1990's pickle stain that has not aged well.

Big Daddy does a lot of things from his "headquarters". He has chaired many golf tournaments, co-chaired the Dad's club at our elementary school, organized teams that our boys have played on, prepared baseball lineups, planned vacations, and oh yes, not to mention run our business. I would not dare show you BEHIND the desk. Hopefully this summer I will dare to help him at least "straighten up" the place.

Baseball corner...Yes, three new bats just this season...(cha-ching$!$) As you can see and they just HAD to be overnighted. Game balls, uniforms, hats, ugh....

This is how I choose to keep the doors...I can't stand it..., but it is HIS space/little pigpen.

I keep my laptop in the kitchen in the butler's pantry. This way I can check e-mail or keeps tabs on my boys when they are on the computer.

I just pull up the bar stool from the island if I need to sit and have a spare stool in the pantry if the boys want to both play games on the computer. I also take the laptop around the house with me so I can watch my DVR'd shows or sit out by the pool.

I am like Kate over at The Flow of Flotrude, I spend most of my days at work, so I thought I would show you my office/Clinic where I work. I job share a school nursing position at a local elementary school and just LOVE it. The clinic that we have in our school is HUGE!!!

Bonus is that it is in the front of the school and has a window so I can see when parents drive up to pick up the their sick kiddo. I have loved working at Green Elementary, I have made a lot of new friends and the kids have been great!

All the letters on the wall are from Nurse's Day and from my class that adopted me this year. I want to give a " Shout Out" to Mrs. Doyle's 4th Grade Class!!! You guys ROCK!! They have given me some awesome things and have spoiled me rotten. I think the best thing was their "Parade of Students" when they brought me "special supplies" for the clinic one day. I just loved it. You know a class is going to be great, by the Fabulous Room Parents and Teacher!!!

Like I said, it has been a great year, but when you say "Good- bye" to one thing, you say "Hello" to the start of something new. I am so fortunate to have been hired to be the new school nurse in the brand new elementary school in our town. I am so excited!! We got to actually go into our new school last weekend and here is a picture of my new clinic.

Ta Da!!!!

It is MUCH smaller

No window, but all NEW stuff!!!! The big two door cabinet goes in the bathroom for supplies.

Nice counter tops and alot of storage for the small space.

I can't WAIT to get in here and get it all set up and decorated for my students. I have alot of ideas about what I want to do. I have loved job sharing and shared space with a WONDERFUL nurse, but I a so excited to have everything be MY OWN!!!

I was so busy last week with tying up loose ends with school and will recap the last 10 days of all the school activities in my next post. We had 7 baseball games in 5 days, plus parties, school, church, etc... You ALL have been there!!! However, I didn't get a chance to post my boy's rooms so I am tacking them on here. Just a quick peek....

This is Little Man's room. I love this black bed because it has a trundle under it in that box drawer thing. We just recently put this furniture in here as my big boy got a double bed. This bed used to be in his room and little man used to sleep on the trundle bed, despite the fact that he had his own room and own toddler bed. We hadn't really felt like upgrading his bed, because he was still sleeping in the same room with Big Bro.

The denim chair is actually a glider rocker and was in both of the boy's nurseries.

Cowboy theme, for my little buckaroo.

This is a potting stand that I bought at Canton Trade Days that Big Daddy painted. We added the buffalo check cushion and used it as a changing table. It is still in Kyle's room with toys on the shelves. He doesn't really ask about the cushion, so I have left it on there. It is really hard for me the transition to the BIG BOY room, because the rooms were not really real "babyish" to begin with. Once where we stored pampers,we now store power rangers, backugons, and matchbox cars.

This is my Big Boy's room. We haven't found a headboard yet for him. My sister gave us the bed unexpectedly a couple of months ago, so I just sort of through some stuff together for Zack's bed. He loves the big bed. You can see all the "cuteness" is starting to disapper and "sports posters" are about to dominate.

Sports Trophy's and team pictures. The batting helmet on top is signed by the Texas A&M Aggies Baseball team from last year. They were the Big 12 Conference Champions and Zack attended their baseball camp and got the know #44~Luke Anders aka "Big Donkey". He is their 1st baseman. Like my nephew Ben who plays baseball for Texas Tech said, when they played against Luke and the Aggies..."he is the biggest player I have ever seen". He is a Beast, but the nicest guy around.

Zack's reading area. He does not share his mother's love of reading. Dr. Seuss has been replaced with Sports Illustrated for Kids and Professional Team game programs.

This is a shot looking into the boy's bathroom...now if they only took their bath's in there. I guess we will get to see the bathrooms next week!!!

***Special thanks to Cheri at Cheri Quite Contrary for her assistance with my technical difficulties!!! Thanks new friend!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-03T22:17:00.002-05:00

Show Us Where You Live Friday~Dining Rooms

2009-05-21T20:59:00.011-05:00

Welcome back for the newest installment of Kelly's Korner Tour of Homes. This week we are touring all over the counrty and taking a peak at where families gather around the table to celebrate holidays, birthdays, and family dinners. Welcome to my dining room, the second least frequented room in my home. (We celebrate most holiday meals at my sisters.)

We bought this dining room furniture 16 years ago and it is really traditional. I pride myself on being a traditionalist, but this is a little formal for us now. However, I don't like change very well, so it stays for now.

This is looking into the dining room from our living room. (the LEAST frequented room in my home). I run into the living room when I talk on the phone to escape my boys and the sound of Sponge Bob Square Pants. The moldings are done very nice in here, traditional, but nice.

I added the shades to the existing brass chandlier. I wanted to change the thing so bad when we first moved in, but now I am embarassed to say it has sort of become invisible to me. Lookie there...it that a light bulb burned out? Nice!

But I am the Queen of the dimmer switch. If everylight in the house could have a dimmer on it, I would be a happy woman. I don't really like overhead light to begin with, but can work with it if it has a dimmer.

Looking back into the living room

{entry way light with a dimmer :-)}

I bought this piece two houses ago and it has been in a different room in each house. I store placemats and candles here. In our last house this was in our family and I kept a downstairs supply of diapers and wipes for quick changes. The picture is a Windberg that used to be in my MeeMaw's apartment.

This is the butler's pantry right inside the kitchen area. I use it for my laptop and sort of desk area. Hey! There are my two sweet nieces on the screensaver!!

This sofa table was a wedding present 18 years ago!! It has seen ALL the homes we have lived in. A long time ago a decorator friend told me that when you have an accessory table you should have 3 things on it. Well, I have 3 vingettes going on here. 3 finials from Hobby Lobby, a clock, and a cake plate with 3 rose bowls with candles on top. I think I pushed the "rule" to the limit here. The clock is one I treated myself to a couple of years ago from a place in Plano called AntiqueStop.

This is my formal dinnerware (you know, because we are SO formal). I chose Lenox Eternal pattern because it has a classic look and my mom and sister have a pattern called Mansfield that looks almost identical. When we have a shower,we have 36 salad plates between the three of us!! In addition to the Eternal salad plates, I also selceted to get the Holiday salad plates when I did my wedding registry. This was a BOLD step 18 years ago when I got married. All in all I am still really happy with the choices I made back then. We still have and use the white Mikasa pattern that I chose for our everyday dishes.

In the last several years my mom started this pattern for me which I LOVE! It is Christmas Tree Grove by Spode. This is much more my style and we use it for our everyday dishes during the holidays. It is a litte different than the traditional Spode Christmas pattern.

I really love the paint treatment we did in the dining room. When we bought the house it had a deep burgandy almost purple paint on the walls. The paint now is a mossy green (Ralph Laren ~ Herb Garden) with a tea stain over the top of it also by RL. It was so easy to do too. Big Daddy painted the room one day and then the next day we did the tea stain while the kids took a nap. It was really quick and we were so surprised with the finished product.

When we first moved into this house, it had carpet in the living and dining rooms, so when we put down the hardwood floors we needed a rug for the dining room. We found this rug at Costco for not much money and it has worked great!! We thought it would get the job done for now, you know those kind of purchases. You spent your bundle on the the floors, but now you need a rug for cheap. The durn thing has actually grown on me. It stays for now.

I thought I would throw in a picture of my family at my sister's house and HER dining room, this is where we usually gather to celebrate! Thanks for stopping by and see ya next week. Y'all come back now!!!

Field Trips

2009-05-21T06:36:00.006-05:00

Fields Trips...didn't you just love 'em when you went as a kid? It is one of those things that just isn't the quite the same when you go as an adult and chaparone. My second grader, soon to be third grader had a field trip to the Rough Riders baseball game.

Here is Zack's class getting ready to load the bus. Zack is the one there with arms cross thinking there mymomis with her dang camera AGAIN!! Whoo Hoo!! Parents didn't have to ride the bus, you could just follow behind in your own car!

The Frisco Rough Riders is a Minor League Baseball team, but they have a wonderful facility and they do great things for our surrounding communities and it is a great family day venue. I wasn't sure what the purpose of this particular field trip was going to be, but soon found out that it was "Elementary School Day". Uh Huh!!! about 6000 kids! You had to be affiliated with a school to get tickets to the game.

It was a beautiful day, but HOT!!

Our school getting recognized on the jumbo tron

Trip to the souvenir shop for trinkets. Why else do you want mom to come on the trip??
Zack got a pennant for his room and a BIG foam finger!

Mom comes for a moment like this.

I love you Zack and am so proud of you.

A Weekend Full Of Graduation And Gratitude...Ready or Not

2009-05-20T11:54:00.013-05:00

This past weekend was full of milestones for my family. My youngest, Kyle graduated from preschool and my niece Grace graduated from Oklahoma University. My sister and I are 10 planned years apart. My mom, aka Meemommie came in from West Texas busting with pride to see her grand children do their thing. Friday started off with Kyle's end of school program at his preschool. The children who will be starting public school next year perform and it is sort of like a graduation/recognition program.

The stage was all set, and so was my heart. I am so ready for him to go to kindergarten next year because I know he is so ready to be there. I was REAL happy when I wrote my last check for tuition earlier this month. OK, back to my heart... when Ms. McClinitic welcomed everyone, I felt my face get red and my eyes start to fill. Where was this coming from??? I am so ready, Kyle is so ready.......I thought I was ready. Get a grip!!! You are ready!!! I think I was just overcome with gratitude to these wonderful people who have helped form Kyle's little life so far. These are the people who have taken time on their Saturday's to come watch him play sports, who tell me he is so precious, who tell me he is a good friend to others, a quiet leader by example. UGH!!! Am I really ready to let go of this innocence just yet??

A sweet little preschool where you get to sing about God's Amazing Grace and how they have "Joy, Joy, Joy" down in their precious little hearts? Kyle has made some great little friends at preschool and I was just a little unexpectedly sad to see it come to a close. I won't even discuss the slide show at the end where they played no other than Amy Grant's "Friends are Friends Forever" and showed pictures of our babies. I get choked up just typing it.

Our Littlest Graduate

Buddies Ryan, Kyle, and Braden on their way to lunch with the moms

We went to Momma's pizza for lunch afterwards to celebrate.

Then the next morning my mom and I set off for Norman to see Grace, my niece graduate from OU. We missed the all University graduation on Friday night and opted to go to see her graduate from the College of Mass Communications. We should have gone to the Friday night event, we heard that it was amazing with fireworks and all.
When mom and I got to Norman we met up with my sister and her clan. Let me introduce them...My sister Cindy is in the pink,my mom, Gracie Girl our graduate, my brother in law Rich, (my boys call him E-Rich) me and my niece Hannah. Hannah lives in NYC. Crazy Texas girl living in the big city and all!!!

Our Girl all "Pomp and Circumstance"

Here she is pointing out to her friend her red-necked hillbilly relatives!!!

"Yep, them right there!!"

She did it!!! And the girl's got a job waiting for her in Dallas to boot!!!

Mission Accomplished!!

Grace, we are so proud of you!!!

After graduation we had a nice lunch feast at Legends in Norman of delicious steaks, blue cheese wedge salads, and scrumptious Coca Cola cake as well as my favorite, lemon cake.

Grace opened her presents, shed a few pent up for 22 years tears, and we shared alot of laughs. Poor Grace sort of had that same kind of moment that I had where she was all caught off my her emotions. She thought she was ready. ;-) Shhh....she really is.

Crazy Sisters

After lunch, it was time to head back home to North Texas. You can't get in the car without a drink and snacks with this bunch! Grace had us go to The Classic 50's. It is an old Sonic that I don't think has been updated since the 50's!! They sell delicious cokes (all flavors are called "coke" where I am from) and you can add peanuts, skittles, hot tamales, and really just about anything you can think of to your drink. I couldn't decide, so I settled on old faithful...Dr. Pepper. The place had good crushed ice too!! My brother in law was so sweet to drive my car so all us girls could ride together, visit and spend time together. Thank E-Rich!!

We had a little pit stop on the way home at the Cracker Barrel in Gainsville. My mom was just going to "wait in the car". OH NO!!! You HAVE to come in and SEE all the stuff in the General Store. They don't have Cracker Barrels where I grew up and so she had never been to one before. My mom is not a "road trip" kind of gal. She will fly and meet you where ever your destination is, but don't ask her to ride in the car for much more than 100 miles. Hence, the reason for not ever stepping foot inside before. We had alot of fun giggling and laughing at stuff. We left bladders empty; sack full of Yankee Candles, (Sea and Sand fragrance~smells like Coppertone suntan lotion), ZOTS candies, and some trinkets for my boys all courtesy of my sweet bro-in law. Thanks again E- Rich!!! I think he has traveled with the clan long enough!!

Hannah came over on Sunday to have lunch with us before she headed back to NYC. Because of all the graduation celebration she had not seen my boys. We had brunch of some southern favorites, pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, baked beans, and homemade blackberry cobbler. It was a beautiful day and we just hung out and had lunch outside. Hannah we miss you, wish you would come back to Texas!!

Show Us Where You Live Friday~Guest Bedrooms

2009-05-15T22:11:00.009-05:00

Welcome back to Kelly's Korner Tour of Homes. This week she is featuring the guest (forgotten) bedroom. I am like Kelly, I have not done much to my guest bedroom and almost embarrassed to show it, but here goes...

Welcome to the only room in my house that doesn't have color on the walls. Most of the time the only people that sleep here are my mom and Big Daddy's folks. My sister's family stays with us on Christmas Eve. I love when they come and spend the night, even though they live in the same town as us. We HAVE to be all together to see what Santa has brought. Sometimes I move up stairs to the guest bedroom if Big Daddy is having some REAL restful sleep (snoring up a storm) and I just can't take it anymore. (You know what I am talking about!!!)The bed is from Thomasville and the matalasse is from good ole TJ Maxx from my Sis for Christmas several years ago.

This cute mirror is from my sister about 10 years ago. She got it at Sample House.

I made this pillow and it was super easy. I reused a throw pillow that was out of style, bought a bouquet of red peonies from Hobby Lobby, cut the blooms off and hot glued them in rows. I had seen one at Nordstrom and it cost around $120.00. CRAZY!! Mine, less than $7.00.

This is a sheet of paper dolls that I bought in New Orleans when I was in college. My mom had it framed and matted for me to hang in my first apartment.

This was my cradle when I was a baby. My mom went out and bought this the day she found out she was pregnant with me. Many, many, many family members and friends have put their babies in this cradle. Since it was 32 years since I had first slept in it, it was in major need of of some TLC beofre it was ready for my babies. My Father -in-law stripped and re stained it for us. He did a great job.

My Sis had the bedding made for it when I had my first baby Zack. I am sensing a future post about my sister coming soon. There is alot of her contributions in my guest bedroom. She has THE most precious house and she is a big influence in my decorating style.

I am so embarrassed that we never got around to finishing this piece of furniture. I have had it in different rooms and have never been sure if I should paint or stain it. I used to think that I might have a little girl and that it would be cute for a girlie room, but that just ain't gonna happen!!

I store ALL the Battenberg lace table cloths and linens that my mom gets me (and my sister) on her trips. She LOVES that stuff and has made sure that my sister and I each have at least one or maybe two of everything she buys.

Cutie things on top.

Yes, another piece of unfinished furniture. The little ladder back chair belonged to Big Daddy's grandmother. I think it was avocado green when we acquired it from Big Daddy's parent's lake house 20 years ago.

My mom bought this rocking chair the day she found out she was pregnant with my sister. The framed picture was from my grandmother's house. It is a photo taken of my dad's sister and two of her girlfriends. My aunt is the one on the bottom left. I looked alot like my aunt at the same age. I am laughing at myself now, the beautiful needle point pillow was a gift from, you guessed it...my sister.

My guest bedroom bath. I can't stand this wallpaper, but we have never gotten around to changing it. You know that saying "out of sight, out of mind". I always put white towels in here, bottles of water, and a new unopened full size bar of soap so it will feel like a hotel.

This is coming into the bathroom from the hallway, this side services the game room.

OK, see that smoke detector...waaayyyy up there on the ceiling of the guest room? It has been beeping with a low battery for about the last 10 days. Well, my mom was coming to town for my niece's college graduation and was going to be staying with us. Uh huh...your thinking the same thing I was. How in the heck are you supposed to get up there and change the battery??

Not like this!!!!! Big Daddy had the wrong kind of ladder and LEANED, yes "LEANED" the end of the ladder against the "SLANTING" part of the ceiling. Big Daddy was like "why are you snapping pictures?" I told him I was taking pictures so I could show the insurance company how exactly he fell and broke his neck!! Not really, I knew it would be "blog worthy". (You know those opportunities)

Hey, Big Daddy since you have that ladder out (and are living dangerously), can you change the light bulb...

UP HERE?

YEA!!! The light works again!!!

Show Us Where You Live~Living Rooms

2009-05-10T18:34:00.008-05:00

I am a little in getting my pictures posted of my living and family rooms. Better late than never.

This is one of my most favorite areas of my house. When you first walk in the front door you see this table. I usually decorate it with seasonal decor and put holiday pillows in the chairs. Today it sports a flower that by son made for me for Mother's Day in Sunday School. I love the metal tree that I have small votive candles hanging and I love to change decorations for the tree too.

About two years ago we changed out the balusters on the staircase to these metal ones. It was such a small change, but made a huge difference. I feel like it is jewelry for my house.

The fireplace is see through to the family room. It gives the illusion that there are two, but really just one.

The little black chest in the living room also serves as a place that I love to put things to spotlight in my house. The flowers are from students from my school where I am a school nurse. They gave them to me this week for Teacher/Staff Appreciation week. I also have pictures from my wedding 18 years ago and picture from my sister's wedding 28years ago. WOW!!

Looking down to the living room from the top of the stairs

There is a cubbie area over the entry way. I love this area and when I decorated it I was so excited that I filled t with things I already had. I love it when you can re-use things that you already have. There is a light up there, but Big Daddy needs to get up there and change the bulb.

This is looking into our family room from the entry way.

That is the other side of the see-through fireplace. I love the Noah's Ark picture over the mantle, my family gave it to me when I graduated from nursing school.

This chair with the ties on the back is one of my favorites.

My boys grab these chairs in the morning and eat (yes, I know...) breakfast. Always a fight as to who gets the red one. That brown basket/bowl thing with the lid is where I "hide" all the Happy Meal toys, Backugons, and hot wheels when I do the quick pick up. You know what I am talking about , all the loose stuff. :-)

We put in the wood floors about 3 years ago and decided on this walk way around the room where we have high traffic areas.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

2009-05-05T07:41:00.014-05:00

This is going to be a Cinco de Mayo themed post today. I have been wanting to post the pictures from the fundraiser that I co-chaired at my son's elementary school about a month ago. There was so much work that went into it and my family sacrificed so much during those10 days that I hadn't had the energy to put the pictures up and do them justice. However, in the spirit of Cinco de Mayo and mere coincidence that the theme was Fiesta, this seems to be the perfect day for the pictures!
We had this fun mariachi band that greeted the guests when they checked in.They wandered up and down the halls playing and entertained while people they dined on the Mexican food (my favorite) from On The Border. I have to confess when I walked out of the auction room after I had made the final touches and opened the doors to the public,I saw these guys and their sounds were music to my years and I got a little weepy. It hit me all the hard work we had done and now was the time for it to pay off. The mariachi band really set the mood for the evening! OK, lets go see all the stuff!!!

Welcome to the 4th Annual Boon Family Dance and Silent Auction!!

We had a cool patio heater, a fire pit, hammock and stand, not to mention this umbrella and PRECIOUS cooler on wheels to bid on. This first room is where I usually put all the summertime fun stuff. Everything is usually so bright and cheery and people are usually VERY excited about summer stuff.

All the fun stationary paper signs in the buckets have a different item for sale. I LOVE this part because get to matched the donation to the paper. So if it a family fun pack for bowling, I get bowling paper. If it is a certificate for dance lessons/camp, ballerina paper and so on. In this picture it is all the things you can do over the summer. Water parks, adventure parks, fun camps, festivals, rodeos, museums, symphony tickets, and SO MUCH MORE!

This is still same area, but the cute fire pit and accessories to make s'mores. Also on this side was family getaway trips, and weekends ventures. My girlfriends and I bought a night at a local resort last year from here and we went and stayed there over Mother's Day weekend and had spa treatments and sat out by the pool. We had a blast, and each of us brought something for the group, like cute flip flops, night gowns, etc...OK, enough of that, back to the auction...

Kid Summer Time Fun

This one was "Changes In Latitude, Changes in Attitude meets Margaritaville"

This is 2 VIP carpool lane spots, "Come rain or shine, be 1st in line", and also a Reserved Parking Spot with your family's name on the sign. We added these to the auction for the 1st time last year and 2 of the same people bought them again this year. You should have seen the people hovering over these items!!!

This is the PARTY section. It is filled with different types of parties like dance, skating, pizza, gymnastics, swimming, etc... Also there is the cute display that was "Birthday Party Celebration" with the cute blow up birthday cake, and way too cute birthday party accessories. The big pink "fluffy" chair was a display that was done by 2 of our second grade classes. It was called "Tween Queen" and also featured an iPod Nano with it. You also could bid on Happy Meals~one a week for a year!

Take a look at those beautiful pinatas. They were handmade by some of our very talented moms. Let me tell you, they were exquisite. We auctioned them off for 25.00 each and we had 10 of them and they were some of the hottest selling things! ChaChing...$250.00!!

" Girly Girls "and all things "Juicy" were in this other chair done by two other second grade classes. One of our 5th grade classes sponsored the Jonas Brothers Concert tickets for 4 lucky girls that will be here in Dallas in June. Those tickets were the highest bid item sold.

You can catch a glimpse of mom's and ladies section. We had massages, facials, housekeeping services, wine tasting parties, clothes, mani/pedis, flower arrangements, jewelry, Vera Bradley Miller bag and makeup bag, and so much more.

I loved these dog displays and so did everyone. They had dog sitting and grooming service gift certificates included. This one was done by two of our 3rd grade classes for "big dogs" and it was called "Bad to the Bone."

Two other 3rd grade classes created this one for "small" dogs and it was called "Beverly Hills Chichaua. Everyone loved looking at these because the displays were so different from anything that we have had in the past.

6th grade sponsored "Family Movie and Game Night" We also had a stand alone item of an autographed picture of John Travolta. See that popcorn bowl? I WANT IT!! Visit www.swoozies.com

6th grade also did this "Road Trip" display an put all the goodies in a cool container that you stash stuff away in the back of your car or SUV. It also had a portable DVD player, hotel gift cards, and snacks that you eat on road trips like chips, sunflower seeds, and beef jerky. What do you eat on road trips??

We call this the Dad's section, minus the scary leprechaun twirler girl poster thing. We featured Nascar, horse track, soccer, hockey, football, and baseball tickets. The poster thing on the wall was a vendor donation of a life sized poster of your child that you could have produced and hang it in you kiddos bed or game room. I was pumped when we found out that we were getting it because it isn't a cheap thing to have done and I knew we could hang it in our sports area, and would be real popular. Well...when we got it, it was of this twirler, not that there is anything wrong with twirlers, but when you think you are getting a baseball or football player, it just isn't the same. I got the giggles so bad I had to walk away....hehehe. I think by that time I was on day 5 of sleep deprivation.

Sports memorabilia. We had a football signed by Texas Tech Football Coach, Mike Leach, Dallas Stars jersey signed by Mike Modano, signed Dallas Mavericks basketball, signed photos of Jason Kidd, Earl Campbell, and someone else, I can't remember. We also had a many golf packages, and lessons. "Dude Heaven"

Also in the back of the Dad Section we had had lawn services, Maui Jim Sunglasses, and pest control services to be bid on.

Texas Tech autographed football and spirit wear featuring our very own Allen Texas 5A Football Champions.

Boy Heaven!!

5th grade sponsored the Pro-wing scooter, skate boards, and ramp. They also did the Rip Rider 360. 3rd grade sponsored the fishing equipment display.

Kindergarten did "Toy Chest" and with 6 sections of kindergarten at our school I think we had nine different displays. Most people buy one of the displays and stock their gift giving closet with the toys for birthday parties. Aren't those flowers cool on the walls?? I just love those!!

"Ahhh, the Havana Nights Party" 40 Couples pay 60.00 each to attend an off campus adult party. We made 2400.00 selling tickets for the party and it sold out in 17 minutes. Major CHA-CHING!! Thanks Ron and Shana for hosting the party!!

This was what we call "El Mercado" or "The Market". All the area restaurants and food gift cards were out in this area. It is really popular and usually the food gift certificates go for face value. Do you see that spice rack? Not alot of people have those hanging on their walls these days and I was really worried that they might not sale. Holy Cow!! We had 4 of them and I think they went for around 75.00 each. Everyone was like "do you know how much spices are at the grocery store?" Plus they were McCormick Spices! We have a family at our school and the mom works for them and gave us the donation. We also featured out in this hallway about 12 different photography packages, interior design consultations, cooking lessons, and other household items.

We had also in this back area "Boon Bakery" and had volunteers donate a cute baked good and auctioned them off as well. It wasn't your typical bake sale. If you made cookies, you put them in a cute cookie jar and you got the cookie jar to keep. Grandma's famous pie was in a reusable ceramic pie pan. We had some amazing items and was a big success. We hadn't planned to have as many items and were a little overwhelmed by the response.

We also had so many fun things for the kids to do. We had a bounce house in our gym with a d-jay and a guy that taught the kids dances. He was fabulous! We also had photo buttons, airbrush tattoos, a magician, and quarter raffle baskets that are done by the teachers for the kids to put tickets in. The teachers are really creative in what they do for those baskets. One Kindergarten teacher will come to your house and read a bed time story to you and your siblings and have cookies and milk, another whole grade level has a Friday night lock-in for 6 students and 6 friends until 10:00 and they get to be in the school after it is closed, order pizza, play in the gym, ice cream sundaes, and more fun stuff. We also always have a gold fish for raffle and this year had a hermit crab and habitat. Our teachers and school are so awesome and it is such a pleasure to put on an event like this to raise money for our school. We are a relatively new school so there is so much that is still needed. We raised over $18,000 that night which is alot for a public school. It takes alot of volunteers to put on, but well worth the investment in our future.

Speaking of the future....I see tacos for dinner in my future, I better get on that!! Adios mi Amigos!!!

A Boy And My Camera

2009-05-04T16:34:00.003-05:00

I down loaded pictures from my camera on Sunday and look what treasures from my nest I found ... Nice... actually amazed that the laces are tied!
OK, getting more information, is that Big Daddy?

Yes, I recognize that little bird mouth

Yes, that is the mouth that momma bird feeds

and these are the shoes that Momma bird is constantly picking up.

Show Us Where You Live

2009-05-03T16:43:00.007-05:00

Over at Kelly's Korner she is sponsoring a tour of homes every Friday. I didn't think that I was going to participate, but I have enjoyed looking at everyone else's homes so I thought I would add mine as well. Why not right? Who doesn't ask your husband to drive by reeeaaal sloooow that darling house that you love so much so you can peek in while the lights are on and the curtains are still open? Well, come on by and take a little peak....I promise not to turn out the lights on you!

From our family room looking in

A view from the eating area. Notice, I don't have granite everywhere. We just put it on the island and the upper bar area. It gives the illusion that it is everywhere. Smoke and mirrors baby!

I love the pot rack. We used to have a huge light box over the island with fluorescent lighting. Big Daddy took it down and patched the ceiling. It looks so nice. I actually use it to help store my pots and pans. I don't really have alot of cabinet space, or maybe I have too much stuff.

These are a couple of cute little tea towels that friends have given me that I have hanging on my oven doors. Funny and true.

I love these jars. We actually use them and I put snacks in them for my family. I love that show Brothers and Sisters. Nora, (Sally Field) has crackers or something in hers in her kitchen. I was like "I'm gonna do that to mine too." So I took them out of the living room and put them on my island. Big Daddy said this was an "accident waiting to happen" with my boys. So far so good. I actually put some sort of seasonal decoration in the tallest one because I couldn't really think of some kind to snack to keep it filled with. Any ideas?? I like the spring time butterfly thing for now.

This is sort of a silly picture of my upper cabinets, but I wanted to show you were I put my boy's school work. Yep, just like I said I would never do...right smack dab on the cabinet door.

My sweet friend, Michele gave me this cute magnetic chalk board for Christmas. I keep things that I really need to remember on it. I have another bulletin board in my kitchen, but too embarrassed to show it. This one is holding a "speshel" invitation from my second grader to a Mother's Day Tea in his class next week. Oh yea, and my jury summons.

My butler's pantry and more dishes! I think I have too much stuff!! I just can't help it, I love dishes. This is where I keep my laptop and bible study books. I just finished Beth Moore's Esther study and am about to start Anointed-Transformed-Redeemed, a study of David by Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, and Kay Arthur. I have taken studies from all three before so one written by all of them should be great. I can keep tabs on the boys while they are on the computer here while I am in in the kitchen and more importantly while THEY are on the Internet. I have thought about turning this into a desk, or maybe putting in a wine fridge, but then again, I don't want to give up storage space.

All our baby cups

Breakfast area. We hardly ever eat here, even though I wish we did.

I love the plate collection on the wall. The white one in the center has a picture of my church that I grew up in. We used to eat on them when we had fellowship dinners. My mom got my sister and I both one. Last year that church, 1st Christian in Big Spring, Texas celebrated its 125th anniversary.

A view from the laundry room. Please Kelly, don't ask us to show that one!! :-)

Into our family room

I really do like to cook, but don't do it too often, except for alot of scrambled eggs for my big boy. We come and go so much for sports, it is sometimes just easier to eat out.

I do use the heck out of that coffee pot and the mixer!! I usually have some sort of cute container to put granulated sugar in that is seasonal. I haven't found anything for right now as we are sort of in between holidays. That Neiman Marcus cookbook, is more for show. The recipes are too complicated!!

OK, I feel like I am on an episode of CRIBS, so I thought I would show you a shot of what is in my fridge. Nothing special...salad fixins, Cinnabon bread (the best!) and of course...eggs for none other...scrambled eggs.

Havana Nights

2009-05-03T13:08:00.010-05:00

On Friday night we went to a Havana Nights fundraiser for our elementary school. We actually sold the tickets for this party at our Family Dance and Auction about a month ago. It was so popular that all the tickets were sold in 15 minutes. People were racing in to get their names on the list, it is a perfect way to get people to the auction EARLY!!

Our wonderful hosts for the event were Ron and Shana Bentson, this is Shana and one of my BFF's Marianne.
The concept is this...Barcardi (yes, the makers of the rum and Grey Goose Vodka) come and host an instructional event. They bring in all the fixins for the drinks, along with bartenders to instruct you how to make tasty Martinis, Mojitos, and shaken Daiquiris.

This was the instructional bar where they walk you through how to make the drinks. You had the choice of Limon, Raspberry, or Classic. They were all very delish!!

My girlfriend Rhonda "muddling" her Limon Mojito

Me, MA, Anna, and Kari

MA trying out a shakin' thang

Our Posse' of friends.

MA's husband Todd kept making fun of her darling off the shoulder shirt . He said it looked like when he tries to dress their little girl and Claire's arm goes through the neck hole instead of the arm hole. He kept saying "you think you have that shirt on right?"

We have had so much rain here in Dallas that the humidity made it feel like we were in Havana Cuba. It was such a fun party. Big Daddy told me that we were not going to stay very long, but guess who stayed until after 1:00!!! We are NOT spring chickens either!!

As if a late Havana Night wasn't enough...we had to hit it hard Saturday morning with two games for Ziggy. Big Daddy is the coach for both... Eye yaya....why did we stay out so late?? Can you say Starbucks?? The Little Coyotes had their first baseball game. They did AWESOME!! We only had 2 practices because we have been playing flag football this spring. They are all 4 and 5 year olds playing up with 6 year olds in Modified Coach Pitch. MCP is where they get 4 pitches from the coach and then if they can't hit it they get to use the tee. Big Daddy said he couldn't handle another season with the little guys in regular t-ball so he moved them up a league. It looks like we will be just fine there.

Then it was off to football, our last game of the season. Almost all of these little guys play on the same baseball team. For some reason we got placed in a division where everyone is BIG and going into 1st grade. YIKES!! It has been a very tough season. We will be ready for Fall football!!

You would never think that Zig just lost 24-0 would ya?

Kyle and several of his classmates from preschool play together on the Patriots and their sweet teachers came to see them play yesterday. Thank you Mrs. Stevenson and McClintic!!

Time to hit the showers...or maybe just take a nap!!

A Royal Hodge Podge

2009-05-01T10:29:00.007-05:00

This week at Ziggy's preschool they had a Nature Expo Open House and the parents were invited to come tour all the work that kids had done while studying nature. This was the display from Zig's class and they had studied earth worms and had done an estimation experiment on the fragility of eggs. (OK, those were not preschool words!)

This was Kyle's clay model of a bird's nest

Worms

Worms,

and more worms.

I am a Registered Nurse and have been job sharing a school nurse position at a wonderful elementary school this year. I have been blessed with the fantastic opportunity to help open a brand spankin' new school in our town and I am just beside myself with excitement. Don't get me wrong, I am so sad to leave my family at the school I am currently at, but this is not an opportunity that happens everyday.

The new school staff got together yesterday at a local restaurant to get to know one another. There were alot of news faces, but a few that I already knew. I have already had the pleasure to meet and already work a little bit with the new office staff when we had our Kindergarten Roundup Registration last month.

Here are my new partners in crime.

and the rest of our posse'

This morning my oldest was awarded a position on the All*Star Team at his school during a Pride Assembly. Each six weeks every teacher gets to pick two students per class that exhibit Patriot Pride among the classmates. We are so proud of him, he has been named to the team all three years.

They get hacky sacks as the award, plus a dog tag for their back packs. He looks like a "gangsta" here in this picture, I am sure he will look back on pictures someday and wonder why he was always a punk in pictures. Peace signs, bunny ears, or overflowing 'tude. Lil Punk!, but an All*Star Punk.

We have a full weekend filled with sports, parties, and of course always....laundry.

Will see you again when I come up for air!!!

Wordless Wednesday~Like No "Otter"

2009-04-29T17:17:00.003-05:00

Happy Belated Birthday To My Henry

2009-04-28T21:00:00.008-05:00

I am so late in getting these birthday party pictures of my oldest posted. Zack's birthday was right in the middle of our Family Dance and Auction marathon week. I might not be mother of the year, but I will be crowned Volunteer of the Year!! :-) I worked really hard to make sure that we celebrated his birthday BEFORE the actual day, even if it was going to KILL me!
Zack decided that he wanted to go the the Dallas Stars game and have a few friends spend the night.

OK...what was I thinking??

Our friend Geoff Moore,who works for the Dallas Stars gave the boys a behind the scene tour of the American Airlines Center.

"The Fan Zam"

This was one of the funniest moments. The boys caught a glance of the Dallas Stars Ice Girls up close and got all giddy and silly like a bunch of little girls. Do you remember Selena Ray from American Idol about 10 seasons ago? She came in like 5th place, she is a Dallas Stars Game Night Personality and goes around the arena for little "fan bites" and she came up and gave Zack a big kiss. He blushed all sorts of red and could not hold back how embarrassed he was. My boy has a big problem with pride and for him to show his feelings with out holding back was really surprising. He is always "Mr. Cool Beans".

Look at their cheesy boy smiles.

The Dallas Mavericks Locker Room, they practice and play at the AAC.

MORE Girls!!! More Giddy Boy Smiles.

We got to stand in the tunnel outside of the Dallas Stars locker room and watch and cheer on the players before they hit the ice. We were not allowed to take pictures once they opened the doors. It was interesting to see that Mike Modano was the last player out of the locker room.

Zack and one of his friends John got to ride the Fan Zam Zambonie during an intermission with, you guessed it...One of the Ice Girls!....GULP!!! And apparently a Girl Scout...don't you think that was sort of an Oxymoron moment and maybe a boy buzz kill?

Yes, he complained that his arm was tired from all the waving he had to do. Poor thing!

Once we home at 11:00 PM, the Wii Basketball Tournament began.

Like I said earlier....What was I thinking??

Notice the tournament bracket on the wall...you know how we love brackets!!

When I was picking up all the clothes, socks, video games, etc..I saw this book on the floor. Are you familiar with this book? It is written by an eight year old boy from observations he made at his elementary school. I had to just laugh when I saw it, because all I could think of was how silly the boys were when they saw the Ice Girls and how speechless they were.

We survived the night and the boys didn't last too long. Another birthday marked and celebrated. Happy Birthday my sweet boy Zack Henry. We love you!!

The Howl Of The Coyotes

2009-04-25T20:24:00.006-05:00

My oldest played in the 1st Annual Scout Baseball Tournament this weekend. Actually we are still in the tournament, but tonight the boys found out they are seeded in first place going into tomorrow's games. The Coyotes played so well, their bats were hot and their defense was tough. The start of each game the announcer called out the full line up and each boy ran out as their name was called. It was also the first time the boys played in a tournament where they played our country's National Anthem. It was a really cool experience.

This is my boy, the lead off batter as he is at his first time at bat. This ended up being a HOME RUN!!! Therefore I have NO pictures of my boy running the bases because I was to busy jumping up and down, cheering him on. I was so excited because it was his first home run of the season. I will try better next time.

This is Ziggy and his buddy Keagen doing the thing they love the best, helping out in the concession stand, where all the candy and snacks are.

Making the "big sale" to Ms. Allison. Do they look like they know how to make change??

Who wouldn't want to buy something from these guys??

Go Coyotes!!

Did I forget to mention "We Love Baseball??"

Scrambled Eggs

2009-04-21T15:13:00.006-05:00

Why Scrambled Eggs for the name of this blog?? Is it because things get so crazy here that things are all scrambled up? Yes, but really, it is because it is the one thing that my oldest could and would eat morning, noon, and night if I let him. The boy loves scrambled eggs!! He thinks the BEST dinner is when we go to IHOP for dinner. Sometimes in the mornings when we are all "scrambling around", (no pun intended) time is running out, and we need to hit the road; I ask him what he wants to eat for breakfast praying the whole time "please just let it be a bowl of cereal, microwave pancakes, or a banana. Without fail it is always scrambled eggs.

Who in their right mind wouldn't drop everything, be a little late, and do whatever it takes to help this boy start his day off right??

Guess what I made for breakfast...

2nd Annual Spencer Squire All*Star Golf Tournament

2009-04-21T10:18:00.008-05:00

On Sunday my family and many many friends participated in the 2nd Annual Spencer Squire All*Star Golf Tournament. This tournament is very near and dear to our hearts to us, to our community, and many others in Texas and across the United States. This tournament is in memory of our sweet little friend Spencer Squire who unexpectedly passed away August 2007 from an undetected brain tumor. His heroic parents have been such pillars or strength and examples of how God provides the Grace we need. In just mere months after going home to heaven, Spencer's parents held the first annual All*Star golf tournament to raise money for a playground at our elementary school. It was a huge success and it is hard to believe that another year has gone by and the 2nd annual tournament is now history. One of the organizations that will receive benefits from the tournament is the Southwest Transplant Alliance and Spencer will be featured on the Organ Donation float in the Tournament of Roses Parade held on New Year's Day 2010.

This is Spencer's momma and my dear friend Anna, little brother Ryan, sassy cousin Sophia, and neighbor Will. ( Will's daddy was co-chair of the event this year- Great job Jeff!)

Spencer's Aunt and Uncle~Margo and Chris Dailey~aka "Sophia's mom and dad".

I didn't think anyone could be closer than my sister and me, but Margo and Anna just might be tied with us! I am having an "ah-ha moment". Those closest to me, all have sisters and have really close relationships with them. Hmmmm... Don't you just love your Sister??

This silly girl is my friend Marianne. (yes, she has a sista!) Our assignment was to be witnesses for a chance for a hole in one on this particular hole. We had a great time sitting and catching up with interruption from our precious angels. We did have a BIG laugh when one of the golfers drove up and asked us if the pink blanket was a "Snuggie". The weather was nice, but windy and it had a little bite to it out on the course, especially in shade like we were.
Of course, this is a family event and Anna thinks of EVERYTHING! She planned all kinds of things for the kids to do while the parents were volunteering or golfing. She had a lemonade stand, a kid's putting contest, kid's silent auction, and this awesome video game van that pulled u and you could play games on the inside, and guitar hero, and Wii on the outside. It was a big hit and all the mom's were thinking " Next Birthday Party!"

But of course...you should never count out "Old Fashion Fun" with a pick up game of touch football. You know football is KING in Texas!
Spencer's buddies playing football.

Spencer would have loved all the festivities and celebration that took place. He would have been right in the middle of it!! Crazy smiley face and crystal blue eyes. We miss you buddy, but your legacy lives on in all of us.

To learn more about Spencer Squire or about becoming an organ donor see the below links:

www.spencersquire.com

www.organ.org

Say Goodbye To Baby

2009-04-20T16:43:00.010-05:00

To a baby tooth, that is. My baby lost his second tooth today at preschool. His teacher Mrs Stevenson said he pulled it himself and told me he and his tooth were a "big hit" in class today. She also said it was an unusual sighting to lose it at preschool as most of the kids haven't started losing their teeth yet, much less at school. Ziggy is one of the older kids in his class because he has a September birthday and will go to kindergarten in the fall. (will post more on Kindergarten Registration Round-up later)

If you look closely you can see the other one already coming in.

Folks, they grow up fast!!!

Happy Birthday John Bennett!!

2009-04-20T15:39:00.012-05:00

I would like to say Happy 19th Birthday to my nephew Ben today!!! Here he is with my oldest Zack and buddy Davis at the Texas Tech vs. OU Baseball game last weekend. It is hard to believe that he is 19 years old today. Like his sister said, "not alot happens anymore when you turn 19". Your still a teenager, but there isn't a big milestone any more. Anyway....Happy Birthday JB! It is also my Dad's birthday, who he is named after. My dad passed away coming up on 25 years ago this August and I think it is really cool that they share the same day. I am so grateful that we have this boy to focus on this day from now on. My dad would have loved his first grandson had they had the chance to meet.

We had a really great time when we traveled to OU to see the Red Raiders play. Ben was such a good sport and got his teammates to autograph baseballs for the boys. I think they each walked away with four practice balls each and one game ball. (My Hubby kept that one).

The boys watched the game the whole time from the rail and they could see right into the Texas Tech dug out. It was really cool to see the players up close like that. This was HOW they got so many balls. As the boys walked back in between innings, they would toss the baseball to the fans. Our boys had a little bit of an edge because the boys called the players by their names and it worked like a charm!!

Then after the game the players were so great with stopping and signing autographs for the boys. If you have never gone to a college baseball game, you should. The players are so accessible and they LOVE their fans. We had a very similar experience when we went to Texas A&M. The Aggies LOVE their fans too. Enough about Aggie Baseball.....THIS is about Texas Tech Baseball.

Autographs from Head Coach Dan Spencer. This is his first year as Head Coach for Texas Tech. He has won 2 College World Series at Oregon State. The cool thing is that he used to play for Tech when he was in college.

We Love Baseball...

and the Texas Tech Red Raiders...

and you, John Bennett!! Happy Birthday!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-25T17:04:00.005-05:00

My 'Lil Punks

Manic Monday

2009-03-23T21:02:00.005-05:00

Its official.....Spring Break is over. (SOBS heard across Texas!!!) It was so dreadful this morning when the alarm went off and it was still so dark outside, no thanks to daylight savings time. My feet just didn't want to make it up the stairs to wake my sweet sleeping angels. UGH!! Mind you, it was 7:00 AM so it wasn't all that early, but that first morning back after vacation is always so hard.

Now that Spring Break is over, I am less than 2 weeks away from the Family Dance and Auction for my son's school that I am co-chairing. Talk about being Manic!!! One of the most favorite things that I get to do are the signs for the corporate donations that we receive. We put them on the cutest paper that has a theme for each donation. So if it is a Bar-B-Que dinner gift certificate, I put it on a cute western paper. If it is admissions to a water theme park, I look for a cute summer paper. I love to stand in front of the racks and look for just the right piece of stationary to put it on. Here are the ones that I am starting with.

There are a lot of duties that I can delegate to others, but I just love doing this part! The name of the store is called The Paper Lion in McKinney. They have the BEST stuff. I will probably go there about 5 more times by the time we are done. The computer tech at the school, Sharon Allen prints out the "copy" and does all the computer, font, logo work for me. She is just wonderful and not to mention, my sweet neighbor. This event takes a Village and the villagers are awesome and come armed with their sleeves rolled up ready to work. I am really excited this year because several of our local businesses that have donated things have also been gracious enough to donate extra little items that we are going to give to the volunteers that are helping us out. I am so grateful to the following businesses in helping me say thank you to our volunteers.

Strikz Bowling Alley in Frisco gave us one free hour of bowling for coupons for the volunteers.

Origins gave use little goody bags with mini facial samples along with a coupon for the volunteers to get a mini in store facial. Thanks Charla!!!

A quick update on March Madness. I was in the lead until yesterday and then Hubs took the lead from me. I really stunk it up when I picked Texas over Duke! What in the heck was I thinking?? I know better, but I guess I am a Texas loyal as they come, or at least Big 12 loyal. I have OU to go pretty far too. I picked Wake Forest like the rest of you and was shocked when they got beat. I did pick Siena and Dayton though!! Hehehe. Really bummed that Mississippi State didn't do better. Come on!! They won the SEC tournament. That had to mean something don't ya think?? Can't wait until Thursday to see what happens.

March Madness

2009-03-19T16:04:00.016-05:00

Today is the first day of March Madness for College Basketball. I don't really follow college basketball, but LOVE college football, and starting to have a passion for college baseball.

I am particularly fond of THIS player, my nephew Ben Flora #28 for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He is a left hand pitcher and was the 2008 Texas 5A Player of the Year. His team, The Plano West Wolves won the 5A Texas State Baseball Championship. Go Wolf Pack!

He is a true freshman.

I gotta thing for crisp new "white" uniform pants.

But you are gonna need a big 'ole jug of this for a boy with white baseball pants!!

OK, OK....I know the title of this post is March Madness, but I tend to get a little carried away when it comes to those I love, and the things that those I love,...LOVE.

I decided that it would be fun if Hubs, the boys, and I all filled out a bracket for the NCAA tournament. Got this great idea from BooMama. http://www.boomama.net/. So this morning the boys and I filled out the brackets and it took.........FOREVER!!! ( what was I thinking?) Little Man wanted to know EVERY team that I had picked or Big Boy had picked. Who did Dad pick? Oh my gosh!! I kept telling him, its "YOUR" choice. I read him the information, stats, seeds, looked at the mascots, etc... and then explained it was "your choice". As I was telling him that (for the 100th time), I realized it was just like Love and Logic Parenting. As parents we lead by example and hopefully our offspring will REMEMBER our example and hopefully CHOOSE to follow suit. I was so encouraged that he was following my lead that I was actually having an "ah ha~ pat pat on my back " kind of moment. It made it all worth the painstakingly time it took to get the brackets done.

This is us looking at the different teams. Yes, that's me STILL in my pj's. Hey!! Cut me some slack....Its Spring Break!!!

Finished brackets~ready to roll, just in time for the first tip off.

Big Boy and I are in the lead for now....We gotta figure out a prize for the winner!!

Open House

2009-03-18T15:24:00.006-05:00

Last Thursday was Open House at our elementary school. Back in the day we called it "Texas Public School Week". Now the PC term is "Open House". We had a really good time seeing all the cool things in Zack's class and visiting with his teacher, Mrs. Showalter. ( She is just great!!). When we walked down the 2nd grade hallway it was lined with the "death of parents" projects. It was the 3D animal project where each student created their own original animal that combined 2 different animals and made a new one. They had to do research on their animals and write a report, and then for the finale, create a 3D version of the creature.

Zack's creation was a "Shog". Shark + Frog = Shog. I particularly like the toothpicks that he used for the teeth.

I know alot of mommas and poppas were really glad when this project was done. No matter how hard you try to get your kid to do the work, they just lose interest. I think I would rather get my tooth drilled without Novocaine than deal with this kind of school work. I am not sure how much they really gain by doing this sort of thing. I will say it sure made it fun to see all the parents (0ops!), I mean kids hard work!

This was another project that we got to see. The students were studying different "landforms". It was really interesting to see this piece of work, because the only "parent homework" for this project was the batch of "salt dough" we had to make for our student to bring and then they did all the rest of the work at school. "HALLELUJAH!!!
One of my favorite parts of the "classroom tour" was when we first arrived to Zack's class. We had these nifty name tags that our kids had made that "looked" like us. Then we got to "wear" them the rest of the tour. I have never laughed so hard and been so thankful that my son didn't throw me under the bus like some of the kids did. One mom had a bikini on ( thank goodness that wasn't me!), another had some semblance of a martini or wine glass in her hand and one of my friend's boys had drawn her hair brown, when she is a blond! Mere was like "I think I must need to get my roots done!". OMG!! This must be how our kids see us!!! Then we all walked around with our "badges of honor or HORROR" on for the rest of the night. It was funny to see how the kids had made everyone. We live in a small and very close community and almost everyone knows one another. I still laugh thinking about it!! Oh my sides hurt!!!

Spring Break 2009

2009-03-17T14:39:00.017-05:00

We are offically on Spring Break and The Hargroves are having an old fashion "Staycation". We have started this week off with lots of sleepovers, playdates, and swimming. Hubs decided that it would be worth a "pot full of money" for our sanity to heat our pool for the week so the boys would have something to do at the first sign of the dreaded words..."I'm Bored". Now we can say, get your suit on and let's SWIM!!! I can say in the last two days I think we have gotten our money's worth! We started off Monday morning with the pool around 78 degrees. The boys would get in the hottub after swimming to warm up. (Thanks Dad!) It was actually warmer in the water than it was outside. The boys are swimming with some friends Kasen and Keegan who spent the night. They had a good time having the Handals spend the night. They live close, but not close where we see that often. Fun times!!!

Off to the Rocket Park at lunch for a picnic with more friends, The Moye Boys. Thanks Mrs. Marianne for thinking of that!!! Marianne and I had fun catching up with each other while the kids played. This was fun to break up the day!!

This is why they call it the "rocket park". This 3 story play structure is like a space ship. It is really fun and the kids had a blast.

The Hargrove Lagoon at 90 degrees!!

Back in the pool with friends from our street.
Ziggy (aka Kyle), Jackson, Mitch, Zack, and E-Man (aka Ethan).

My Big Boy

Little Man

The boys look like they are hanging on for dear life on the edge of the pool, they are actaully VERY good swimmers and we call them "Water Dogs". They love to swim thanks to their fabulous teacher, Mrs. Margaret. She is known as "THE" swim teacher around these parts. Your kiddo WILL be swimming by that 9th lesson!! She is amazing and worth the moola!!

Oh what a fun filled day!!! Early dinner and those boys sure slept good!!! Happy Spring Break!!

Technical Difficulties

2009-02-22T18:35:00.003-06:00

Oh my goodness!! I have had the worst weekend with technical difficulties with my computer. My husband thinks that I must have some kind of magnetic force surrounding me that makes anything electronic break. My coffee pot no longer turns on when I turn it on, then hours later I smell something very "caffieninated smelling" and the durn thing has turned on and brewed the coffee. I don't know what that is all about.

I was looking at Facebook the other day and saw that one of my "friends" had joined a group that had the capabilities to put cute wallpaper on my profile. I am all about "cutesy" and joined the group and added a cute wallpaper to my profile. BIG MISTAKE!! I got that terrible Trojan virus on my computer and I totally had a cancer that metasized all over my entire computer. I am hopeful that we are now in "remission". Hubs not too happy with me now and says "I owe him big time now". Uh oh....what does that mean??

This here is my precious and most talented nephew. John Bennett, aka...JB, Bubbie, Ben. I guess you could say the boy had some "technical difficulties" himself today too. He got his first start, pitching for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. "Whoo Hoo...Get Your Guns Up!!"

Word from the folks (proud momma and poppa, my sister and bro-in-law) that he had a rough start in the first inning he pitched, but had a great inning the next. I think it was just the jitters and he is ready to roll now that the nerves have settled down. The boy is talented and we are so excited to have another generation at our alma mater.

That about wraps it up for today...The Academy Awards are on tonight and I love to see the red carpet. Please pray that I don't have technical difficulties turning on the TV, that would be just about my kind of luck.

Birthday Girl

2009-02-19T17:19:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday Gracie!!

Today is my sweet niece Grace, aka...Gracie, Sissy, G-Flo's 22nd Birthday. Happy Birthday!! This pic is of my Little Man, Grace, and her big sister Hannah doing the thing Gracie likes to do most,COOK! A girl after my own heart! She is the only beautiful, sorority girl, college student, fashion plate that I know that takes a cake decorating class while in college and get excited about pots,pans, and dishes!!! That girl loves to cook! I look at her and we have so many of the same characteristics and crazy quirks. Thank you Gracie for never conforming to what others do and always being who you are!! We love you!! ( I did this post in crimson in honor of your Oklahoma Boomer Sooners!)

A Sigh Of Relief

2009-02-18T16:59:00.013-06:00

I am so relieved!! My meetings for our Family Dance and Auction are over and went really well. Thank you to my accountability sisters for your prayers. Leslie, you are so sweet. After I had made the big presentation, my cell phone rang because I had forgotten to silence it. When I looked at it, there was an e-mail from you with a quick prayer and scripture. Thank you so much!! I know you and the Big Man pulled me through on that one.

We got great response from our room parents and they seem so excited about the challenge. Here are a few pictures from the event last year. We worked really hard and we are so lucky to have such great volunteers that help out. You can "feel the love" when working with these people.

We did this rainbow in memory of a very special student 1st grader ~ Spencer Squire, who passed away right before school started last year. They are very close friends of ours and rainbows have been very significant to Spencer's family and friends since he passed away. It was only fitting to honor our friend and fellow student someway at our event.

http://www.spencersquire.com/

We turned the trophy cases into a bakery and restaurant store front.

This area was all the food/restaurant auction items.One of our talented moms, Lori Chalson made these silhouettes by free-handing them. They were amazing!

I had to show you one more.

Me, Betsy, and Judi

Betsy has been in charge of the silent auction set up for many years. Last year she handed the reigns over to me. Whoa!! Those are some BIG shoes to fill. Judi is our PTA President. I am so lucky to call both of these ladies my friends, and bonus that they both live right by me!!

As you can see, this is a big undertaking and takes alot of blood, sweat, tears from many and not to mention prayers and support from my sweet friends and family. I know that they will see me though and today, I was encouraged.

A Day Of Preparation

2009-02-17T22:30:00.003-06:00

Whew....I am so tired as I write tonight. I have had a full day getting ready for our Family Dance and Auction at my boy's school. I am in charge of the fundraising at our school and this is THE biggest fundraiser that we do. ( No pressure!!) We are having a silent auction meeting tomorrow with our wonderful and very talented room parents and I had alot of preparation to do. I am really nervous about talking in front of a large group of people. I need lots of prayers and my accountability sisters are on it!!

Speaking of preparation, I had the yearly conference at my little man's preschool today. It is the final conference before kindergarten. He is so ready!! I guess you could say " well-prepared". It was so uplifting to hear what a great student and leader he is. (I think he is, but I'm his momma). Little man is a quiet leader that leads his friends by example. I so hope to be like him!! I'm Encouraged!!

Accountability Sisters

2009-02-16T19:54:00.005-06:00

Tonight I met for the first time with my accountability sisters. Tricia and Leslie are a couple of girls from my wonderful bible study group and we have decided to meet every Monday night for about 30 minutes to keep one another accountable with things that we are working on in our lives. They are two of my friends that I shared the "Joy" with the other day. It was so fun to hear how they were "encouraged" and felt loved by the fun surprise in their mailboxes. It was definitely a "better to give than to receive moment".

One of the things that I want my accountability sisters to do is help keep me accountable with the Living Proof Ministries bible verse memory challenge. I told them the verse tonight that I had chosen and was excited to share how I came upon the verse. I think I will share it here as well.

Last Thursday was the first day of our bible study, Beth Moore's, Esther~Its Tough Being A Woman. Our leader started the study with a little mediation moment with us listening , resting, calming, etc...to the Marc Schultz song, Remember Me. While the song was playing I turned to the concordance in my bible and looked up "remember" just to see what might be inspiring and I saw Philippians 1:3 " I thank my God every time I remember you". Hmmm...I thought "that's a good one". OK, song over. Then Leslie has us turn to that exact passage, coincidence? No, I don't think so. Then she goes down a few verses to the prayer that starts in verse 9. "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ." I had that passage already underlined and starred TWICE. I also have two little pink flag post-its on pages in my bible and there is one on that scripture! Coincidence? No, I don't think so. You can only imagine yesterday, the 15th of February, the day that I am to choose and post my scripture how I must have felt when I opened by new autographed book from Celia Whitler and one of the scriptures was Philippians 1:3. Coincidence? No, I don't think so. All of this gave me pause and remembered something that Beth said in the first video session: " Coincidences are revelations when God wants to remain anonymous, but God never wants to be anonymous in our lives." Thank you God for showing me there are no such things as coincidences and that YOU want to be the center of my life. Don't you love it when you hear God talking to you? Be Encouraged!! I know I am!!

One Wish

2009-02-15T20:47:00.011-06:00

Celia Whitler came and was apart of our worship team this morning. She is a singer/songwriter from Franklin Tennessee. She has become such a special and inspirational person to the members of our church at Suncreek United Methodist Church. She was a very good friend of our pastor Kathleen Baskin-Ball who passed away from a very courageous battle with cancer in December. Many of the songs on this CD were inspired by our Pastor, Kathleen and her faith, hope, and witness. Whenever I hear Celia sing, I feel close to God and know that He is near. Celia is the real deal and you can check her out at http://www.celiamusic.net/. She wrote the following song and sang it at Kathleen's Celebration of Life service.

One Wish for You

If I had one wish

I'd wish for you,

You'd know only love

Will see you through

From morning to morning

You'd live in this truth

If I had one wish

I'd wish this for you

If I had one dream

I'd dream each day

I'd dream you a life

Of simple grace

Grace that brings peace

To each of your days

If I had one dream

I'd dream you grace

(chorus)

One wish
One dream

One song to sing

May your life be as full

As all you bring

I wish you today

You'd have all you gave

If I had one song

I'd sing of you

I'd sing of the big ways

Your love is true

I'd sing of the small ways

You do your part

If I had one song

I'd sing from my heart

(chorus)

One wish

One dream

One song to sing

May your life be as full

As all you bring

I wish you today

You'd have all you gave.

Celia's new book is called One Wish for You~Celebrating the Women in Our Lives. It is a book filled with beautiful photographs, inspirational quotes and scriptures. It includes a CD in the back that has five songs including One Wish for You. Thank you Celia~You filled our cups!!

Happy Valentine's Day-A recap in pictures

2009-02-14T21:49:00.011-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. We had a fun filled day today. Not alot of special stuff planned, just a basketball game and then some "down time" at home. (even caught a nap today) Hubs had a coaches meeting for football this morning and we were lucky to have my sister, E-Rich, and my niece Grace come watch Zack's game. Grace is a senior at OU and was in town for an interview with the Richards Group, a really well thought of advertising agency. It is odd thinking that in a few months she will be a sorority girl turned working girl.

Here is the re-cap...

YUM! Brownies...I know they are from a box, but they are Ghirardelli. I can't do better than that. Notice, the coffee cup...that is my java to help me in my recovery from the joy sucking valentine day preparation from last night.

Little Man helping make the heart shape brownies. We had extra batter, so we made some regular ones. Muffin style brownies are the best, each one has an edge.

Chocolate hearts from my sister and family. Love the sports themed boxes. She knows her nephews!!

Musical cards from my mom, Meemomommie. She loves those musical cards and so does Little Man. She even put 10 crisp $1.00 bills in each card. Thanks Meemommie!!

The coveted "Allen Eagle" Footballs that my boys have been wanting. Numero Uno was upset that we had gotten one for a friend for a birthday present and he didn't even have one yet. Little did he know... Our Allen Eagles won the 5A State Championship this year! Go Eagles!!

These are few of the goodies in the boys valentine sacks. Their tastes are different as night and day. One LOVES sweets, the other not so much!! I like them both!!

This is my Valentine to myself...I still have Christmas dishes on my dining room table and can't seem to get them put away. I need to get this area cleaned off so I can set up to work in here for our school's biggest fundraiser of the year, our family dance and auction.

Mission Accomplished!! It is a good feeling to finally have that done. I am so embarrassed that it is February 14th and the last of Christmas is finally put away. Happy Valentines to me!!!

Momma Is Getting Ready For Valentines Day

2009-02-13T21:01:00.017-06:00

Man O Man...I hit the floor running today. I was so behind getting treats for my sweets because I have been so busy the last week working and being exhausted from "Flu Season" (My friend Tricia, calls it Tax Season for nurses). Nothing like dropping off your preschooler at school and saying " Honey, Mommy will be back with Valentines for your teacher in a little bit" to a sweet boy who has painstakingly worked on his valentines for classmates all week. Sweet Boy! OK...no time to feel guilty, push the stabbed heart back down and mom on a mission in search of something to give to 5 teachers that doesn't look like you just drove through the flower tent set up on the local grocery store parking lot for last minute husbands. And definitely a step above something from the local drug store that says "As Seen On TV" on the box. I needed some fuel to think, so I made a quick stop at Sonic for a DP to contemplate my strategy and logistics. Caffeined up! I landed at Ikea... and got these cute felt blanket for 4.99. JACKPOT!

I tied them up with cute ribbon and clever note and I was done! They turned out cute and were a huge hit! I guess the teachers can curl up with their throws and eat one of the many box of chocolates they got today. Hey, maybe I should have gotten myself one?...oh yea...I did!!

Mission One accomplished...Now off to Number One Boys Valentine Party. I am not a room parent this year and it is so nice just to breeze in at party time to help out, but not be responsible for everyones fun. Thank goodness I am not the one having to read the story after everyone is whipped up on candy, adrenaline, and oh yea, more chocolate.

My boy looks like one of the kiddos in Diane Sawyer's report on the people in the Appalachian Mountains with no teeth. I swear to you he doesn't drink Mountain Dew!!

Numero Uno and buddy Isaiah

Yes, Its February 13th and my boy is in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. That's Texas for ya!

Party over, Mission Two accomplished...30 minutes left before I have to pick up The Zizgmister. Can I get the Valentines for boys wrapped up before I snatch him?...hmmm...Main item bought-check!, (have to wait until tomorrow's post to see), cutting through parking lot and get idea for Hubs, swing into store # 2,-check!, have little over 10 minutes left and that is enough time to drop off item for monogramming at Eagle Designs -no time to chit chat with Nancy...Time to head to preschool. Going to have to make a Target run later to get birthday present anyway, maybe I can finish Valentines then.

Picked up Little Man and he was so excited to show me all of his valentines. He is so grateful for the small things in life. Treated my trooper to a Cherry Limeade with 2 cherries at Sonic.

I won't bore you with the rest of the saga on getting the Valentines finished, but they are bought, but not yet pulled all together for presentation. Maybe I will just get up early in the morning and put on the finishing touches. Numero Uno had a fun play date after school with his teammate Jake. He got home just in time for Ziggy's flag football practice. Zig is at a birthday party/sleepover with best bud Will for the night. So, that means Numbero Uno gets the folks all to himself, not to mention gets to sleep on the "sacred" pallet in our room. We had a fun dinner with The Renfros at Scotty P's. Mike is an assistant coach for football and Leslie is one of my accountability sisters. Nothing like burgers on a Friday night. Yippee...I didn't have to cook. While we were eating at Scotty P's, we saw one of our other accountability sisters, Tricia. This town is so small!! That's why we love it. I also saw one of my students there as well as two other students while I was finishing the now dreaded valentines after dinner at CVS. :-)

One last thing....I am going to share, I did a little secret thing for a couple of my accountability sisters tonight. Shhh.....I put these in their mailboxes with a little encouraging note.

These are Ultra Concentrated Joy for use when you feel like you have been attacked by the "Joy Suckers" in life. May we all find the Joy in everything we do! Hmmmm.....I think Valentines have now become "Joy Suckers".... Be Encouraged!!

The Whole Megillah

2009-02-12T23:34:00.015-06:00

It has been a while since I have gotten back around to posting and all I have done since I last posted was tell myself that certain things that my family has done have been "blog worthy". Today I started my bible study again and am so grateful for the wonderful Christian ladies that God has put into my life. My group has just started Beth Moore's newest study, Esther~Its Tough Being A Woman. This leads me to the title of my post...The Whole Megillah. I feel like there have been so many things that I want to share since the last time I was here that I need to share the "whole megillah" (translation...the whole story or at least the highlights of what has been going on.)

The A-Town Wreckin Crew

My hubby planned a really fun evening out with a group of our closest friends to go out to dinner and to play whirly ball. I wasn't sold on "whirly ball", but if it was going to get me a night out and dinner at my favorite restaurant Mi Cocina, I was in. What is whirly ball you ask? Good question. It is a combination of tennis,lacrosse, and basketball all while driving a bumper car! I will have to admit that it was alot of fun, but I realized how out of shape I was. I was exhausted from playing and we were practically riding in a buggy!! What is wrong with me?? I need to hit the pavement and start exercising!
We really did have a fun time and want to do it again!

My first born, Zack's baseball team is in the throws of getting ready for their season opening tournament. My sweet husband has practically consumed himself with getting the team ready. I have a really great picture of Shawn showing Zack his new jersey. This is the first time that he has had his name on the back of his baseball jersey and it is such a big deal! The boys earned their names by finishing their fall season undefeated. You know the saying..."if you look good, you play good". That needs to be the motto of the team because Shawn has made sure the boys have the best of everything!!

A big thanks to Nancy and Chris Tripucka at Eagle Designs for always having a smile on their faces when we come in to order uniforms and spirit wear. The always make it happen! It is like having an in-house outfitter! I don't know how we would have done it without them! One of the MANY blessings of living in a small town where everyone knows one another.

We also had a very fun night last Sunday night going to root on the Dallas Stars Hockey team. We have a wonderful friend that lives down the street, Geoff Moore and he is a big "muckdy muck" in the Dallas Stars Franchise. He always remembers us lowlies on the street and hooked us up with a suite to watch the game.
This is our suite at the game. Once you been treated like a VIP in is hard to go back to the cheap seats!! Thanks Goeff!

THE AAC ~The American Airline Center home of the Dallas Stars and Mavericks

Parking lot G!!! THANK YOU MR.MOORE!!! This is the best part of going to the game in my opinion. This sweet parking is right across the street. This is what makes you feel like a VIP

My Boys

We had one more very important event this week and that was the celebration of the 43rd anniversary of Shawn, my hubby's entrance into this world. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENNY!! We had a VERY low key celebration dinner of pulled pork sandwiches (one of his new favs), killer green chile dip and my famous banana pudding. Then he was off to a football coaches meeting. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! GO PATRIOTS, or LONGHORNS, or COYOTES....which team is it??

The Stethascope

2009-01-30T20:36:00.002-06:00

To Blog or Not to Blog

2009-01-30T18:49:00.000-06:00

Hi Ya'll...Welcome to my brand spankin new blog. I am not real sure what I am doing here and worried that this won't save when I hit the save button! I was introduced to blogs at Christmas time while spending time with my two beautiful nieces Hannah and Grace. I thought I was "in the know" because I had a Facebook account, but had no idea what the "blog world" was all about. It fascinated me and I was inspired by so many of the blogs that I read. So, here I am....making my debut. My hope is to encourage and inspire you as well as record the highlights of the crazy circus that I reside. So sit back, buckle your seatbelts, and off we gooooooooo!