Sparkles N' Sports

Post Christmas Baking

2012-01-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

For the first time in over 15 years, I did not get around to my usual Christmas baking, I LOVE cookies and counted a few years ago that I made 144 dozen of them. I used to make about 7-8 different kinds and sometimes doubled and tripled the batters. I would wrap them all up in pretty tissue papers and bows and hand out to co-workers, neighbors, friends, teachers, and whatever was left, we would eat.

Since we were out of town for eight days over Thanksgiving, and started off with a busy first part of December, I had to give up many things on my list, and sadly, my cookie baking was one of them. Part of me felt strange not making them, this was a tradition of ours. But, on the other hand, it was a lot less stressful knowing I wouldn't be in the kitchen for days!!

Today was the last day of Christmas break with the kids, and a well deserved day spent in my jammies. Now that the Christmas rush is through, and I had time on my hands today, I got the baking bug! I was craving some sugary, and buttery goodness and thought of a recipe from my sister-in-law's mom I received last year. The moment I tried these melt-in-your-mouth goodies, I knew I had to make them.

Super Sugar Cookies

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup butter flavored Crisco

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon almond extract

4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

Combine oil, Crisco, and sugars. Beat until creamy. Add beaten eggs, and almond extract, beat together. Combine flour, salt, soda, and cream of tartar. Add flour mixture gradually. Refrigerate dough for at least two hours. Make walnut sized balls, and roll in sugar. Place on cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of glass with sugar coating. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Mmm, mmm, mmmmm!

Twenty.12...Day 1

2012-01-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

I'm ready to put 2011 behind me and start off with a fresh, new year! Twenty 12, here I come!! We hosted a fun family New Year's Eve at our house last night (my parents, 90-year old Grandma Jeanne, Tim's dad, my brother, my sister, brother-in-law and kids, and my next door neighbors). With seven kids between my sister and I, home is the most fun to us surrounded by the people we love. We had loads of food (as usual), our little ones' talent show, a game of Apples to Apple, lots of laughs, and we finished it off with fireworks.

Today was such a peaceful and relaxing start to the year!! Yesterday, it felt like a spring day, it was foggy in the morning, then humid in the afternoon (or, shall I say, a bad hair day)! Today, we woke up to the brightest, blue skies and much nicer temps! Hooray for Texas cold fronts!

We knew it was the perfect day to spend outdoors with our family of five. First, we headed to one of our favorite pizza spots - Grimaldi's (as if we need ANY more food)! Then off to one of the prettiest parks surrounded by Lake Woodlands. There were kids and families everywhere, it was such a stunningly beautiful day out. I wanted time to stand still and enjoy the laugher of my kids, and the last few days we have left with them before it's back to the usual routine of school and work. The ducks were in full force and we came with a box of cheese crackers, I'm sure they loved us! Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees by now, but there were a few that had the prettiest orange leaves left.

As Tim watched the kids, I took some pictures and sat and thought about how blessed I am! I am looking forward to a new year, new experiences personally and with my family, new things to learn, and goals that I want to accomplish in this last year of my 30's. I feel like now that Brody is three, I can finally breathe a little and come off this crazy train that I have been on for years! I'm ready to be me again. Having three kids is HARD!! I'm ready to slow down and enjoy life's little treasures. I'm ready to be in the moment again. Now that I am approaching 40 (and that was so scary to just type), I am ready to do things for me again!
Breathe, pray, live, enjoy, learn, embrace...my plans for Twenty 12!!!

Happy New Year!

Clear blue sky...my favorite kind of day!

Some fun with the ducks!

I'm excited to see what path 2012 will take me on!

Happy New Year!

"Amy"

2011-10-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad blogger, it's been almost four months since a post! It's 9:19am and my little Brody Monster is still in his sweet slumber. It just seemed like the perfect blog opportunity. I was in the kitchen and he woke up a few minutes ago crying, "Amy", "Amy"! For the longest time, I couldn't understand or figure out what he was saying. Finally, it hit me. He's still sooo sleepy and he wanted me to lay with him, or as he was saying, "lay with me" (Amy). As soon as I came to cuddle up with Brody, he went right back to sleep! I'm so glad this night owl momma has a baby who likes to sleep in!

I'm in love with sleeping baby pictures and love to stare at my babies when they sleep! Here's Brody this morning.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

2011-06-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a day full of baseball! Our games were running a little behind, so as the all boys waited for the game to start, my babies were hanging all over their daddy! Quick, I had to grab my camera, the perfect photo opp! I snapped this sweet picture of Tim and the kids! Go Heat!

The sweetest sound...

2011-06-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

For almost five months, we have gone without rain. Our area has seen it's fair share of dead trees, brown grass, little watering ponds that have dried up and last week several devastating wild fires. There will be no July 4th fireworks to shoot off this year.

On Wednesday, we woke up to thunder, lighting and rain. What a sweet sound it was! It was temporary relief from watering the grass and a much needed day of rest with the kids to not go anywhere and do anything! Now, we just need about 25 more inches of rain to get us out of this horrible drought!

Key Lime Cheesecakes in a Jar

2011-06-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been obsessed with all these different recipes you can make in jars (I get mine at Walmart). I came up with mini Key Lime Cheesecakes in a jar for Father's Day. My Dad loves Key Lime Pie. He also loves desserts in small portions or else the sugar makes him wanna take a nap. I used the Joy of Baking Key Lime Pie recipe and changed it up by adding a block of cream cheese to the filling. They were pretty tasty!!

I layered the jars with the graham cracker crumbs on the bottom and then added the key lime filling and baked. I chilled the jars for several hours and then topped each with fresh whipped cream (no Cool Whip here), lime zest, a lime slice and a few more sprinkles of graham cracker crumbs on top. I wrapped the top of each with raffia. It was the perfect treat and just the right portion too!

I juiced about 30 key limes (sorry, not the prettiest picture)!

Toasted graham cracker crumbs

Place a few tablespoons of the graham cracker crumbs in each jar.

Scoop several spoonfuls of filling into the jars and bake.

Yumminess!

Here is my altered recipe!

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

5-6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press onto the bottom of a baking sheet. Bake for about ten minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool.

Key Lime Cheesecake Filling

3 large egg yolks, room temp

One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup key lime juice (I used 30 key limes)

1 block of softened cream cheese

2 teaspoon lime zest

In a bowl, beat the egg yolks until pale and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Gradually add the condensed milk and beat until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat in the lime juice and zest. Scoop several spoonfuls of filling in the jars over the crumbs. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the filling is set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Whipped Cream

1 cup of cold heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Once the filling has chilled, beat the whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. I recommend chilling a silver bowl in the freezer for five minutes (the peaks will form quicker). Top each little cheesecake with several dollops of whipped cream. Garnish with a few sprinkles of lime zest, graham cracker crumbs and top with a slice of lime. Decorate jars with raffia or ribbon.

Enjoy!

Father's Day

2011-06-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Father's Day weekend. First, we got together with Tim's parents, his brother and my sister-in-law and went to dinner. Luckily, Blake and Sydney were at my niece's ballet recital, so we just had the little guy with us. He was so quiet and good, which is rare when you have to wait awhile for food!
Since Dad is more of a cooking out kind of guy, we went to my sister Stephanie's house on Sunday for ribs, steaks, appetizers, drinks, dessert and some swimming in the pool. It was a perfectly relaxing day spent with family and all the dads too! My sister and I lucked out with our guys! They are wonderful, hands-on dads that do it all!

I have so many great memories of my dad! He loves his family! I used to go to his office with him on Saturday mornings when I was little, many times a friend would tag along. His office was gigantic. We would play tag, play with office supplies, pretend we were bus drivers in the meeting room with all the chairs, get snacks from the vending machines and clean and organize the supply closets (yes, I had the cleaning/organizing bug as a child). Dad would always take me to lunch and then K-mart on the way home to get me a toy. There was one cold and rainy day in December when he took me to McDonald's. The smell of the french fries was lingering in the air at the drive thru. I remember what a fun day at the office that was. Still to this day, when I smell McDonald's, it brings me back to that day, and not for the smell of grease, but the closeness I remember feeling. It was just the two of us! He was my protector, he kept me safe and would have done anything for me. I looked up to him and was so proud that he was my daddy!

Although this post is a few days later, Happy Father's Day Dad!! I love you!

My dad and I at my sister's wedding in 1997.

Goodbye Daisies, Hello Brownies!

2011-06-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

Sydney's Girl Scout troop recently had a bridging ceremony and they are now all officially Brownies! They sold a record number of Girl Scout cookies this year that they had a fun party at Sweet and Sassy to celebrate! I'm so proud of Sydney for selling almost $1,000 worth of cookies, my little sales lady! At the party, they all got updo’s, wore fancy dresses, walked the runway and rode in the big pink limo!

My growing boy

2011-06-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

May was such an emotional month for me, mainly because my first born, Blake, would be turning 11 and it was his final year of elementary school and fifth grade. Several weeks ago, there was a parent meeting for all new sixth graders at the middle school. As I headed to the meeting, I was getting choked up. How did we get here, how am I old enough to had a middle schooler? I wondered if any of the other moms were feeling the same as me?? I’m a big baby when it comes to my kids getting older. I just want them to stay young forever.

I didn’t expect it to hit me so hard, I thought I was going to hear all about the school and the laptop that the sixth graders get to do all their work on. The principals introduced themselves and one of them began talking about adolescence. I wasn’t expecting this! I know it’s coming but to hear her talking about how my baby boy is going to be changing from being into name brand clothes, to his voice, to his independence, to liking girls - I wasn’t liking it. A single tear from my right eye fell down my cheek. Wasn’t my little baby just born? How could these things be right around the corner for us?

That night, the boys had baseball practice and the house was quiet after Brody went to sleep. I started thinking, wow, three weeks left of fifth grade. Three short weeks left of school where they still have to raise their hands in the cafeteria and walk in lines. The sweet little times spent with him at school (where he actually wants me there) are coming to an end...Christmas and Valentine’s parties, eating lunch in the cafeteria, Field Days, plays and Book Fairs. I lost it thinking of all these fun memories of elementary-even the simple things such as Blake losing his two front teeth! I cried and cried and cried some more. The tears were bittersweet, sad tears that my baby has one foot in the door of childhood and another foot in the door in adolescence and happy tears that my boy is on his way! There will be many more milestones that he will achieve and poor Blake, he's just going to have to deal with my waterworks! I’m such a proud momma for the young man he has become!

It's a Baking Party!

2011-06-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

Sydney’s 6th Birthday Pink Carpet Princess party was pretty fantastic last year. I almost immediately started thinking, what could we do this year. That’s it!!! We both share a love for cooking and baking, Paula Deen and Giada DiLaurentis. It had to be a baking party! I had sooo many lists, so many things to buy and lots of things to make!

I did bunches of research on Baking Parties and scoured and gawked and gawked some more. Some of my favorite party websites where I found great inspiration were from Amy Atlas Events, Tip Junkie, Pizzazzerie and Birthday Party Ideas.

I chose the colors - hot pink, light pink, mint, yellow, white, turquoise and light blue. So, I first started out by making tissue paper flowers in all these colors to hang from the ceiling. I needed to make big ones, small ones, pointy ones and scalloped ones. Overall, I think I ended up making about 26 of them.
I found some great tissue paper tutorials on You Tube.

As I researched, I found a cute idea for cupcake liner garland. Blake and I stayed up the night before the party stringing on the cupcake liners and coffee filters. I think he secretly didn’t want to go to bed and he wanted to help to avoid bedtime. We made several strands and hung them in the the foyer, the kitchen and outside around the front door.

I wanted to have something cute on our door to greet all our little chefs so I got a little 8x10 canvas that I painted. Icreated my Young Chef’s Academy sign using cardboard cutout letters that I painted and glittered up. I added a wooden spoon, a paper chef hat and some ribbon and small tissue paper flowers.

Lately, I have been in love with all these bunting banners I keep seeing so I had to make one myself. I found a template to help me out. I made it out of paper instead of fabric and didn't sew it.

I wanted each girl to have their own apron and since I don’t sew {YET}, I had to get them from Hobby Lobby. I ended up going with the plain white ones (except Sydney's was pink) and wanted to girly them up with trim. So, I added chiffon flowers at the top and some leopard lace around the pocket. All done with the magic of one of my most favorite tools - my glue gun (ignore the wrinkles)!

My sister is so good at graphic design and digital scrapbooking that I knew I wanted her to design the invitation. Unfortunately, I had trouble printing some of them out and came up with an alternative. On a spring trip to Round Top, I bought a big handful of old, vintagey spoons and this gave me my idea. Hobby Lobby has really cute baking ribbon, so I glittered up the spoons and attached them to the invitations, here’s the final look:

When the girls arrived, they got their apron and started a baking word search found HERE.

Next, the the girls started making their own pizzas. I found a really great website called The Glittered Nest and Terri's a fellow Texan! She had some great baking party ideas and a super yummy pizza dough recipe that is now my favorite. I made all the pizza dough in advance since it has to rise. I divided it equally and floured up the clean counter tops and let the girls roll out and shape their dough. Then they added sauce, cheese and toppings. Most chose plain ole' pepperoni. But just in case there were some adventurers, I had hamburger meat, pepperoni, pineapple, black olives, green peppers and basiI. I used a plain pizza sauce from a jar.

I don’t have two ovens unfortunately, so I had to send a couple of the pizzas to my next door neighbor’s oven so they would all be able to eat them together. I baked the pizzas on parchment paper lined cookie sheets and used a sharpie to write their names by the pizzas.

While the pizzas were in the oven, the girls began decorating their own 6-inch cakes. I bought four cake tins at Hobby Lobby and also used 8-inch cake boards. I wrote each girl’s name on it prior to the party to save time. I used Duncan Hines yellow cake mix and began baking the cakes a few days before the party. I wrapped them in plastic and stuck them in the freezer. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to make a couple different colors of icing but decided it would just be easier to stick with white. I used Rachael Ray’s Cupcake Icing for a Crowd recipe. It was so yummy, by the way!!

I got a bunch of plastic containers and filled them with all different kinds of candy.

My birthday girl!

The girls LOVED decorating their cakes and eating the candy too! They were so creative!

Finally, all the little chefs sat down to watch the Birthday Chef open all her presents. Each girl sat in the chair next to Sydney as she opened their present and I took their pictures. Lemonade Mouth premiered on The Disney Channel that night, so they watched as their moms began to arrive to pick them up.

Sydney and her cousin Alexa

Sydney and her best friend Brooklyn

I wanted to come up with a cute goodie bag idea to go along with our Baking Party theme. Thank goodness for Dollar Tree since at this point, I didn’t want to spend much more. I bought three different sweet treat mixes - sugar cookie, fudge brownie and chocolate chip. We dumped the baking mixes into cellophane bags and printed baking instructions on a separate card for each and attached a wooden spoon and a bag of sprinkles with the cute baking ribbon I used on the invitations. As the girls left, each one could choose what they wanted to bake at home.

The party was a hit and I could not have pulled it off without the help from my family…Blake helped me make cupcake garland, my mother-in-law came over the day of the party and chopped toppings for pizza, made cake icing, washed dishes, filled the goodie bags and my mom and sister helped at the party and also with the dreaded clean up! There was candy ALL over the floor, but that’s ok, the girls (all 14 of them) had a blast!

Worn out!!!

New posts coming soon...

2011-06-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

After nearly four months of no blogging, I'm ready to start again. Look for new posts coming soon. The kids have been out of school for a week now and so far, our week has been jam packed, I like it that way although I still need at least one lazy, quiet day a week!

I have several posts to catch up on for events that have happened over the months that I have not blogged about.

First up - Sydney's 7th Birthday Baking Party. It turned out to be such a cute party!! Stay tuned tomorrow.

Until then, I hope you are enjoying your summer!

Shannon

Coooold Snow Day in Texas!

2011-02-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

I LOVE our school. The teachers and administration are so wonderful to our kids. The principal and PTO decided to throw the school a snow day to wrap up the semester and had a truck bring in a bunch of the pretend white stuff. All the kids had a blast playing in the "snow". Since most of the country had some sort of snow, it was super fun for the kids to have a little bit of their own.

Sydney and her friend Carson

Mrs. Burson's class

Sydney and Brooklyn

It was soooo cold that even a fountain was frozen with icicles!

This is so rare for south Texas but such a pretty sight to see, everyone was stopping to take pictures, it was funny!

Brody's Obsessions

2011-02-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

This is SUCH a fun time with my little man!! Brody is such the little chatterbox lately at 2 years and 2 months. Right now his favorites are cars, trucks and motorcycles (he calls them michaels). Everytime he hears or sees a motorcycle, he FLIPS out and gets this look on his face that cracks us up! Other favorites=Yo Gabba Gabba still, Handy Manny, coloring on floors, walls and in coloring books, putting on his coboy (cowboy) hat, talking about his girl cousins, playing with his MDO friends (one little girl in particular Madilyn), talking about his daddy being at work, riding bikes outside and eating fruit snacks (stawbies he calls them)!

Lining up the cars keeps him busy for a good 20 minutes and they have to be so precise!

This is the motorcycle (michaels) look if you talk about them or see them.

Coloring and sure it can be on the ground by the car!

Brody is so excited to see this everytime we go to the grocery store!

One of his favorite little toys he loves to hold!

Sydney's First Emergency Room Trip!

2011-02-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

Such a busy year it has been already! We started 2011 off quietly at home with the kids. Tim was sick and went to sleep at 7:30. We were out watching the massive firework shows on both ends of the street while Tim rested and recouped!

It's the start of a new decade, already! In high school I remembered that meant one of those decade long compilation CD's with all the popular songs that they sample on late night tv. Haha!

2011 means Tim and I will celebrate 20 years together (instantly feel OLD), 15 years of marriage and our 20th high school reunion! There are so many good celebrations to look forward to in the months ahead.

January started off to be a little crazy! On the 15th, Sydney had a little accident with a barstool falling on her toe at my parent's house. It happened just moments of us leaving to go home (isn't how that always works)??!! We rushed her to the Emergency Room, her first trip!

Daddy carrying our baby girl!

After stiches and all bandaged up!

Big brother pushing his sissy!

Luckily, we went to a brand new hospital close by and we were able to walk right in at 9:30pm on Saturday night. I thought we would be in for a good 3-4 hour wait. So we were lucky. Sydney was actually much braver than her momma who almost fainted after it happened. She had to get numbing shots on both sides of her toe and she squeezed her hands together really tight but didn't cry. We were so proud of her. The barstool landed right in the middle of her left toenail which was hanging by a thread. Her toe was lacerated (I'll leave that picture off)!!! You could almost bend the whole tip of it back. I couldn't look!! Sydney had nine stitches and the x-ray showed that it wasn't broken...amen!!

We had to dress it and Neosporin and bandaid her toe up for a few weeks. She got to skip P.E. for two weeks and be at the front of the line so no one would step on her toe. This also meant no tumbling class for awhile. She's so active, this was going to be difficult!!

Thanks goodness her toe is on the mend now and today is week 4 of no tumbling class. This MUST change since my little active girl is now best friends with the couch and Good Luck Charlie!!

How is 2011 treating you?

Happy Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is already here! How?? Yes, I will be out shopping today for some last minute gifts. Call me crazy, it usually happens every year!! I learned thought from previous Christmases to not save all the wrapping for today. I do not want to spend my Christmas Eve wrapping all night.

What are your Christmas Eve traditions? We have always spent the night at my parent's house on Christmas Eve after church. Before we had kids, we usually went to dinner after, watched Christmas Vacation and played games. With way too many kids amongst my sister and I, it's not so easy to do that anymore. Now, my mom makes chili and we spend time together watching the kids play and talking. We have not spent Christmas Eve or Christmas morning at our house. We ask the kids every year if they want Santa to come to their house and they say no, Coach and Grammy's house is way more fun since there are a lot of people there. That is the tradition they remember and how they want it to be, so I guess it's not changing!

For the past month, I have taken Christmas pictures for many friends for their Christmas cards. Yesterday, it was my turn to take pictures of my kids. We had a fun little photo shoot and here are some of their pictures.

Enjoy your traditions with your family and friends on this Christmas Eve!

A little holiday baking

2010-12-21T09:35:00.000-08:00

When the kids are out of school, one of the things we always do is some baking. Yesterday, we made something besides our usual cookies - we made Cracker Candy. Have you ever had it? It is so yummy, buttery and rich. When I worked at HP, one of my co-workers brought it in around Christmas time and I couldn't get enough of it!! It tastes much like toffee, one of my favorites! Since Blake is allergic to pecans, we could only have them on one little portion of the pan. It's super easy to make, even Brody had fun helping and licking the spoon.

Here's the recipe:

40 saltines/sleeve of saltine crackers
1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
1 cup of brown sugar
1 (16oz) package of chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a layer of foil in an 11x16 inch pan and layer crackers over foil. In saucepan, bring butter and sugar to a boil (this smells divine)! Boil for 3 minutes. Pour over crackers. Bake 5 minutes or until crackers float. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over top of crackers. When melted, spread chips and sprinkle nuts on tops. Cut into bars when cool.

The Last Day of School for 2010

2010-12-17T22:38:00.000-08:00

The last day of school before Christmas vacation begins is always a blast. I have the best memories of my Christmas parties at school. They were so much fun. We made handmade crafts and got to eat sugar cookies brought in by the homeroom moms that they baked at home. We would never hear of that today. Everything today has to be pre-packaged and they are now called Winter/Holiday Parties-boohoo, I can't stand that!!

I still have some of the little crafts we made at school. In first grade, the homeroom mom made tick tac toe boards out of felt and in another grade, we got felt Christmas trees full of 25 peppermints. Each day we got to take a mint off so we knew how many more days til Christmas. One year, I made the cutest cookie jar for my mom and I remember getting off the bus with my big bag of goodies to bring home. I forgot about my cookie jar and swung the bag in the air upside down and out came the jar and it broke all over the ground. I ran home and cried and cried because I broke the special gift I worked so hard on for my mom.

I love all the handmade gifts the kids make for us. Especially the little ornaments with their faces, feet and handprints. We even have a special tree for all their handmade projects. They are priceless. Each year, it's amazing to see how they have grown! This year, I love this little hand and feet reindeer painting that Brody did...

At Blake's school, they have an annual tradition where all the fifth graders create floats and parade around the school for all the other grades and teachers. They let the kids be creative. So, Blake and his friend Josh worked together on their float using stuff we had around the house. They worked so hard and used Brody's wagon to put it all together.

This morning getting the float to school.

Santa leads the way to kickoff the parade!

Blake's Christmas Parade - December 17, 2010 from Shannon Fortunato on Vimeo.

Blake and his friend Josh-he sat on the back of the wagon handing out candy canes.

Santa made a visit to First Grade!

Sydney and her teacher Mrs. Burson

Syd making a snowman on a stick

Today was Blake's last elemantary school Christmas party. Yes, I got teary-eyed knowing that this stuff won't be considered fun to him anymore in the coming years!!

My only hope is they remember these fun times and these will be lasting memories when they are older.

And now - the CrAzInEsS of Christmas Break begins!!!!

The Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago, Sydney's little Girl Scout group (Daisies) had an evening trip to the pumpkin patch.

I was so excited to get my annual pictures, but almost right after we got there, I was juggling so much in my hands and dropped my baby aka my Canon Rebel on the ground. I had my big lens on it and when I went to take a picture, I noticed the view finder was all distorted and blurry although it still takes pictures. The timing was lousy and I'm SOOO sad as much as I take pictures. My camera is like my 4th baby!!

We took an evening hay ride under a full moon, roasted hot dogs in the firepit, made smores, fed the cows hay and played on the playground. The girls wore their Halloween costumes and they all looked so cute! Brody had so much fun playing with all the pumpkins and wagons. Blake had a baseball game that night or else he would have loved to be there.

14 Years!!!

2010-11-09T11:29:00.000-08:00

Fourteen years ago today, I married my love, my best friend, the most selfless and caring man and the best daddy to my babies that a girl could ask for!

Happy Anniversary T! Here's to many more and I look forward to sharing another great year with you! I love you!!!

319.bsbst.tapps

XoXo, Shannon

My Girl

2010-11-08T23:40:00.000-08:00

My girl Sydney. Love her!  From the time she was able to talk and walk, we knew she was little Miss Bubbly, Miss Personality, Miss Chatterbox, Miss Larger-than-Life, the list could go on an on. Everyone knows crazy Sydney, she shines!

Through the years we have butted heads. She is so strong-willed. So not shy - the way I was growing up.  She has always wanted to do her own thing. Last year, Sydney started Kindergarten and I was worried for her because of her talking. Luckily Blake's second grade teacher and my friend was now her teacher. She began e-mailing me that she was really concerned about Sydney.  Here is a post from last year. I received contstant e-mails about her behaviors and we tried everything for positive reinforcement to see if it helped and nothing did.

Now, we are almost three months into First grade. It has started out to be a difficult year for us but today, I am one proud momma! I got the most wonderful news!!

October 16, 2010 was the day that Sydney's doctor told us she had Attention Defecit Disorder (ADD). It was not news to us but just official according to surveys that Tim, her teacher and I had taken on Sydney's behaviors. She scored a 7/9 for hyper-activity and 9/9 for lack of focus. It was not a slight case of ADD, but severe with scores like that. Her doctor said it is not common in six-year old girls.

I knew we were in trouble after getting a call home the second week of school. I was worried about her talking and that wasn't even the issue. I was so saddened to hear her teacher describe that Sydney was in a whole different zone when she was teaching. Staring into space as she put it. I wanted to cry. I felt so bad for my baby girl.

When she mentioned that her grades were beginning to suffer, I knew it was something we couldn't ignore.   I waited two more weeks hoping there would be a change. I was in denial even after many discussions and disagreements with Tim.

Benignus was on my phone calling me again...cringe...what report was I going to get this time?

"Hi Mrs. Fortunato" on the other end from her very caring and sweet teacher, Mrs. Burson. My heart raced as I thought, "What is she going to tell me this time?" I hoped that she would say that Sydney was magically doing much better in class. No. Not the case.

She had a 27 on a math paper and a 55 on another paper
She has to do redos in order to get her grades higher
She is reading below grade level
She did not listen to a bit of instruction on two-part math problems
She does not focus
She is more worried about her classmates and what they are doing
She is so very distracted by her pencils and erasers

After that call, I could not waste any more time. We needed to do something to help our sweet, energetic, strong-willed girl. This decision took over a year to make and lots and lots of cries in my closet. I called the doctor's office immediately and scheduled a consultation. My hand was shaking the whole time. I hung up the phone once the appointment was made and I broke down. I cried almost the entire afternoon. It ruined my day. This stuff happens to other people, not us.

What were we about to do? Would Sydney's spirit be broken? Would she be a completely different child? Would there be long-term side effects? These were all the questions running through my mind.

Not to mention - guilt - what could we have done different? Shame - for those that will judge us for our decision to medicate our child. I realize so many people think parents throw their kids on it for an easy solution.   But it wasn't easy. It was the hardest decision I have had to make as a parent. Fear - that one day we will find out that her medication will cause some other ailment that could have been avoided if she did not take it at all.

This is our third week now. What a difference her medicine has made. Sydney hops in the car after school and is so excited to tell me that she gets tickets instead of time outs. Time outs have ended. If she has a good day, tickets can be saved up to buy things from the treasure box.

Reassurance came for me today. I AM doing the right thing and I can finally feel good about our decision although it still will take some time. We are helping Sydney be the best she can be in class and in her sports.

This morning, I was at my Moms group at church and one of the topics we discussed was measuring success for our children.   Not that it had to be anything grand, but just something short-term.   I chose Sydney and shared with my group the struggles we have had with her. My measure was for her to get a good Tuesday folder with positive marks.

Within 10 minutes of sharing my story with the group, my phone rang. It was Mrs. Burson. "Mrs. Fortunato", in a very cheery voice! She was calling to tell me what a wonderful job Sydney was doing in class. Her reading has improved, she is getting math and completing her work. She's focusing and paying attention. Her eyes and attention are not on her classmates. Her grades have improved.

I lost it and broke down crying to her teacher. I told her how much that call meant to me. It was the call I have been waiting for. We DID make the right decision.

God's timing could not have been more perfect. It was His way of telling me it's ok! :-)

Finally, some even better news...Sydney's tumbling coach promoted her tonight to the advanced class since she is doing so well. Running round-off back-hand springs here we come!!

I'm so proud of my girl!

About Me...

2010-10-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Here I go again with the same song and dance. I need to blog more, it's been another month. Brody is napping and yes, instead of cleaning or folding laundry, I'm doing something more fun. Thanks to Mama Kat for the writing prompt!

I recently updated my About Us (Me) page on my website.

Hi Y'all, I'm Shannon and I am the owner of Texas-based Lavish Bliss Boutique - your source for funky, fabulous and oh-so-fun products for the girly-girl in your life! I am married to my high school sweetheart, Tim and we have three beautiful mini-me's: Blake (10), Sydney (6) and Brody (22 months). From a very young age, I can remember having an interest in all things girly! I loved to play with dress-up clothes, my little plastic high-heel shoes, jewelry, purses, make-up, dolls and I loved watching Miss USA! Fast-forward to many years later, I am still very much interested in fashion, accessories, the latest must-haves and finding unique items.

In college, I chose to major in Marketing and worked for Compaq/Hewlett-Packard for 10 years. During that time, I always dreamed of having my own business (thanks to my dad's advice and his entrepreneurial spirit that rubbed off on me)! In October of 2006, I decided it was time for a change. My babies were growing up way too fast and I knew I would never get the time back with them. At work, our group was going through another round of layoffs and I knew this was my time to go! I volunteered to leave, so I took the package and ran!! It was a tough decision to walk away, but one that I will never regret!

I learned from an early age how to be crafty and creative from my mom. She made my sister Stephanie and I all kinds of cute things as kids. After I stopped working full-time, I soon found that I once again had time for projects that were put off for years. I started making things for my daughter. Friends and family took notice and asked for me to make girly goodies for them. It turned into a passion and what better way to turn your passion into a business! That's when Lavish Bliss Boutique was born! Sydney is the inspiration for all my designs. It's so fun to have my own girly-girl!!

tHiNgS ThAt MaKe mE HaPpY: My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my family and friends, crisp Autumn days, cupcakes, Target, decorating, the color pink, traveling, gardening, blue skies, photography, Mexican food, cooking and baking, lip gloss, Halloween, Christmas, anything with leopard print, The Young and the Restless, Pumpkin Spice lattes, baseball, jazz music, a good pedicure, sugar cookie and spice candles, Sonic Strawberry Limeades, Anthropologie, Black House White Market, reading trash mags, my glitter and hot glue gun, a warm blanket fresh out of the dryer.....what about you?

Shannon

Sydney's First Soccer Game

2010-09-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a busy sports day = 8:30-8:30. Soccer and Baseball. Sydney had her first soccer practice last Monday, what a crazy day! Bed late Sunday night, gymastics at 4:30-5:30 then soccer practice from 5:30-6:30. How would I do this for the next ten weeks?! By the time we got to soccer, Sydney was already exhausted. Some of the other girls played soccer for several years already and they knew how to play. Poor little Sydney stood there confused and tired. The other girls ran, she walked and stood there. Oh no, this would be interesting.

She was so excited yesterday morning. We got her all decked out in her gear and she was ready to go. It was a little slow start for her but then she caught on and did very well!! She did not like the opposing team to have the ball. I was so proud of my little athlete. We ended up losing 6-5.

I'm Baaack and Mother's Day Out!

2010-09-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Note: This post was written last week, I just never got around to publishing!

Wow, it's so hard to believe how fast the summer went by and how crazy busy our lives are. I have been such a bad blogger for neglecting my writing. Blake, Sydney and Brody kept me on my toes for sure this summer. By the end of the night, I had no energy to do anything except hit the fast forward and play button on the remote to catch up on DVR'd shows.

What a week this has been. Bittersweet. Brody's first week of Mother's Day Out and my first week to be alone during the day in nearly two years. Brody has been my buddy, my someone to talk to, someone who makes me laugh, my non-napper, my sidekick, my lil' messy man! He's my first baby to have separation anxiety since he is not a daycare baby like Blake and Sydney were.

I have thought about Mother's Day Out for soooo long. How would he manage, how would I manage? I knew it was BEST for both of us. It would give me a break to run errands, to work on orders, to get a pedicure, to read at Barnes and Noble, to lunch with my mom and sister, to catch up with friends, the list goes on an on. It would give Brody the chance to socialize with other kids his age, to have fun and to do something different besides watching Yo Gabba Gabba ten times a day.

Last Thursday was Meet the Teacher. He had so much fun meeting his teachers, Ms. Kelly and Ms. Ali. They are very sweet. Ms. Kelly has two kids of her own and very close in age to Brody and Ms. Ali is in college studying to be a elementary teacher and she is also a nanny for triplets on the side. So, he is in very loving and capable hands. He played and played with the other little boys. It turns out that there are 7 boys out of his little class of ten. Wow!! He played with the cars and the bubbles and we were actually the last ones to leave, he didn't want to go.

Ms. Ali, Brody, Ms. Kelly

Brody discovering his new classroom!

Tuesday was our first official day of Mother's Day Out. We had talked about "school", his teachers, his backpack and his new friends for several days. He was excited to be back when we arrived. What happened to my little baby, he looked like such a big boy.

When we got to his classroom, he actually reached over the door to go in. Wow, how nice if it would be this easy every day. I was able to skedaddle on out really fast while he played. All I could think of was, what was he going to do when he turned around and realized mommy wasn't there. I did not cry like I thought I might. I think I was so excited to be able to go anywhere and do anything I wanted. My friend Kara also has two little boys who are there. So, we hung out the entire day. We shopped, talked, lunched and Starbucked it. It was such a rainy,cozy and nasty day. It was perfect to enjoy my first "me" day. Is that selfish?

Brody's teachers said he did good. He cried for about 20 minutes after I left and then he had a great day. When I went to pick him up, he looked at me and studied my face for several long seconds. The minute he recognized me, he began to let out the sweetest cry of relief. I grabbed him and he held on to me so tight. It made me feel so warm and fuzzy.

I feel like I can now be more calm and be a better mommy. Isn't that crazy what 10 hours alone a week can do for you?? I feel refreshed and renewed!!!!

This morning, well, it was not so good. B wanted me to hold him tight. Finally, like I have heard, you can't do the long goodbye. I just had to walk out as quickly as I could. It hurt my heart. As I type this, I have about half an hour left and I can say, all day long, I have had this sick feeling that he thinks I abandoned him.

I know it will get better as time goes on and I shouldn't feel that way. But this is a big change for both of us and it will just take some time getting used to this.

Here is Brody's first artwork. I'm so proud of my big boy!!

Withdrawal Symptoms...

2010-07-17T00:41:00.000-07:00

It's been almost two weeks since I have blogged and I'm going crazy about it. I am having severe withdrawals!! The last two weeks have been so busy. Here's where we have been...

More blog updates soon!

Pink Carpet Princess Party!

2010-07-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe July 4th holiday!! We had a great weekend spent with family and friends and we even got some AMAZING news from my baby brother!!

For this post, I am linking Sydney's 6th Pink Carpet Princess birthday party pictures to Lucky Linky Tuesday at Lucky Star Lane.

Here's one little sneak peak from her VERY girly party. Click HERE to read the post.

Our Messy Artsy-Craftsy Afternoon!

2010-07-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

Growing up, my mom always had such creative things for us to do in the summer. We had so much fun doing projects and activities and I know that's why I still love to be creative today. I asked mom for a artsy-craftsy goopy recipe we did as kids and she pulled out a sheet she had saved from the Houston Chronicle. She made me a copy and Blake and Sydney have been asking to make a few.

We headed to USA Toy, which is so fun by the way if you have never been. They have everything from party supplies, to toys to teacher supplies. Right up any kid's alley!! I wanted to get that thick butcher paper that a lot of restaurants have on their tables for the kids to color on. They had it for .15 cents a yard. What a steal!!

Once Brody took a nap, we made the fingerpaints and goop. I told the kids to go grab an old, messy t-shirt so they wouldn't ruin their clothes. I thought that Blake might not enjoy our crafty afternoon since he is a big boy of 10 now, but he still loved it. I think it's any kid's dream to get all messy, it's more fun!!

Here are the recipes, so easy by the way!

Fingerpaints

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup of cold water

Craft/poster paints in various colors

Mix to smooth consistency. Cook until clear and pudding thickness. Add poster paint or other coloring while warm.

I divided the mixture in three bowls and we used different colors. I made the mistake though of not cooking it (kids must have distracted me) and so they had runny watercolors. So I will be making this again (the right way)!! I even had fun painting, notice my rainbow in one of the pictures below!!

Goop

1 box of cornstarch

Water

Food coloring

Mix cornstarch with enough water to make a pliable wet substance. The mixture holds its shape when worked with hands, but "melts" when hands are still. Food coloring can be added for color.

Blake and Sydney LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the goop!! I added green food coloring to make it look monsterish. They fought over it and so next time, I will make two batches - one for each of them! Also, by this time, the butcher paper was starting to get wet once they started putting the goop all over it. The next time I make it, it will definitely be an outdoor activity!!!

Here are some of the pictures of their fun!

Sydney before the messiness begins!

Look at Blake's mean face, he didn't want to share goop!

Overall, it was a fun afternoon, enjoyed by all!!

Friday Question Friday...

2010-07-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

TGIF is all I can say, it's been a crazy week here in my household and a week of recovering after seven games of baseball in 95 degree Texas heat over three days. A week full of kids fighting, baby refusing to nap and sleep at night, endless dirty diapers, a messy house, mounds and mounds of laundry, messy counters, and now, this momma needs a nice, long holiday weekend to chill out before our Baseball World Series begins next week for seven endless days!!!

1. What is one thing you miss the most about childhood?
Having absolutely NO cares in the world is what I miss most about childhood. I can't just pick ONE thing, I have too many and have to list them!! Having everyone do stuff for you was the best!! Mom and Dad catered to our every whim - bought my clothes, groceries, cooked my dinner, washed my clothes. I loved playing until dark (with no fear of child predators or kidnappers), had no worries about money, played all day with friends during the summer, swimming all day, spending the night out, skating at the skating rink and not actually thinking the music is too loud, Silver Spoons, Diff'rent Strokes, Punky Brewster, Three's Company, CHiPs, Gimme a Break, Little House on the Prairie, Wonder Woman, Saturday morning cartoons - they were the best, going to AstroWorld, watching The Goodyear Blimp fly over our house at nighttime all lit up in the fall and going to dinner as a family at J. Christopher's - they had the best pizza and they have since closed. I loved my childhood and hope I can create wonderful memories for my own kids so they can look back and think I had a lot of fun growing up!

2. Are you still friends with your friends from high school?
Yes and No. My really good friends from high school are far away and not close to where I live. Thanks to Facebook, I have stayed in touch with them but I wouldn't say we are close anymore. Since I haven't moved away from where my high school is, I run into people all the time. I love it!! It's so fun to see them with kids now and how they turned out.

3. Is there a catch phrase, cliche, or word that just drives you bonkers every time you hear it?
"It is what it is", facetious, Festiva (as in Ford), pupil, nosh, spasm, tresses, sushi to name some. I'm sure I can come up with some more, pressure, pressure to get my blog post finished!

4. What is ~~one~~ thing that you think symbolizes America...besides "Old Glory"
The Statue of Liberty, the city of Boston, baseball, apple pie and freedom.

5. What are your 4th of July weekend plans?
Well, since we have been gone the last two weekends watching my brother's baseball and having our own baseball games, I am looking forward to a low-key kind of weekend. My sister's new pool is all finished up and we will probably hang out at the pool with family, watch fireworks and try out some new recipes. I made a July 4th tutu for Sydney and need to get some cute pictures of her wearing it. That's all, nothing fancy.

Happy 43rd Anniversary Mom and Dad!

2010-07-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

Forty-three years ago, on a very hot day in Detroit, Michigan, mom and dad were married. That is such a long time!! Four kids and eight grandkids later (and one on the way), they are still going strong! When I called them tonight to wish them Happy Anniversary, I couldn't reach them and called my dad's cell. I knew he would answer and as I guessed he had taken his bride to one of their favorite restaurants for dinner, how cute!!

They have both taught me such valuable lessons in life. Lessons on compassion, determination, motivation, the importance of an education, selflessness, patience and kindness. They have given me my creativity and made me the person I am today. Thank you mom and dad for loving me and for all the wonderful gifts and memories you have given me in my life! I look forward to the day that Tim and I can say we have been married that long!!! I love these wedding pictures of theirs.

Wishful Wednesday - Style

2010-06-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by without a blog post. Blog time has slipped away from me this summer since the kids are keeping me sooooo busy. By the time Tim gets home from work, I am ready to go to bed. I have skipped my 2am bedtimes and staying up late to do "me" things. I'm going to TRY to be better at it since I don't want to miss chronicling our memories.

It's Wednesday again and the topic is Style.

'I wish' .... I would get to open my closet and it would be a White House Black Market Boutique! I would have unlimited choices on clothes, shoes, accessories and my own shopping attendant who would keep bringing me new selections to try on!!!

Years ago, on one of our local independent tv stations, there was a daytime commercial for one of those fashion institutes and the girl talking said, "I love hats, I love clothes, I love shoes". Then the announcer said, "Does this sound like you" and I though, "Yes, that's is me". I never went to the fashion institute. I did however almost choose Fashion Merchandising as a major and took several fashion related courses in college.

Since I was little, I have always loved fashion, clothes, design and style. One of my favorite toys was Fashion Plates and we had an old blue sheet that I used to create all kinds of dresses with. Lately, I feel like my style has taken a back seat to mommyhood. I do miss the days of getting dressed up to go to work at the office and wearing heels, but I still loved getting all dolled up even if I'm just running errands. It makes me feel good and I know my little girly girl Sydney loves it when her momma puts on makeup and pretty clothes!

I love, love, love White House Black Market!!! I love black clothes. I love white clothes. I love animal print. They incorporate all of that at WHBM and they add touches of color at different times of the year. I don't think I have ever gone in there and not found a million things that I want. Not to mention, they have fab shoes and accessories. If you add your name to their Little Black Book, you get really great coupons and even a little birthday surprise!

Here are some of my favorite picks!!!

The girl in me still gets so excited when I shop and in the back of my mind, I still hear that girl on the commercial saying, "I love hats, I love clothes, I love shoes"!

Wishful Wednesday - "I Wish I Hadn't Lost..."

2010-06-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

It's wishful Wednesday again. Here's the topic:

'I wish' .... I hadn't lost ______!!

I wish I hadn't lost my best friend Amy due to her family's move.

Besides my sister, my other bestie is my longtime childhood friend Amy. She and I met the night of my birthday party in 5th grade, the night we saw "A Christmas Story". How could a girl be so lucky to have a friend who was in my grade, AND lived right next door?! Our rooms were even facing each other and at times we would open our windows to talk when we couldn't play.

We soon became instant best friends. We had sleepovers, watched Miss USA, played with our Little Seaweeds, stretchy coil bracelets and rubber ones too that came in every color (by today's standards - Sillybandz). Amy and I loved Blueberry Bubble Yum, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper (and even dressed like her on Halloween), Whitney Houston and Loverboy. We played Swing-a-Statue and tag in the yard with the neighbor kids. Our favorite movie was The Goonies. Amy's mom made the best French pancakes for breakfast and macaroni salad for lunch! We loved going to AstroWorld. Amy put up with my love of my rainbow collection. We started junior high together and made fun of the science teacher - Mrs. St. John and then us nerdy girls joined the Science Club so we could go on cool field trips and wear dorky visors. We then joined Pep Squad even though that was also considered nerdy. We started a friendship notebook that I still have. We traded notes in between class and talked about any and everyone and we even had a crush on the same boy - Brian McMullin.

I was devasted when I found out at the end of six grade that Amy would be moving to Dallas. Even though that was just four hours away, it was still too far. We would also be moving, not so far away from my childhood house but I would be going to a new school also. I was moving away from all my friends that I had known since Kindergarten. Seventh grade was going to be a rough year!

Amy and I kept in touch through letters and long-distance phone calls. That's when long-distance was really expensive and we couldn't talk for long. That was waaay before e-mails or Skype or Facebook or texting. Wow, things would have been so much easier with all that!! I missed her so much and luckily we got to spend a week together each summer to catch up. I was so excited to fly to Dallas by myself on a plane to visit. We went out on the boat, went to Six Flags, talked about boys, looked at yearbooks, drooled over Tom Cruise in Top Gun, saw Cocktail, got sun tans in the backyard, talked about our future careers and husbands over ice cream at Braum's - we were both going to be flight attendants for American and travel all over.

Then in high school, they moved even further away to Alabama. My dreams of getting in my car in high school and driving up to see Amy were soon gone. We still made trips to see each other and had so much fun driving around in Amy's car, going to the mall, meeting some interesting guys and hanging out at the beach in Pensacola watching the Blue Angels!

She was in my wedding and I was in both of hers (the first one ended in divorce and I was six months pregnant with Sydney in a bridesmaids dress for the second one and I don't have a picture of that). I felt bad that I wasn't close by to be there for her during her divorce. As I am typing this, I'm thinking has it really been six years since we have seen each other?? I just can't believe it.

I am so proud of her that she is finally a mommy of an almost two-year old. I never thought she would do it. I'm sad that I have never seen sweet Corinne and my kids don't know her. That's what work, kids, crazy lives and schedules have done!! We do message sometimes on Facebook and I hope one of these days we can get together for a girls' weekend.

I miss you sooo much Amy and I'm so glad we share so many fun childhood memories together!! In November, we will have known each other for 27 years!! Even though distance and three states separates us, you will always be my best friend!

Getting to see my best friend every day...that is what I wish I had not lost!!

Fun Friday!

2010-06-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

Today was such a fun Friday! We had a great first week of summer and I'm still sane. Yes, I am an order taker/waitress, spill cleaner up-er and maid for the next three months, but I love having my babies with me!!

My nephew Jacob has been with us this week and spent the night at our house two nights in a row. The boys have had so much fun together - laughing, telling jokes, catching up, playing games, making plans for a lemonade stand next week, talking about rides at Disney, going to It'z, watching videos on You Tube, playing Just Dance on the Wii and dodging Sydney and Brody. It makes me sad that they can't really spend this much time together until summer. I have loved having Jacob around. He's sooo smart and sooo funny and sooo imaginative. I love that kid!!

Today just seemed like a lazy day. We all slept until about 10:15. It was nice, especially since I have stayed up so late this whole week. We hung around and ate a late breakfast. I told the kids last night that we needed to go to the garden center to get some fresh flowers. It's been so hot here that all my favorite petunias are all leggy and dead looking. We started off at Starbuck's and they loved their smoothies and decaf Fraps. Eventually, we found our way to the sea of flowers. Jacob and Sydney loved being on the double-decker cart and I was their tour guide.

We stopped to get Little Caesar's to pick up pizza for lunch and then headed outside, in the sunny, humid, ever-so-hot 95 degree Houston weather. I planted and the kids washed the car and played with Brody in his pool. Blake even climbed up in the tree taking the hose with him and creating a pool "waterfall". Where does he come up with his ideas??

Anyways, it was fun and somewhat lazy since it's was a Friday. The best part of all, we were outside much of the afternoon and I wasn't their maid. I got a little break!! :-)

Writer’s Workshop: 30 Things I Vow to Do This Summer!

2010-06-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

I follow Mama Kat on Twitter and saw her writing prompts. Here's the one that I chose...

30 things I vow to do this summer (seeing that I have three kids (10, 6 and 18 months), this is subject to change and I will do a blog post at the end of the summer to see what I actually accomplished!

1. Read two books, either Danielle Steele or Sandra Browne. It's been over a year since I've read a book!

2. Do my fall projects now so I don't kick myself that another year went by without adding some new decor to the house.

3. Do fun and really messy, gooey, ickey, slimey experiments/projects with the kids.

4. Lose 1 pound per month.

5. Make dinner at least 4-5 times per week.

6. Take an online photography class.

7. Get a blog re-design.

8. Get a new laptop since my other one is toast after only two years. :-(

9. Take a weekend family getaway somewhere in Texas.

10. Paint and re-do hallway bathroom, pick a new paint color and add new framed mirrors and updated lights.

11. Read a lot with the kids and take them to the library each week so this summer they actually get the Summer Reading Certificate and free book for the reading all their books!

12. Decoupage and fix up my old childhood desk to put in Sydney's room.

13. Pay it Forward (#13-#15) - surprise one unsuspecting clerk who is extra friendly, smiles, is nice, not rude, who actually greets me and talks to me and loves their job. Give them a little reward for having a great attitude regardless of their minimum wage job.

14. Pay for the person behind me at the toll booth.

15. Pay for the person behind me in the fast food lane.

16. Continue taking Blake and Sydney on dates. They need to know they are special and they deserve some one-on-one time with their momma since our daily lives are so crazy!

17. Take the beginner Photoshop online class my sister gave me for Christmas.

18. Soak in the bathtub uninterrupted reading one of my books from #1.

19. Sign Brody up for Mother's Day Out for the fall.

20. Get to sleep early at least twice a week, these 2am bedtimes are killing me (well it's now actually 3:36 am as I'm typing, I'm in trouble tomorrow)!!

21. Help the kids plant their vegetable/flower garden.

22. Call my best childhood friend and talk instead of e-mailing or Facebooking, call my parents, brothers and in-laws more.

23. Make some funky camera straps for my camera.

24. Go to Barnes and Nobles by myself once a week to read, escape and come home a refreshed momma.

25. Find a babysitter so Tim and I can go on some dates and have more late night snuggle time catching up on all kinds of DVR shows!!

26. Hunt for new recipes to try each week instead of eating the same old stuff, this will help with #5!

27. Do a kid swap with my sister...I take her three, she takes my three for the day - that way I get to spend quality time doing something different with my nieces and nephew.

28. Go downtown for lunch one day so the kids can eat lunch with their daddy.

29. Go to the beach again with the entire family (parents, brother, my sister's family), we had so much fun when we did that over Memorial Day weekend.

30. And last on the list...try not to sweat the small stuff and enjoy every day I have with the kids during the summer, school will be here again before we know it!

Messy Lil' Man

2010-06-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

I'm sure every mom has the pictures of their kids making a mess or the famous spaghetti pictures. Here are mine!!! Brody loves spaghetti and there's nothing clean about it!! He sure enjoyed himself and he made me laugh soooo hard by the time he was done rubbing it all in his face and hair!

How you like me now?

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

2010-06-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today my baby sister turned 35! She got the best present today...she is pregnant with her fourth baby and they found out this afternoon that it's another girl (the third)!! The girls will reign in that household!! It's not time to put away the dress-up clothes, the princesses, the hair bows, the high heels and all those girly clothes. I'm so excited that I will still get to shop for a little girl!

My sister is the most patient and most loving mother ever. I'm so proud of her for even trying to have a fourth baby. But I know if anyone can do it, she can.

We weren't always best of friends. Growing up, I know she looked up to me. I know I let her down all the times we would get our play restaurant setup or all the games lined up for a game convention and I decided that I didn't want to play anymore. I was mean in high school to not let her wear my clothes and when I found out she did, I trashed her room. How stupid and mean was that! If I only knew then what best friends we would be today, that never would have happened!! Steph - I'm sorry for all that!

You are my beautiful best friend, my confidant, you're there when I need to talk, you're there to get me through this crazy thing called motherhood, you're my "twin" - ha!, you're a wonderful, wife, mother and friend to others, you are amazingly creative and talented, you are caring and compassionate. Your inner and outer beauty shines!! I love having you as a sister and I'm so glad your girls will one day get to experience what it's like to have built in best friends like us!

I'm glad we got to share such a special day with you. I love you!

P.S. Isn't it crazy that we wore the almost exact outfit - necklace and all!

Love,

Shan

Brody is 18 months!

2010-05-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby boy is 18-months old. It's so nice that our little guy is gaining some independence. I love it how you are starting to play on your own and you are your own little person except you can't completely talk yet. Since you are 18-months old now, you can now go to Mother's Day Out. I know it will be good for the both of us! Since I worked with Blake and Sydney, I missed out on so many little things with them throughout the day. I am so happy to have been with you all day and been able to see everything!!! This is usually when I stop counting your age by months and now, you're a year and a half. I feel like the little baby phase is over and we are moving on to the next stage! You are so much fun right now!

Some things you do:

At your 15-18 month checkup: you had 5 shots ouch!! You weighed 24.6 pounds, height was 33 1/2 inches and your head was 18 1/2 inches
You love to climb up on the kitchen table and stand up, your other favorite thing is getting into the dishwasher
You hit and throw everything, you're our next baseball superstar and maybe even our ticket!
Cutting more teeth, the sharp "fang" ones, you now have total of 16 teeth
Still in 18 mos clothing and size 4 diapers, shoes size is 5
Love to eat String Bean Chicken from Panda Express, peas, spaghetti and you love to take food and dip (ketchup or chips/queso)
You love to drink from a straw
At 17 months you started hitting off a baseball tee and you won't take off Blake's big helmut, you wear it everywhere, even in the car.
You love baseball hats and try to put 5 at a time on your head and you point up in the closet until you have them all in your hand.
You hit the ball, drop the bat and run the pretend bases all the way around until you get a homerun and then you clap
Words you say: hat, ball, mom, dad, Bake (for Blake) and Siss (for Sydney) sky, more
You are a poop machine - boy like 5x a day, can I have a break mister?!
Took you to ENT for snoring, she ordered a sleep study but can't get you in until November, hopefully someone will cancel. My poor little baby, you snore soooo bad!
You sit on the couch (not for long) and watch Yo Gabba Gabba and you even try to say it on your own
So cute, you squint your eyes and smile when I bring out the camera, I'm training you well cause you have thousands more pictures in your future buddy!

Kindergarten Graduation

2010-05-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

Today was Sydney's Kindergarten Graduation. It was so cute. They got to parade in front of all the parents in their caps up to the front of the cafeteria to receive their diplomas. I can't believe that Kindergarten is over. It seems like it just started!! I remember how sad I was once school started and my little girly wasn't with me anymore during the day. It's been a fun year, but also a year filled with notes home for my little Miss Chatterbox's talking, not following directions, not staying on task, getting into her classmates' business, arguing with others, getting out of her seat, talking in line and redirection. Her poor teachers, they are angels!! I don't know how they do it all day long!! Lordy, I think I am the one who needs the "I made it through Kindergarten" diploma! Yes, I shed many a tear over this. My sweet little Sydney has a mind of her own. She is so strong-willed and wants to do her own thing. She is so the opposite of my personality, but I love that she has taught me so much, especially patience! Oh...the morning arguments before school, the crying because she didn't have the right outfit or shoes on, goodness. She's a girl, and this is only the beginning!!!

I am soooo excited that Sydney has come home for the last 7 days in a row without ONE single mark on her folder. I can already tell, she's growing up a bit. She has been waking up before me for the last week and gotten herself dressed and fixed her hair. All without her momma and all without a single tear or argument! I am lovin' it and I love my girl to pieces!! Congratulations my lil' graduate!

Sydney's friends

Sydney's BFF Brooklyn

Sydney's Teachers - she adores them and plays them after school every day!

The girls!

Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh Baby!

2010-05-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

What a little songstress!! This is so cute and it made me smile. I love any videos of little kids or babies doing cute things! This song is so popular at our house, even Brody loves to dance to it although he can't sing quite yet! :-)

Top 2 Tuesday...Dates

2010-05-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Tay is having Top 2 Tuesday-Dates at The Undomestic Momma.

So, since having three kids keeps us so busy, we don't get to do dates as much as we would like. But here are my two favorite things I love to do...

1. Go to Market Street in The Woodlands. It's so hot in Texas and when this little upscale shopping area opened up, it was so unique in that it was setup as an outdoorsy place, most people in Texas run for the A/C on hot days. It's so beautiful there, the flowers, the smells, the restaurants - of course my most favorite one ever - Jaspers, the shopping, the kid activities, the new boutique hotel!! It's our favorite little escape from the world. I love that it's so close to home, I feel like I'm on vacation or in another city when I'm there!

So, here is one of my perfect dates at Market Street...

Eat Here!! Yum.

Then shop, walk around, people watch and have an overnight date at Avia, the new boutique hotel there.

Have a drink up on the balcony!

Then go for a swim!

And go nighty-night here...

Or here!

2. My other favorite date would be somewhere by the water or at the beach. Since Galveston is so close, it makes it easy.

We would go eat some seafood and have a tropical drink with an umbrella and then go for a walk on the beach at sunset and sit and talk about our kids!

Summer Begins Next Week!!!

2010-05-24T23:05:00.000-07:00

Eight school days left until summer!! It's so unreal to think that school will be out next week, Thursday to be exact. I'm ready for a break from homework, paper shuffling, signing folders, carpooling, waking up early, the nightly bedtime battles, etc! I think I'm probably more excited than the kids! Three months to do whatever we want!! I'm looking forward to having Blake and Sydney home with me during the day. I know Brody will love having his Bubba and Sissy home, someone to play with besides me! It's time to get the summer schedule ready...top on the list - swim lessons for Sydney, finding a summer Mother's Day Out for Brody and signing Blake up for golf - he needs to do something other than baseball!!

Bret Michaels...HIRED!

2010-05-23T22:06:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad Bret Michaels won Celebrity Apprentice tonight, especially after everything he's been through! I was rooting for him all the way. I hope he makes a big comeback after he recovers first! With Trump's help, he'll be bigger and better than ever before! I'm looking forward to seeing one of my favorite 80's guys again in concert!

Philly Cheesesteak Soup Mmmmm!

2010-05-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

Years ago when I worked for Hewlett-Packard and had to go on a business trip to Atlantic City, we flew into Philadelphia. One of my co-workers and I were dying to try a real Philly Cheesesteak. So we searched for a good walk up counter place and ordered. We devoured the thing in minutes it was so good and oh-so-bad on the heart! Luckily, we have a new pizza place close by called Vito's and the owners moved here from Philly about a year ago. We are in love with their cheesesteaks and they even ship the dough in from Philly.

So, I was looking through magazines one day and saw a recipe for Philly Cheesesteak Soup. I knew I had to make it - I could eat soup everyday, I love it. So, here is the recipe...

1/8 cup olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced into 1/2 strips
2 large green bell peppers, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
3-4 garlic cloves (the more the better in my opinion, I'm a garlic lover)
1 1/2 pounds top round steak, sliced into 1x 1/2 inch pieces
1 quart of beef broth
1 (10.5-ounce) can beef consomme
3 cups of water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme
Toasted French rounds
Provolone cheese

In large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, bell peppers and garlic for 8-10 minutes, stir frequently- (I like my onions well done, so I cooked mine for about 15 minutes).

Add steak, cook for 10 minutes , stirring frequently until browned. Add beef broth, consomme, water, salt and pepper stirring to combine.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for two hours or until meat is tender. Stir occasionally. Add thyme and simmer for five minutes. Ladle soup into oven proof bowl, top with toasted French rounds and Provolone cheese. Broil 6 inches from heat for three minutes or until cheese is browned and bubbly. Enjoy!!

***You may want to decrease the salt to 1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon or you may want to wait and see if it needs any salt at all. I added the entire 1 teaspoon and ended up adding three cups of water so it was not as salty. I think the broth and the consomme had extra salt I forgot about!

Overall it was so yummy!! Tim loved it, he told me how good it was about four times while he ate it. I actually let it simmer for about 3 hours instead of 2 hours. The meat was really tender!

Friday Photo Flashback

2010-05-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

I scanned in some pictures for Alicia's Friday Photo Flashback. When I think of ALL the photos I have in albums before I went digital, it makes me stressed. One of the new projects on the to do list is to scan all of my albums. I know it will take forever but all I can do is take it one book at a time! Here are some old school photos, they make me laugh!

Homecoming 1987. Love the yellow socks and braces! This mum is tiny compared to the ones the girls in Texas wear these days!!

Christmas 1988 - Another braces picture. Love the acid washed jean jacket and jeans. I took it a bit far with the jeans on top and bottom look...wouldn't do that today. Also, I must have been into side pony tails!

Prom 1991 - I utterly hate this picture and can't believe I'm even posting it - so embarrasing! I still bring it out every now and then to show Tim how silly we looked. The minute I saw this backdrop, I was so disappointed, c'mon now three balloons and some roses?! A kid could have put a better backdrop together!! Hot pink was and still is my favorite color! I must have been using too much baby oil and iodine, I look sooo orange and my hair looks like a mushroom. Tim has the bang action going, too funny! Real men wear pink!!

Summer 1993 - My hair was short and sooo dark. My sister called my hair blue because it was so dark! Used to wear gold jewelry back then and the red nails uhhhhggg!! My finger nails look like they are from a Barbra Streisand/Mike Myers skit on Saturday Night Live! And who wears panty hose anymore??? I want to be that skinny again!

December 1996 - Our first married Christmas together, I still love this picture. We were just married about six weeks prior on November 9th. My hair was so dark here too before grays and going blonde! Wish I still had those eyebrows that I plucked away when thin eyebrows became popular during the 2000's.

Just Around the Corner

2010-05-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

Today was the day that Blake and the 4th grade boys got to view THE movie about growing up called "Just Around the Corner". I can't believe it's this soon!! I was in 5th grade when we watch the movie. I have been talking about it all week with him and told him that today was the BIG day! We are so open with him and talk about all the changes that he will go through and we have even started talking about deeper "Birds and the Bees" stuff too.

I couldn't go to the preview that was yesterday because it was parents only and I have all kids with me at all times, so I couldn't go. I had to look it up online and found a little video clip. I couldn't help but chuckle. Here's what the website said the movie discussed:

An upbeat look at the changes of puberty, featuring two fourth grade boys and Todd – a promising art student and easy-going teenaged big brother. Todd helps prepare the boys for the momentous changes waiting “just around the corner.” Topics include: when to expect the onset of puberty; physical and emotional changes of puberty; maturation of the male reproduction system; common experiences of puberty, including voice change and feelings of awkwardness; and the importance of good hygiene and healthy habits.

So the minute Blake walked in the door, he started giggling like I knew he would. He said everytime they said the PEN*S word, all the boys laughed. I would have loved to been a fly on the wall!

Wishful Wednesday - Bedrooms

2010-05-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to see the new post idea on Kelsey's blog - The Seattle Smiths for Wishful Wednesday. The theme is bedrooms. One of my most favorite things to do is decorate; however I have slacked in that area for the longest time since having three kids keeps me so busy. I love to watch decorating shows and look through decorating magazines. My favorites are Ballard Designs, Pottery Barn, Country Living, Southern Living and In Style to name a few (ok, more than a few). I love Candice Olson's style on HGTV and Nate Berkus. They are amazing at how they can transform rooms. I couldn't choose just one dreamy bedroom, so I narrowed it down to my top three. I love French country romantical style, antiques, a bit of modern but yet I also love the beachy Shabby Chic/all white casual look too. I noticed in all the pictures I chose, there is a chandelier, love 'em!!!

'I wish' .... I could come home to...

Courtesy of Candice Olson of Divine Design on HGTV

Courtesy of Southern Accents

Courtesy of Houzz.com

Fallen Hero Comes Home...

2010-05-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today, I was doing my usual weekly run to my office, aka Hobby Lobby-ha ha! I needed to stop and get gas right around the corner from my house. As I turned into the parking lot, I noticed hundreds and hundreds of motorcycles along with police cars and American flags. The man getting gas next to me said it was for a fallen soldier and I remembered hearing about it on the news.

As the Patriot Guard Riders all left the parking lot with their engines cranking, it gave me chills. On my way to Hobby Lobby, I saw American flags all up and down Main Street of the little town of Tomball, Texas. Businesses had signs honoring Corporal Jeffrey Johnson.

Jeffrey's life was cut short on May 11, one week ago today and on Blake's birthday. He was killed by a bomb in Afghanistan fighting for our country at 21 years of age. Soooo young to die!

On my way home, there were hundreds of cars lined up on the side of the road to stop for the procession, myself included. There were children waving flags, parents, veterans, signs, huge American flags, fire engines, helicopters and lots of red, white and blue. I have never seen anything like it before. It was SO moving and SO patriotic. I almost felt like it was July 4th! Jeffrey received a true hero's homecoming!!

Please say a prayer for his family which includes his wife, parents, grandparents and three siblings.

Babies+Hot Cars Don't Mix

2010-05-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

My sweet "Bubby" in his carseat at four months.

God sent a little baby (one that I did not know) an angel today. I am so filled with adrenaline and emotion right now. I just can't believe the events of this afternoon.

Blake asked me last night if I would take him to Game Stop to get a game that he had been wanting. I told him I would take him after school. I believe things happen for a reason and just at the right time - it's God's plan! My friend sent me a text and asked if I would pick up her kids and one other friend. So, I had a car full of kids that I had to drop off and this was not my normal schedule. Sydney decided to go to swim team practice with Brooklyn. So, I just had my boys with me. We went to Game Stop, we got Blake's game and were in and out within minutes.

As I was about to get into my car, I glanced into the car next to me and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw tiny feet hanging out of a baby carseat and a blanket completely covering the carrier umbrella part. The car was turned off, only the baby's window was cracked, the car was unlocked and there was no parent in sight. The temperature on my car read 95 degrees, it's already getting sooo hot in Texas. At first I thought this was an episode of ABC's "What Would You Do". There was a hair salon in front of my car and I kept thinking surely someone is going to come out. I waited and waited and no one came out.

I was not going to leave until I saw someone get in that car. I wanted to give them a piece of my mind. I was furious, how could anyone do that to a tiny baby!! It had now been 7 minutes. I called the police. All I could think of is the stories I hear on the news about innocent young children and babies dying in hot cars.

The police showed up in minutes...5 police cars, an ambulance, a fire truck, wreckers. They immediately opened the door, took out the baby and went to examine him in the ambulance, which he turned out to be just fine, just very flushed and dehydrated. As soon as all the commotion began, out comes the parent...a father. This was the man who walked into Game Stop as we walked out. I looked at my receipt showing the time I checked out to the time the police showed up - 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes that this baby was covered up with a blanket in 90 degree weather with a two inch crack to breath all alone, by himself. Except, he wasn't alone. God was with him.. Who knows how long that father would have stayed in Game Stop. Really...was a game more important than your four month old son?

I let this father know how I felt when he came out and I was practically in tears. All he could say to me was "Yes M'aam". I think he was shocked, but he also didn't seem too distraught about it which really suprised me. Maybe he was in disbelief that he was in deep do-do. The officer who got my statement said the whole front office was radioing to check on the baby. He told me I did the right thing by calling them. I mentioned I kept checking on the baby and how I felt bad for not taking him out of the car. He told me it was best to let them take care of it not knowing if I would be attacked somehow by the parent. By this time, onlookers were everywhere. As unGodly as it sounds, I wanted him to feel like an idiot. Being the parent of a new baby is tough. You cannot make quick trips to the store, you can't run in and out anymore. As a parent, you owe your life to that baby and you will do anything it takes to keep them safe. Apparently, this father didn't quite get it yet. You take your new baby EVERYWHERE, even if it is inconvenient or if your baby is asleep. All he had to do was lift the carrier and take him inside. Four month olds love their carriers and don't wake up THAT easily.

I had asked the officer what was going to happen to him. He told me that the father didn't know it yet, but he was getting ARRESTED and what he did is a felony in Texas. They put him in the squad car and were taking him to jail. He put that baby in danger - for leaving him in a hot car for 15 minutes unattended with the doors unlocked (he could have been kidnapped).

I am so thankful that God chose me to look out for this baby today and put me in that parking spot to keep him safe! When I left, I pulled around by the ambulance and the EMT brought him to me. I gave him a big kiss and told him God loved him and He was looking out for him today! :-)

I can only hope that for the rest of tonight and for the days ahead, that the baby's father ponders his actions today and realizes what a big mistake he made that could have cost his son's life.

Finally, as the hot summer months approach, please, please look into other people's cars. There could be a precious life inside, someone that needs to be saved!

Sunday, Sunday!

2010-05-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the long post, I can't help it!! :-)
Sunday, Sunday...I can remember growing up as a little girl and oh how I did not like Sunday afternoons or evenings. It meant the start of the new week. It meant going back to school and missing my parents. I remember looking out the front windows of my childhood house as the sun was setting thinking about how much fun I had over the weekend either playing with friends, going swimming or going places with my mom and dad. As I watched the sunset and waited for CHiPs (yes, I'm so a child of the 80's) to start, I remember the smell of dinner cooking. My mom always made the best meals and I think that's why I love cooking so much today. She always made sure we had dinner on the table every night (and that meant a home cooked meal...no fast food)! Many times on Sunday, I remember in between commercials for 60 Minutes, my dad making the best steak ever outside on the grill.

It was during our family dinner time, that I remember feeling so loved and safe. We talked, we laughed, we watched my older brother Kirk stick beans in his nose, we sat there until we drank all our milk (even the milk that I spinkled with Lawry's seasoned salt) and we didn't get up until we were told. I held on to that last bit of family time together until the next night.

So, where am I going with all this you ask? Well, I still get that "Sunday night feeling" that I had as a little girl. Even though I don't go to the office anymore, I still dread the weekend coming to an end. I always love the new memories that we get to make and share! I love being with my own family and hate it when everyone scurries off into different directions on Monday morning. I miss our family togetherness!

This weekend was much needed for me to renew and refresh!! We have not had a weekend home in three weeks due to travels, baseball, my niece's birthday party and spending Mother's Day with family. We were supposed to have Blake's baseball tournament all weekend long, but it was rained out, sigh!!! I didn't want to seem overly excited, but I soooo needed this time to chill out and do whatever I wanted and to not be on a schedule!

As the rain came down so hard Friday night, I attended Wine Night at a friend's house. It was a nice getaway for several hours and a great way to start the weekend.

Saturday morning came around and it was still raining, I love rainy Saturday mornings and days!! Tim said the whole tournament was cancelled! Yay!!! I went back to bed and slept until 10:00 - haven't done that in awhile!!! When I woke up, I decided it was going to be a cleaning and organizing day. Mom took Blake to the Children's Museum along with my nephew Jacob. So the house was quiet without Blake and Sydney fighting!! It turned out, I was in Sydney's room ALL day long. Yes, it was that messy and trashy and so unorganized. How did this happen in such a short time?!?! I guess it's the six year old in her!

I had two big trashbags full of just trash stuffed in her closet, under her bed, in her drawers. Oh my! I am a neat freak and when it comes to closets, it all has to be in color order and one side is short sleeved/warm weather clothes and the other side is long sleeved/cold weather (if you wanna call it that here in Texas) clothes!

Finally, I hung up pictures and cute little things I got from the girly section at Hobby Lobby. It was finally starting to look like a cozy room (her room redo will be in a future post). I hung up four paper lanterns that we used for her birthday party in the corner of her room. When she saw it all, she was soooo excited. I still have several to dos...finish her wall letters, take down fan and put up chandelier, get new comforter, find a leopard dust ruffle, paint a few walls a different color-there is way too much pink going on and finish re-doing my old childhood desk for her.

So today, I got to sleep in late again till 9:30, loved it!! The sun was out today and I was ready to get out of the house after being in it all weekend!! I'm just that way. I was feeling cooped up even though I was getting so much done!

Tim surprised me by taking me to my most favorite restaurant ever at Market Street in The Woodlands called Jasper's. Wow, twice in one week, my sister Stephanie and I met there on Thursday! One of my most favorite things to eat ever is their Masa Soup. It's to die for. If you are in Plano, San Antonio, Austin or The Woodlands - you must try Jasper's!!

After Jasper's, I had to have my cupcake fix!! Blake found his momma a new cupcake shop that is close to home. It's called Frost, so we had to try it!

I loved this sign in their shop...

We tried three - S'Mores, Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Dream, mmmm! They were so yummy.

Sunday, Sunday...there's always next weekend, family time, baseball and new memories!

Have a great week!

Shannon

Tomato & Cucumber Summer Salsa

2010-05-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that summer is upon us. Summer=long days of staying busy with the kids or the complete opposite - those lazy days of doing nothing at all! I'm counting down to June 3rd - the last day of school!

One thing I love about summer is cooking. I love the whole cooking process - from choosing a recipe, to grocery shopping, to the chopping, dicing and mixing - it's so relaxing to me. We will have plenty of time to cook in the summer and the kids love to pull up a chair and help. I love eating lots of fresh vegetables since they are so light and healthy. When I was pregnant with Brody, I craved tomatoes all the time. I came up with a very easy recipe that I eat year round but especially in the summer.

Tomato & Cucumber Summer Salsa

1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 onion, diced (either white or purple)
1 cucumber cut in cubes
Olive oil - about 2-3 tablespoons
White wine vinaigrette - about 3-4 tablespoons
Course salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon, fresh parsley
1-2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese

Cut all the veggies and place in a bowl, add olive oil and white wine vinaigrette (I usually don't use a measure on either of these, I just kind of eyeball it and add a bit more if I need to). Mix well. Add the salt and pepper, parsley and Parmesan cheese, mix. Chill to let the flavors marry. Mmmm, the tartness from the vinegar and the crunch of the vegetables makes my tummy soooo happy!! You can eat it with crackers, tortilla chips or crusty bread. I usually eat it plain, right out of the bowl, and I could eat it all in one sitting!! Enjoy!

Wishful Wednesday - Thrown Away

2010-05-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

This week, through some blog hopping, I found this super-cute blog by Kelsey! Each week she has Wishful Wednesday and it's my first, so here goes...

I Wish I Didn't Throw Away that $300 cash I received from the attorneys I worked for before I headed off to college!

I worked for a group of attorneys the summer before I left for college. I dragged my butt out of bed everyday when I could have been enjoying summer and lounging by the pool, but they paid me good money so how could I refuse!! On my last day of working there, they took up a collection for my going away present and surprised me with $300 in cash. I was sooo excited. To a poor ole' college kid, that was like $1,000 to me!! I still lived at home with my parents at the time. I had been cleaning up my room and was going through things to get rid of before I left. I had a huge garbage bag full of stuff and junk to throw out. It was Wednesday night, the day before the trash was picked up. Inadvertently, I kept the card but threw away the envelope, forgetting that I had taken the money out of the card and stuck it in the envelope instead. I didn't realize this until Thursday afternoon when I went to look for my $$$$!

It was too late! The money was gone, zip, zero, zilch, nada!! I made the dumbest mistake ever!! There was no way I was going to the dump site to find it, that would never happen and I'd never find it! I just hope someone found it, maybe it made their day! I love cleaning and getting rid of stuff I don't need. But after this happened, I take my time in making sure I am not throwing away something valuable. I check and re-check before I throw something away just to be sure I don't make the same mistake!!

Ten Years Ago...

2010-05-11T23:04:00.001-07:00

Ten years ago...our lives changed forever! Ten years ago, we became parents to our dream baby boy, Blake Ryan, our Millenium baby! I remember when Daddy and I picked out your name. We were 18. We dreamed about having you for 10 years. We wondered what you would look like and picked little babies and kids out that we thought looked like you (even before you were born). College, jobs and marriage had to come first! I was terrified of being pregnant, let alone being a mother. I didn't think I would be good at it. I loved my time to myself, I loved time with Daddy, I loved being able to do whatever we wanted. That all changed the minute we laid eyes on you, our precious Blakey!

You gave mommy a heck of a time at the end. I was on bed rest for 6 weeks before you were born. You were due on April 28th, but decided to stay nice n cozy until Thursday, May 11, 2000. I had a long day of labor, I was tired, I was hungry, I was throwing up and yes in pain until that epidural arrived!! To top it off, pushing you out for 2 1/2 hours was exhausting!! Then came the big moment, the moment I saw you and heard you cry...12:55am. The moment that changed our lives forever.

As exhausted as I was, I didn't want to let you out of my site. I hated when they took you away to get your bath and all spified up for us! Everyone else got to hang out by the nursery window to see you, everyone but me! Word had it, you were the biggest baby in the nursery. A whopping 9 pounds and 15 ounces...goodness, and all natural baby, no C-Section!!

We brought you home from the hospital on Mother's Day and our story with you began! I soon came to realize, that it was no longer about me or about us, it was all about you and your needs! I cherished every moment with you. I loved watching you sleep, listening to your breathing, listening to your cooing, and feeling your baby soft skin! I was heartbroken when I had to go back to work when you were just 8 weeks old.

You have taught us so much...about patience, selflessness, helping others, unconditional love. You helped me laugh when I had a bad day at work, you allowed me to be myself and to grow as a person and a mommy. I can never thank you enough for all the gifts you have given me! You make me laugh daily, I love how you take care of your momma even without my asking. I'm so glad to be your mommy and look forward to the next decade of your life (it better not go as fast as these last 10 years)!!

Ten Things I Love About You!

1. You always think of others and you are a great friend, a great student and a great baseball player!
2. Your creativity (I think you'll be an architect or an engineer) and your simplicity (the smallest and littlest things excite you)!
3. You always help me out when I need a hand, without asking!
4. You still call me mommy or momma...love that and you truly care about me. I'll never forget being pregnant with Brody and you took such good care of me, at age 8 - helping me in and out of the car, carrying bags and my purse for me and you brought me my Tums everynight without fail when I had horrible heartburn!!
5. You clean the entire house without me asking and you don't like me to look until you are all finished. I know how much you love that allowance money
6. Your persistence!!! You never let anything go without trying at least 10 times!!
7. I love how you share my love of radio and music. I crack up that you are Mr. Knowitall when it comes to songs. You are Mr. Jukebox, Mr. iPod, Mr. I'll Study All the Words Till I Get it Right! And your shower jam sessions with your clapping and band sounding foot stomping just makes us laugh so hard!
8. You love your family, and I know you love your sister to pieces even though you fight with her!
9. I love when you cuddle with me on the couch with your head on my shoulder and we watch tv together and you twirl my hair!
10. I love our date nights when it's just you and me and we go to dinner to talk and go see a movie!

I hope you have a great 10th birthday. You are two years away from junior high, three years away from being a teenager, five years away from high school, six years away from driving (ugg)!, and eight years away from becoming an adult, graduating from high school, going to your prom and leaving us to go to college!! We can't wait to share all those moments with you. Thank you for being you and I'm so glad that God chose me to be your momma!!

These are some of my favorite pictures of you through the years!

You were a monster of a baby!

6 months

14 months

2 years

3 years

4 years

5 years

6 years

7 years

8 years

9 years old

You are so special to me and I love you more than you could ever imagine!

Happy 10th Birthday!

Love, Momma!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

2010-05-01T06:57:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, we ended up having a free weekend since Blake's baseball schedule changed. We decided to take a trip up to Dallas to see David, Andrea, Maddie and Faith and go watch some Texas Rangers games. We are so excited that baseball is back on tv so we can watch David since we hardly get the chance to see him with his busy traveling schedule.

On our way there, we decided to stop at Buc-ee's. Blake has been begging us for a shirt from Buc-ee's. I didn't see what all the fuss was until we walked in, we were first-timers. It was like the Vegas of truck-stops (even though they don't allow trucks). We walked in and the first thing I noticed was the aroma of fresh fudge baking, what a great tactic - smell marketing! It made us want to buy it all! Buc-ee's has everything a hungry family could ever imagine, not to mention the shopping! There was even a blinged out Buc-ee's shirt, I was cracking up!

I was so excited for this trip!! I have been Facebooking and tweeting with my new blog friend, Crystal. Her handsome son Bryson was bringing friends to the baseball game for his birthday, what a fun way to spend your birthday!! David signed a ball for him and we were able to meet up with them before the game to give him the ball. It was so fun to finally meet Crystal, her husband and Bryson. She is such a sweetie and we have a lot in common - our kids are the same ages and we love baseball. Blake and Bryson are both on select teams and we are actually in a tournament together this weekend in Waco. I'm hoping we get to play their team! I can't wait to meet her girls!! Sydney will be excited to meet a new friend she can play with!

We were able to go on the field before the game and take a few pics with David. Blake was loving it, and tried to get autographs.

David didn't play in Saturday's game, which was completely fine. We love getting away from home for a little roadtrip and couldn't wait to spend some time with everyone.

It's been four months since we have seen the girls and they have grown so much. Sydney adores Maddie and always wants to be the big cousin and pick her up.

It was cute to see Brody and Faith together although Brody was not really into playing with his cousin. He wanted to keep us on our toes running all around the ballpark to check everything out.

By the time we got back to David and Andrea's (after being lost for almost an hour), it was close to 1am and we were all so tired and didn't really get to spend much time together. We spent a little time with David on Sunday, but then he had to head back to the ballpark early in the morning. Dad and Blake went with him. Blake is such a lucky little boy of 9. He got to hang out in the locker room with his uncle Davie and was able to get practically the entire team to sign his ball (except one of his favorites, Ian Kinsler).

He even got to practice hitting some balls in the cages. What little boys wouldn't love to do that?? I enjoyed catching up with Andrea while all the kids played outside in the sandbox.

David played in Sunday's game and his first at bat was a homerun!! Wahoo!! It was so exciting and I loved that Crystal sent me a text letting me know the announcers mentioned Blake's name on tv. He had the biggest grin on his face when I told him. Blake showed the clip to his teacher and classmates today and they all said "No fair, you're famous"!! I thought that was so cute.

David up to bat

Look at that Texas-sized cotton candy. We didn't think it was going to be this big. Can you say

C-A-V-I-T-I-E-S!!!

Even though we got to walk out of the player tunnel, Blake wanted to stop and wave bye! This is where fans hang out to watch the players leave and they try to get autographs.

Cool picture of David in the paper on Monday.

Brody is 17 months!

2010-04-29T22:03:00.001-07:00

Our big boy. You are a barrel of fun and it so neat how you fit into our family more and more. We love how you try to be like the big kids and you even try to talk to let us know what you are thinking or what you want. We all have you watch you like a hawk because you are into everything.

Here are some things you are doing this month:

You wear a size 4 diaper, you are 23 pounds, you have 12 teeth and are about to get 4 more
You wear size 12-18 month clothes and you can even fit into your size 9 month jeans, this is nuts considering we have big babies and Blake and Sydney would have been in 2T by this age, you are our smallest baby by far, guess it's all that running around you are doing
Hats, bats and baseballs are you favorite toys. You swing a bat so well for your age and daddy says you bat left-handed even though it looks like you are right-handed. You throw anything you can find, even the landscape rocks. You threw one at the back of mommy's head, ouch!!
You love to open up the dishwasher and stand on it trying to get utensils out
You started to climb and you can get up on a chair, the couch, even the kitchen table and desk in Blake's room
You absolutely LOVE being outside. One mention of outside and you look for your crocs and stand by the door.
When we tell you to sit down, you listen (mainly to put shoes on), now sitting in a high chair when we go out to eat is a completely different story!!
You love suckers and if you see one in sight, you let us know how bad you want one
You light up when we have family jam out sessions to Justin Beiber's "Baby" song. You dance and smile and bop you head, it's sooo cute!
When we sing "Stop Talking Bout", you say, "Blah, Blah, Blah"!
Favorite words of yours are: stop, ball, hat, momma, dadda, Bub (for Bubba/Blake), school, outside, moon, sky, up,
You let us know you want something when you say "uh, uh, uh"!
If you think something is cool, you say, "Ooohhh"
Bathtime is not your most favorite. You don't sit down anymore and you cry the whole time, until you get out
You are terrified if water is on the floor since you don't want to fall
You are starting to run
If Mr. Moon is out, you get soooo excited
You have become so interested in reading books right before naptime, we call it Rock and Read.
When I ask you what a dog says, you bark like a dog and you point up in the air when you see an airplane

We can't see what new and exciting things will be happening in the months ahead our little monkey!

Sydney's 6th Pink Carpet Princess Party

2010-04-24T00:38:00.006-07:00

Two Saturdays ago, we had Sydney's 6th birthday party. A lot of planning and work went into it since it was held at home this year. The pink "carpet" was rolled out with glitter all over in front of the sidewalk to our front door and I hung a white backdrop with Sydney's birthday logo (thanks to my sister Stephanie's creative graphic design)! all over it to make the girls look like they were walking the red carpet.

Sydney with my niece Alexa

The tables were covered in hot pink satin, zebra and leopard fabric and the chairs were wrapped in matching tulle. For the centerpieces, I bought clay pots at Michael's and painted them hot pink and added lime green polka dots with rhinestones. Inside the pots, I made tissue paper flowers with hot pink, lime green, black, silver, zebra and leopard tissue. They turned out really cute. I got the idea from my favorite childhood place - AstroWorld. My dad bought my sister and I those huge flowers and I used to always make them. Each princess had a crown at her seat along with a plastic wine glass full of lemonade and a cotton candy puff on the straw.

I love thumbing through magazines especially In Style and finding party decorating ideas and one thing I have always loved is the look of paper lanterns. So, I bought hot pink and lime green lanterns at Hobby Lobby and Michael's. Blake hung them for me even though it wasn't easy. Sydney's cake matched the whole theme. I found this awesome cake lady at Michael's - Confections By Erica, she had her magnetic sign on her car, so I thought I'd give her a try. She did a wonderful job on the cake.

I made the 6 on the cake, I got the idea from some customers of mine who order initial cake toppers for baby showers. It was in the wood section from Hobby Lobby. I painted it, cut out paper with pinking shears, sanded it, Mod Podged, glittered and rhinestoned it all up! I am going to be adding cake toppers to my website.

I kept the girls busy with fun activities like painting princess crown and high-heeled shoes and then once they dried, they decorated them with rhinestones and feathers.

Then, we invited Sydney's older friend Kinley (from baseball) and her friend Cassidy to help out with the mani/pedi/hair station...

Sydney's friends Malynn and Katie

Finally, we had a sugar scrub station. One of my favorite shops in a little town about 15 minutes from us is called The Bath Hut. You can choose your favorite scent and mix up a little scrub and get a matching lotion. Sydney loves to go there with me since they let you try it out on your hands and they rub it off with a big pitcher of warm water. So, I have a ton of scrubs and when her friends come over, they always ask if they can do scrub. I figured since her friends love to do it, we could do this at the party. Each girl stood in line and we scrubbed hands at the sink with a sugary pink scented mix. Then we sprayed an oil spray followed by yummy lotion. The girls loved it.

We also made our own sugar scrub that the girls could take home. They had fun taking turns mixing it all together as did my sister and some of the moms. The recipe was so easy and I think we tripled this so there was enough for each girl to take home a little plastic Glad container of it.

Sugar Scrub Recipe

You will need a large bowl and spatula

2 cups sugar

1/8 - 1/4 cup shower gel

1/8 - 1/4 cup lotion of your choice

6-10 drops of vitamin D oil (you can find at Hobby Lobby or Michael's)

6-10 drops of aloe vera oil (Hobby Lobby or Michael's)

6-10 drops of fragrance oil (Hobby Lobby or Michael's)

4-6 drops of coloring

Mix away with a spatula!

Your hands will be soooo smooth and soft after using this!

Then it was time for cake and presents. Sydney opened her presents so fast, I missed so much of what she got and I tried so fast to write everything down so I could do thank yous.

Sydney with her sidekick/BFF Brooklyn!

My awesomely talented sister made me this super cute sticker to put on the goodie bags.

If you are in need of any kind of sticker/logo design, you can get in touch with my sister through her blog - http://www.queenofthejuggle.blogspot.com/

Each girl took home a sugar cookie cutout of a high heel shoe. My friend Kimberly (one of my fellow baseball moms) is starting a cookie company with her mom. We were her guinea pigs and first customers. She did a fabulous job on the shoes and they made them with our colors and added ribbon to each cookie. They were so yummy too! I think she even got some new business before she left! If any of you are in Spring, Tomball, Cypress, Magnolia areas, let me know if you need a cookie lady!!

It turned out to be a very fun party and we had 16 girls once everyone showed up, wow! I remember how much fun I had at my birthday parties that were at home. I wanted to do the same for Syd. There was so much planning and shopping trips to buy stuff. It was a lot of work and I'm glad I did it, but I'm thinking next year, we'll do it somewhere else!! I'm not much of a drinker, but I did kick my feet up and had a few glasses of wine once it was all over! Oh and the mess, it took hours, I think I was up till 2am cleaning!! :-)

Thanks Mom for all your help watching Brody & taking the kids to breakfast so I could get ready!

Thanks Steph for all your help with the finishing touches. I don't know what I would have done without y'all!

Love you bunches!!

Shan

Happy 6th Birthday Sydney!

2010-04-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today at 1:01 pm, my baby girl turned 6. She's so proud of her new age! I told her she can count how old she is on two hands now and not just one. My, how time has flown.

We had a fun day. I ate lunch with Sydney at school. Her request was that I bring her chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A, her favorite. After lunch, I got her an early dismissal from school-it's a tradition on the kids' birthdays. We headed to our favorite spot - The Woodlands and to Sydney's most favorite place ever Sweet and Sassy! Since I sell some of the stuff on my website to S&S, the owner was nice enough to send Sydney a gift certificate to get all dolled up. She was in heaven getting her updo and mini pedi. For dinner, we ate at Shogun and she got to wear the big Japanese chef hat while they sang Happy Birthday to her. She looooved all the attention.

Miss Sassy Pants

Here are six of some of my favorites of Sydney through the years! I love you my birthday princess! I hope you had a fun weekend and it was everything you wished for!

Anticipation of the big day!

2010-04-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

The countdown to Sydney's 6th birthday has ended. Tonight was the last "nap" as she calls it before her party. We started many months ago and have had a countdown going. We can't wait for the the big day! She assembled all her goody bags tonight and was so excited to help. It's going to be a long day tomorrow since the party is not until 5. I bet I will get asked at least 10 times how much longer til my party. :-)

Chocolate Easter Bunny Heaven

2010-04-07T21:06:00.001-07:00

A parent's worst nightmare and a kid's dream - an 18 ounce chocolate Easter bunny waiting to be eaten, courtesy of Nana and Grandpa (thanks so much by the way)!! Sydney couldn't wait to rip that plastic wrap off and dive right into her $9 bunny. The thing is almost three times the size of my shoe. Sydney was in pure heaven!!! We have a whole stash of chocolate bunnies to eat - thanks Uncle Kirk!! I'm thinking of melting them all and adding it to my Texas Sheet Cake batter the next time I make it - yuuum!

By the way, the only other person I know who loves chocolate more than anything is my niece Alexa. She absolutely adores chocolate. I would give anything to see this in her hands and see the kind of faces she would make...priceless! I hope everyone had a nice Easter!

Oh, you better believe I'm gonna try to eat this whole thing, cavities, what cavities??

His eyes were tasty and he smells soooo good!

Yeah, it was me who ate his ear, you want some?!

Sydney's Easter Bunny Sidewalk Chalk Art

Playin' in the Bluebonnets

2010-04-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

The kids were off of school on Monday and in between taking pictures of Lisa's family, I got some shots of Blake, Sydney and Brody playing in the bluebonnets. I love Spring when all the trees and flowers are blooming. Blake happened to find a beat up, dirty little red car that someone had put in the trash. It turned out to be a great little prop for our pictures. Blake got his wish this time around and I didn't take a million pictures of him. He then later asked, "How come I'm not in many of those pictures?" Go figure!!

Photography Practice!

2010-04-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I have been hanging out at a local park that has a patch of bluebonnets and it has great backgrounds for pictures. I took two sets of family pictures for some of my girlfriends. I have always loved taking pictures and it was fun experimenting and practicing. I took over 1,000 pictures combined and went through all of them realizing what I am doing right, mistakes I am making and things I need to work on, especially lighting. Most of these aren't edited since my laptop crashed and the desktop is slow as molasses and freezes up whenever I try to play around with the pictures. Such gorgeous families!

Toni's Family

Lisa's Family

Big League Dreams 2030

2010-04-03T21:40:00.001-07:00

Once again, I have been a slacker in the blogging department. I can't believe how fast time goes by without a posting. I wish I was as good as other bloggers are at posting every day! I have so much to catch up on and post. Baseball season has once again started. Brody absolutely looooooves being at the ballpark. He loves to throw balls, play in the dirt and he even tries to get aluminum bats out of the dugout. My little slugger gets mad when he gets the bat taken away and cries. Here are a few pics after our game the other day. He went straight for the helmuts.

Layla is Playing With Her Angels

2010-03-09T19:53:00.002-08:00

Today is such a sad day, sweet Layla Grace lost her fight to Neuroblastoma. I have been following her story for quite some time and especially lately on Twitter and her blog laylagrace.org. When I logged into Twitter this morning and did not see an update, I just knew. Here is what Shanna (her mom) posted this afternoon: Layla went to play with the angels early this morning. Rest in peace precious Layla. 11/26/2007 - 3/9/2010.

My stomach has been in knots all day and my heart is broken. I'm sooo sad today. I held Brody so much tighter. I looked at him all day thinking this was the age that Layla was when they found out she had cancer. I hugged Blake tight when he got home from school thinking of Layla's nine year old sister Jenna (Blake is 9). How does a nine year old cope after losing a baby sister? I pray for their peace and strength to get through the tough days ahead and for God to someday mend their broken hearts. Layla is finally free from her pain. She touched so many lives including mine and my only hope that one day a cure can be found for this particular type of childhood cancer.

I adore this picture of Layla Grace looking up at her daddy. It's almost if she's asking if everything will be ok. It's hard to believe this was taken a few weeks ago. Play with your angels sweet baby!

Spring Break is just around the corner!

2010-03-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

The kiddos have one more week of school until Spring Break officially begins. Oh...how I'd love to be going here to Destin, Florida, but this year with a 15-month old and a 10 hour car trip, that's just not gonna work! This year we are planning on staying close to home and maybe next year we will go to Florida. I don't know about you, but I am soooo looking forward to having my kids at home with me. I really miss them during the day (until the minute they hop in the car and the fighting begins)! :-) What are you plans?

Funky Tutus

2010-03-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

I have been busy lately with all kinds of orders for tutus, bow holders, bows, finishing up Sweet & Sassy order and working on goodies to put in another boutique. I always like to know stories behind why my customers order from me. I have done several tutu sets for birthday party gifts, for the birthday girl to wear, for two friends to wear in their circus themed ice skating competition routine and the two latest ones..for some teens. One is wearing my Bad to the Bone tutu to her prom and the other one is a funky mix of colors to wear to a Jay-Z concert in New York. I love it!! I took Sydney and her friend Brooklyn to an old beat up fast food joint that closed and used the blue wall for my backdrop. These were the two circus tutus that I made. It was a super windy day out, so you don't really get to see the full effect, but I love how all the colors pop!

Happy Birthday to my sweet love!!

2010-03-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Tim's birthday is today, he turned 38!! Ok, wow, since he is older than me, I can say that 38 seems so scary. It's two years away from 40!!! It's how old Tim's mom was when I met her 19 years ago. I think 38 really bothers Tim, but I always tell him age is just a number, it's all about how you feel! When it's my turn, I need to take my own advice! We had a great time with our family (all 16 of us) at Carrabbas (one of our most favorite restaurants ever). Our table was so long. It was so nice to catch up with everyone and dad was such a trooper sitting in an uncomfortable chair/standing after breaking his pelvis skiing in Vail three weeks ago. Love you all!! Excuse the blurry/dark picture, this was taken with my cell phone.

Rodeo Hoe-Down

2010-03-02T15:27:00.002-08:00

Every year at school, the kids have their annual "Hoe-Down" to kick off the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. For weeks, they practice learning little country songs and dances and it ends with the Cha-Cha slide with the parents participating . It's such a big deal at school, parents and grandparents are all over the place - the whole gym was full. I went to Sydney's Hoe-Down and Tim was able to skip out of work for a few hours for Blake's. I saw a super-cute idea for cowboy boots at Uniquely Different Junk and wanted to re-create them for Sydney. I'm not sure how she makes hers, but I took different pieces of fabric and used Mod Podge to glue the pieces all over the boots that I found at Payless for $24.99 (much cheaper than Cavender's). I think they turned out pretty darned cute if I say so myself!

Before

After

Sydney and Brooklyn gone countray!

Sydney's Classmates - Callie, Katie, Sydney, Brooklyn, Kaid and Olivia

Family Photo Shoot

2010-02-28T23:03:00.002-08:00

Happy March y'all!

I was as so excited for our family photo shoot on Saturday at the Mercer Arboretum with Shannon K.   How lucky we were to have perfect weather and a day full of blue skies (my favorite kind of day)!

Normally the arboretum is gorgeous with blooms. Well, since we have had an unusually cold winter and several freezes, it didn't look the same. Crews were digging up all the dead stuff and we didn't see many flowers.

I loved Shannon's personality and she was great with the kids, (she used to be a teacher, go figure)!!  Brody has been sick this week, so he didn't want to cooperate too well. Here are some of the pictures we took with our camera. I can't wait to see the proofs!

After pictures, we headed to Market Street in The Woodlands. We didn't know anything was going on, but they had all kinds of fun activities for the kids and a country band to kickoff the rodeo. I met Kay Bailey Hutchison who is one of the candidates for Texas governor and the kids were even asked to take a picture with her.   It was a fun family day!

This picture had me laughing although it's a bit blurry, I had to post...

Blake has had enough of pictures and his sister and he's hungry, Syd's just having a grand ole time and Brody has reached his limit, these are my kids!!

Brody is 14 months..this should have been posted last month

2010-02-28T17:31:00.003-08:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged for over a month, where has life gone...way too fast.

What a big month this was for Brody. He took his first steps on January 13th. I call him my little E.T. since he wobbles from side to side as he walks. He is still a bit shaky and falls down quite a bit, but he's doing pretty good. My little guy turned a bit independent overnight. He still loves to crawl around to get somewhere faster since he can't run. I will miss how fast he is and how he crawls with his head down. It always makes me giggle.

Your little personality is shining. You want to talk so bad and it's so funny when you are telling us your mad about something. Here are some things you are doing:

Noticing Mr. Moon and pointing
You can stand up on your own
Love to play in Blake or Sydney's rooms
Sydney makes you mad when she holds you like a doll
You take all my stuff out from my bathroom cabinets (all my products) and you chunk them in the bathtub one-by-one
You discovered the toilet flusher handle, you think it's funny to stand there and press the button over and over and stick your hands in the toilet too if someone forgets to close the seat
You get really mad if a door is closed and you know someone is on the other side
Very clingy to mommy and you cry when I leave you in the nursery during church
You love other little people and they always make you smile
You bite on your finger when you study something
You wear size 18 months and size 4 diapers
Still waking in the middle of the night, usually 3am for a bottle and you have had an itchy dry cough like every night
You snore, tee hee, it's so cute!
Playing on your own better if mommy is around
You loooove balls and throwing them
Always grabbing for daddy's hats and our sunglasses, you try to put the hats and glasses on
Standing on dishwasher door and you always want the JetDry cap
Eating more big people food - oatmeal for breakfast, cheese, fruit, cereal, raisins, Chick-Fil-A nuggets, green beans, black beans, anything we eat-you want!
You love being outside and cry if everyone is out there but you
You sit quietly in your new red wagon from Nana and Grandpa, you're happy as long as you are outside
Things you say -cool (school), said that, ball, hat, nigh nigh,

Happy New Year Twenty-Ten!

2010-01-29T10:20:00.000-08:00

After Lulu's, we headed to the Riverwalk. I love the Riverwalk, the culture, the sights, the sounds and the smells. I love watching the first-timers there too especially since we have been there a million times. The place was so crowded with football fans. The AlamoBowl was that weekend and Texas Tech was playing Michigan State. We even ran into a friend from high school who went to Tech. The funny thing was, we had mentioned we thought she'd be there earlier that morning and then all of a sudden there she was!

It was not super fun pushing a stroller with all kinds of people everywhere, but we had fun anyway. We do the touristy thing and go to the Rivercenter Mall, the Alamo and ride the river boat. The river was so pretty at night with all the lights hanging out of the trees.