I knew it was bound to happen...

BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AFTER!!!!!!!!

NUFF SAID..........

scissors and a three year old, don't mix!!!!!!!!

Returned from the Outback

Now that was a wild trip...I had so much fun and learned A LOT. I got to see the most beautiful scenery, I caught up with a high school friend that I haven't seen in over 15 years and I actually got to see some kangaroos. I was going to blog more but time just got away from me. So for now I will just post some of my favorite pictures during the trip. It's going to be hard to decide but I'll do my best.

On the last full day of sightseeing I headed to downtown Sydney and bought my Christmas present!! After TONS of research, converting Aussie dollars and collecting GST (government sales tax) we decided it was a must buy. I will post about the purchase further down in this post so keep reading... :-)
Checking out the Sydney Opera House...

Cockatoo's in the Botanical Gardens...
All those black blobs are bats hanging from the trees in the botanical gardens. At dusk they started to stir.

A beautiful view of the botanical gardens with downtown in the background.


In the blue mountains with the Three Sisters (rock formations) in the background. The blue haze in the far right background is oil from the Eucalyptic trees there, hence the name "blue mountains". :-)

Katoomba Falls. I took this picture riding on a glass bottom cable car going from one side of the mountain to the other.

My honey at Manly Beach...the water was definitely too cold to swim but that didn't stop all the surfers!
Night time view of Darling Harbor. We took a ferry over and had dinner on the harbor at blue fish.
YES!! I got a picture of the mighty fast Kangaroos! My dear friend Vanessa lives on some property where a pack of 20 - 30 roos come in her yard every morning. If you look closely you can see this mama and her joey eating next to her bent over. That's Monty the horse on the right. They make it a little hard to catch the roos on film as well. :-)
My friend lives out in the county about hour and half from Melbourne. I took a flight on Monday to Melbourne and stayed with her and her boyfriend for three days. They live in Mt. Franklin and this is the view from the back porch. Absolutely peaceful, beautiful! Bella and Monty the horses are missing from the picture and you can't hear the Australian birds singing!! :-(

Now, if you made it this far you're doing good! LOL! So my early Christmas present was a new digital SLR camera. If you known me for any length of time you know I LOVE TO TAKE PICTURES!!! I've been wanting (read whining) for a camera that I could zoom in with on objects, people, etc. Thanks to John's friend/co-worker I purchased a Canon EOS Rebel Xsi digital camera with an IS (18-200mm) lens and has 12.2 mega pixels! This thing is incredible!!!

Below are two pictures I was able to take before we had to head to the airport. My only regret is not getting the camera at the beginning of the trip because then I really could zoom in on those kangaroos and birds! Oh well, I've had 18 hours of flying time to read the manuals cover to cover now time to do some shooting...

I'm in Sydney Australia!

Now this will be an interesting post. DH has been working in Australia off and on all summer and I finally got to come over this trip. Thanks to the best MIL in the world - I'm kid-free in another country with my wonderful husband for 11 days. We are staying right on the harbor where I can see downtown, Harbor Bridge is about 100 yards from our corporate apartment. This is only my second day and it's incredible. Last night we hung out in Chatswood and right now we are getting ready to go in the city and see The Rocks, the Opera House and botanical gardens where apparently you can view some bats!!


Here is a picture I took last night from our balcony!!!!!! That is Harbor Bridge and Luna Park below. It's just breathtaking views all around!
Tomorrow we plan on taking the train to the Blue Mountains. I've been told by several people we need to do that so we have it planned. Well that's all for now...more to come soon

!

Halloween 08'

Every year our friends hold a Halloween Party for adults only and of course it's dress up. Last year John and I went as Charlie Brown and Lucy. This is what we went as King Kong and his girl (Fay Wray)!



Here are me and my peeps! LOL!

Left to right: Kim = Firewoman, Colleen = Catherine Zeta Jones, Me = Fay Wray (from King Kong), Julie = "A one night stand!" Natalie = Hooters waitress! We had a total blast, we're already try to think of what to be for next year!

There were lots of Tony Romo's and Jessica Simpson's too!
Check out her arm!!
Some others were Sarah Palin, Marilyn Monroe, JFK, Michael Douglas. It was so much fun!! I love Halloween. Wait until you see our garage this weekend. It's already setup and I can't even park my car in there...

These days

Well, I got a message from a friend who was checking my blog and commented that "it was still the same". SORRY!! Life gets so crazy I don't take two seconds to jot things down. It's seems when I lived in Phoenix I had nothing going on, nothing to do and whined all the time. Now my life is going so fast I don't have time to whine!

I started playing on a soccer league this past summer after I found out I had plantar's fasciitis in my right foot. It started in Arizona but I didn't know what it was so I blew it off. Now three years later I have it so bad I can't walk. I wore a walking boot for almost four weeks. Had several cortizone shots in my heel, had custom orthoditics made and take Celebrex daily. As of today, I'm out of my boot still wearing orthodics, still taking Celebrex and getting Physical Therapy. So running has been out since my TAH (Total Abdominal Hysterectomy) in April. Now soccer is out and exercising is non-existent. At least for now...I'm just hoping to make it through the rest of the year healthy so I can start fresh next year. :-)

Recently I helped my dear friend Natalie raise over $30,000 for the Vascular Birthmarks Foundation. It is very close to my heart since her daughter has lived through the heartache and pain of one since she was born. The event was held at the Texas Motor Speedway. Considering the economy we were very successful!

Amongst all that, I've been volunteering at Sissy's school and helping with her two soccer teams. She wasn't supposed to be on two teams but it ended up that way. That's another day for another post. :-) Also, we've been busy getting Grandma Twyla settled into her new Texas home. She is such a social butterfly and already plugged in the community. We finished hanging pictures last week. Next is some curtains and then she should be all set. Let's see, Sugar and I have enjoyed hanging out since Sissy went back to school. Although she is definitely giving the "testy three's" a new meaning. Some days we go for bike rides and have play dates on the days she's not in school (Tuesday & Thursday). Bike riding and swimming are the only activities I am allowed to do and since it was a low of 43 last night swimming is out. LOL! Right now we are curled up in the bed as she has a high fever, a little vomiting and a sore throat.

Daddy is busy traveling especially to Australia! He just returned from his second trip there and he supposed to go back next month. We are hoping I get to join him this trip but it's not confirmed yet. Please say a little prayer that I get to go. DH and I haven't been on a trip together in a LONG time. I've also volunteered to take on a Girl Scout Daisy Troop. Basically, all of Sissy's 1st grade friends. As soon as my background check clears we can start, I'm so excited. I remember doing Brownies when I was little and I still remember it to this day! Sissy is SO excited I'm going to be the troop leader. And Daddy is filling in for one of the soccer coaches so she is even more excited. Good times...

That wraps it up...our school carnival is tonight. It's the biggest fundraiser of the year and I have to go back up to volunteer. Daddy is picking up the Sugar's prescriptions and then coming home to relieve me. He such a great Daddy!!

Here's til next month...okay I'll try to make it sooner, I promise! :-)

Growing Up

I really can't describe what I feeling right now. I guess you can say it's bittersweet. As of August 24th, I have now a 6 year old. I'm the parent of a 1st grader. I'm a soccer mom.

How in the world did that happen?

Since the day I was pregnant I was told, "oh treasure them, they grow up so fast!" Or, on my many trips to Wal-Mart when they were screaming for a bottle or a snack, people would stop and say, "I remember when mine were that age..."

At the time it seemed so far away that it really didn't mean much. At least to me it didn't. I would just smile and nod my head yes and hurry to the nearest checkout to prevent a complete meltdown in the middle of the grocery store.

This year I'm busy driving carpool, doing homework, packing lunches and shuffling to practices and games. And now that Sugar goes to preschool two days a week, the days are a lot longer and I find myself missing her.

But it's slowly coming to reality what all those people were saying to me...they do grow up so fast! It won't be long before Sugar starts kindergarten and I'll have more of a reality check.

And, even though I can make it through a trip to the grocery store without flying goldfish, spilled drinks and screaming toddlers. Today, I will make it through Sugar terrorizing the dogs, climbing the cabinets and emptying my wallet.

But more importantly, I'm going treasure my little girl today because they ARE growing up so fast.

A busy summer

Wow, this summer has been super crazy busy. I swore before school ended last year that we would have a nice relaxing summer. I only scheduled one three day vacation to San Antonio which included Papa coming to visit for ten days and two small camps (one for each of the girls).

Well before I could blink, we added Schlitterbahn waterpark to the San Antonio trip, drove to Memphis for a week and packed and moved GT's house to Texas. Then, over the course of the next month and a half we had three different out of town guests staying with us.

Now I'm not complaining...we had a wonderful summer and enjoyed every bit of company that came our way, it just went by SO fast!

Now this weekend is Sissy's birthday and then school starts! Now that's even crazier. Sissy's starts 1st grade and we took advantage of the tax-free weekend shopping. Sugar starts a new preschool on Tuesday/Thursday that is right next door to Sissy's school, I'm so excited. Our plan is to ride bikes to school this year. We practiced once last week during school registration and it went really well. Let's just hope it's not triple digits again when school starts.

Well that's our summer it doesn't make much for an interesting post but I felt an update was in order.

Quite frankly, I think there is so much to blog about I'm getting a little overwhelmed...for example, do you know I started playing on a co-ed soccer team or that I got curtains made for our living room and surprised DH or that we may have some family actually moving to Texas VERY SOON near us or that Sissy is starting on a new soccer team next week or that Sugar is completely potty trained????

Well I guess considered yourself updated... :-)

Hand sculpted dog cake

UPDATE: This is an update to the questions that have popped up in comments. I apologize for the fast and quick post yesterday on the cake but I was literally running out the door.

So here goes...

This was a practice cake because it was the first time I've made homemade fondant icing. It turned out great but I got some great tips from a dear friend (who by the way is way more qualified and gifted than I'll ever be) on how to make the fondant taste a little better.

I got the idea from here but after I watched the video I did not realize the sculptor in the video was a top New York City-chef specializing in custom designed cakes and owner/founder of Confetti Cakes. She is AMAZING!

I watched the video with the girls and after it was done Sissy said, "Mom, I wish you could make me that cake for my birthday?" And I in shock said, "Honey, I'm sure that's a professional." There was a short pause and then she said, "Maybe you can take a cake class!"

ROFL!!!!!! (Rolling On The Floor Laughing)

Of course, I started to think about it and finally curiosity caught the cat and I thought to myself, "maybe I can make a mini one???" So there I was watching the video AGAIN observing every detail...steps, ingredients, tools, technique, etc.

It took 1 1/2 days to make the cake. I baked all the cakes and built the body on Friday afternoon/evening, then made the head the following afternoon. I don't know how many total hours I spent but it actually went quicker than I expected.

I used my homemade fondant icing and hand sculpted all the fur using a kid's Dixie plastic knife. I've got some high quality tools around here. I made two cakes, one 8 inch and one large batter bowl. Although, I ran out of cakes and still needed to make the head so I made a batch of brownies in a small batter bowl. Like I said this was practice. LOL!

So there you have it. The next go round' I'm going to make two batches of fondant with my new recipe (thanks Sweet Diva), modify the color of the dog, add some bling since it is a 'Glamour Dog' party and hopefully make it all using cake. :-)

i HEART mudrooms

Compared to the other houses I've lived in, this house by far has the biggest laundry room. Now I think that is a bonus...but really how can it be a bonus if it has no storage/cabinets/closets? Because if you've read this blog for any length of time you know that storage and organization are my two BF's. :-)

I've always been a big fan of mudrooms...the type you see in some very large homes. You know the kind where a room/hallway that connects to the garage or laundry room. Since we didn't have a separate room for one in our house, I decided to have one built in my extra large laundry room (off the garage.) Once I got the idea of what I wanted, it didn't take me long to find someone to build a storage unit that had mudroom-like functionality.

I'm so excited to say that it is finally finished and turned out better than I ever expected. Alas, here is our new made-up mudroom...
Now you can't see this very well in the picture but the backing is beadboard. My friend also cut out holes in the backing so I can still use my two electrical outlets. On the bottom bench (where it is stained) they are actually three hinged seats that lift up where the girls can store their shoes. I even had them pick which cubby they wanted so they could put their shoes inside. I still have to purchase three baskets to put up top but I'm truly enjoying it. No more over flowing rack of shoes and over stuffed hooks. :-)

I might even buy some of those rub-on letters and label the cubbies with their initials. I know...too much, right? It was Better Homes & Garden idea not mine!
(I think if you click the pic it might get bigger)

Latest home projects

There is no denying that when my dad is in town he means business. I just realized that I have not blogged much, if not at all about my amazing father. It's not because I don't think about him it's just that I don't see him near as much as I want to. He lives out of state and it's not exactly an eight hour drive away either.

But my dad has to be one of the most creative, smart, hardworking, man that I know. He can literally work on anything and fix it. Not only is he good at it but he enjoys helping others. My friends and neighbors know him and want to know where they can get a Rent-a-Dad! He's that good and knowledgeable. In fact, in the past some neighbors have paid him to do help around their house while he was here visiting!

Here's is the long list of what he did during his visit here a few weeks ago. Not to mention we spent three days in San Antonio and he still managed to get all this done. I really felt bad he worked so much during his visit, but every time we finished one project he would say, "what else you got on your list?" That's Dad...

1. New attic flooring. (pic below)
2. New register vent in garage
3. New register in attic
4. Insulation on garage door
5. Discovered and cleaned Fresh Air Ventilation System
6. Hung new light fixture in 1/2 bath
7. Hung new mirror in 1/2 bath
8. Fixed drain in master bath
9. Fixed magazine rack in MB stall
10. Added light in Sugar's closet
11. Took down 1/2 bath mirror (was almost impossible)
12. Cleaned gutters
13. Destroyed every wasp and mud dauber nests on the house
14. Fixed curtain rod in MB
15. Repaired dryer vent hose
16. Adjusted refrigerator doors
17. Added drawer pulls in kitchen
18. Adjusted dishwasher racks
19. Fixed two drawer tracks in kitchen
20. Cleaned vents inside house and outside
21. Inspected HVAC and fixed filters
22. Removed tree stakes from front lawn
23. Wash & detailed SUV

Now is he awesome or what?? Thanks Dad for everything you do (and did)! I love you lots and miss you already!!

Heres the attic flooring he added, I couldn't get pictures of the whole area but you get the idea...

One Prayer

Join us this month and other churches nationwide for One Prayer.

It's going to be amazing to see what God does during this special time.



Click here to get more details...

Boring bullet list

I have lots to blog about...and pictures to post but since DH is out of the country with the cable to my camera, here is a bullet list of this past month:

* Got a new blog skin! How do you like it?
* Sugar had her first ballet recital this past weekend and she stole the show.
* DH has been gone for over two weeks, he is in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.
* Sissy's last day of kindergarten was this week. The party was fun but it was a sad day for her.
* Grandma came to visit us for a week and we had lots of fun going to the pool.
* I'm recovering very well now just limiting what I can lift and avoiding the vacuum at all cost.
* Sugar started swim lessons and vomited in class because she was so upset to go under water!
* Sissy started piano lessons and has practiced every day since Tuesday.
* Almost finished decorating my Texas-themed half bath downstairs.
* I've got 3 home improvement projects in the works & can't wait to post about them.

But most important of all, I can't wait for hubby to come home. He has one more week left and then he's home!!

The power of a Mac

I dropped DH (dear husband) off at the airport last night for his 15 + 2 hour LA trip to Sydney, Australia. He is working over in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne for two weeks and then he heads to Malaysia and Singapore.

The girls and I miss him already!! I have to say though, I absolutely love my MacBook! DH landed a few hours ago safely and we just got done chatting via video iChat! I was sitting in my kitchen in suburbia Texas and he was at an Italian Cafe having a cappuccino outside in the heart of Sydney, Australia.

Isn't that incredible?? It's Sunday morning there...

Also, hubby's cell phone died and he wasn't at the hotel room so we communicated via our MacBook's! As an added bonus, DH already took some great pictures of his view from the hotel room and already uploaded them to Flickr. Now when the girls wake up in the morning I can show them pictures of where daddy is at on the AppleTV. It just keeps getting better...

Thank you Apple!

Praying...

for Steven Curtis Chapman tonight. Apparently, his teenage son struck his five year old sister Maria in the driveway with the family's SUV. What a horrible accident. You can read the full story here.

Lifting him and his family up in prayer tonight!

*For those of you who do not know of him...he is one of contemporary Christian music’s most recognizable and most awarded names.

In the Midst of It

There are many things over the past ten years that I have been through, some of it good and some bad. One of the bigger ones thus far has occurred over the past four weeks. DH and I finally made the decision that we would finally schedule a long overdue surgery that would no longer allow us to have children. Even though most days we thought we were done, we both still had days where we caught ourselves saying, "if we got pregnant" or "if we had another baby".

Now the surgery is over, the pathology report is clear and we are blessed with our two daughters. It's been a long four weeks for hubby and the girls. We were so blessed to have MIL come and help us through this difficult time. Everyone has worked so hard to take care of me, the girls, the house, the dogs, etc. And I know a year from now we will look back and be thankful for how far we've come as a couple and a family.

So today more than ever I want to thank you hubby for being my rock. For helping me through the tough times. As I lay here in bed recovering from what is still a long road ahead, I want to say honey I love you! You've stuck by me through it all and it's been an amazing nine years. I can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Happy Anniversary!

Kids say the sweetest things, PART II

It's seems Sugar is on a roll this week with her blooming personality. One minute we are punishing her and then next we are cuddling. I guess this is what happens to preschoolers during the "testy three's"

But thankfully today there was more cuddling than punishing. As a result, here is one of the conversations that occurred between Grandma and Sugar this afternoon.

Grandma: "Sugar, are you going to share your Dora blankie with Grandma today?"

(Reminder: the Dora blankie is the biggest prize possession next to the binky and we did share it with Grandma yesterday). Yes we still use a binky, don't ask...

Sugar: Shakes her head no...

Grandma: "Awwww, you're gonna break my heart."

Sugar walks over to grandma, climbs up on the ottoman, drapes the blankie over her body and plops on her lap.

Sugar: "There grandma...I fixed your heart."

Lifesong message

It's only 5 minutes and 33 seconds and it could change your life...

Kids say the sweetest things

This isn't the first time I have had major surgery, been stuck up in bed for weeks and can't do a whole lot of anything. Sissy has been a complete sweetheart. She has made me lots of cards and asks everyday when she gets home from school, "Mama are you feeling better?", Can I get you anything?" She is the most empathetic five year old I know. But this is the first time Sugar has been old enough to try and understand what is going on with mama. She knows I have stitches and they are on my tummy, but she still doesn't understand that I can't pick her up, climb the stairs to her room or the playroom or fix her meals.

Each day she asks me to do something that is not under the doctors orders. Like the other day she was sitting on my bed and she wanted to put on her ballerina dress. The problem is that all her ballerina dresses are upstairs in her bedroom. Once again I kindly told her, "remember the doctor says I can't go up the stairs". In her sweet little voice she said, "mama I'll hold your hand". My heart was melting when I had to tell her, "thank you sweetie but I still can't go".

Then she replied, "can you crawl?" :-)

It's time for a new skin baby

Well it's that time to change the look of this ole' blog that for some reason is still hanging around. I guess will be around even longer since I have Susie over at Bluebird Blogs cooking me up a new look. I know it's going to blow y'all away because Susie is that good and it's going to be a completely new look!

Stay tuned for the soon-to-be Blog Makeover!

On the road to recovery

Thanks to everyone for all the prayers, calls, emails, flowers, etc! This time round God showed up in a big way and my surgery went flawless. No cancer, out in three days and home resting now. Even though recovery is going to be a slow process, I'm so glad to be in and out of the hospital so quickly. I have lots of help at home and the girls are being big helpers. Sissy is making me lots of pictures and getting me 'a drink of water'. Sugar is busy kissing my 'ditches' (stitches) to make them all better. :-) I've also got season one of 24 on DVD this time to help the time go by. Thanks to my dear friend Natalie. Finally, my wonderful hubby stepped in and bought his sick whiny wife a new 37" HD LCD screen to curl up in the bed with along with a DVD player. I just can't complain about anything. My family is fabulous!

For right now it's lots of pain meds and lots of sleeping. I hope to stay awake a little more by next week and use the DVD player a little more. :-)

Going under the knife...

again. It's 4:30am and I'm getting ready to head to the hospital for a long overdue surgery. I should be in the hospital for three days and then come home for a long recovery. Please pray that the doctors know what they are doing this time and I will get to come home when they say. Unlike last time...

Until next week...ciao!

Sassy Katz

My just turned three-year old was invited this past weekend to a chauffeured birthday party to get hair, makeup and nails done at a little girls spa and boutique called Sassy Katz. It was actually Sugar's friend and her older sister who was turning five celebrating their birthdays together.

I was very hesitant to let Sugar attend it all seemed a little over the top to me...but after much thought and a little rearranging of the plans I let Sugar attend.
Because really, what little girl doesn't love to dress up like a princess and wear makeup?

And, I'm not going to get jealous just because the first time I rode in a limo was on my 21st birthday and my first real spa experience was a few days before my wedding...I'm just saying, I'm not getting jealous. :)

So I called the mom to RSVP and kindly let her know that Sugar (my 3 year old!) would not be dropped off at her house, to ride in a limo, with a bunch of strangers, for 30 minutes to the boutique.

We agreed that I would drive Sugar to the boutique and participate in the girly things that were about to take place over the next two hours. Since we were the first ones to arrive at the party, Sugar got to see the limo pull up and all the girls come out.
The next two hours were a little girls heaven...Sugar kept saying, "Mama, I want mine painted pink!" So that is what she got...pink fingernails, a fancy hairdo (I'll still never know how they got it pulled up) and a fancy dress. There was lots of stage posing, dancing, and singing. Bottom line, the girls had a blast.

After they each made there own glitter soap it was time to leave. I decided since I got to know the parents, grandparents and other girls that Sugar could ride home in the limo if she wanted to. I didn't even get the question out before Sugar said, "Mama, come on it's time to go in the limo!"

With me in complete shock, Sugar loaded up in the limo without hesitation with the rest of the girls. So I jumped in my car and followed the limo all the way back to the party. Meanwhile thinking what have I started? I think I just lost my little girl. Second guessing myself that maybe it was the wrong decision...

After I met them back at the house, I grabbed my dolled up little girl and carried her back to the car to buckle her up in her car seat.

Then not a second later she said, "Mama, I want my binky, blankie and sippy".

YES I thought...I haven't lost her yet.

The big milestone

So not only did Sissy learn how to ride a four-wheeler over Spring Break (see previous post) she also learned how to ride her bike without training wheels! Wow - this was huge. We had practiced a few times before last summer, but after about two crash-n-burns she was done. So we gave it another try and now she can do it. I'm so proud of her. It only goes with her perfectionist personality though. I knew after a couple rotation of the pedals by herself she wasn't going to stop until she got it!

Then the cutest part of all happened after the first day of trying (the day before Easter) she came in the house and made a calendar of all the days she was going to practice. She had check marks and stars on each day. She told me that the check marks meant she had to practice and the stars meant she already practice.






That's my girl...you got to have this kind of stuff organized! LOL!













*I've been trying to upload two videos of Sissy riding her bike and it's failing. I give er' a try tomorrow...

The girls Easter present

As a kindergartener, part of a child's homework is to retell a story that was read to them earlier in the day at school to their parents. Each Wednesday, the teacher reads them a story and then the kids make characters and props about the story. The idea is that the props/characters will help trigger their memory when retelling the story at home. Then, the parents sign a piece of paper stating the child retold them the story. This homework is meant to help with listening skills, memory and comprehension. I believe it is Sissy's favorite homework assignment next to Guided Reading.

However, each Wednesday when it's time to retell the story Sissy tries to create some kind of stage to use with her handmade props. The week before Spring Break she tried to put a blanket over a staircase railing (mind you a circular one) and perform her story for Sugar there. After many falls of the blanket this ended up being quite a challenge and Sissy was a little frustrated.

After the tenth fall of the blanket I decided it was time to make the girls a puppet theater. I had actually planned on making them one, it was just on my looong list of things to make. So after the 'fake theater stage' attempt this project moved pretty quickly up on my to-do list.

So over Spring Break I got out my new favorite book titled Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Carol. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I usually copy or wing most of my projects so this book is right up my alley. The floral fabric is what originally was going to be the girls shower curtain...until they loudly and firmly told me they wanted a Pink Flamingo bathroom. The plain pink fabric I got on clearance for $3.88 a yard and the cute pink ball fringe I got for just over $5.00. Whoo-hoo, I love bargains!

Anyways, below is the end result. Since it was an Easter present I found some cute finger puppets at JoAnn's so they could use it over Spring Break. The best part is that it has a matching case to store it in when they are not using it. If you want to view a few more you can go here and here.

Who needs a beach for Spring Break?

Not us...the girls and I had the best time of our lives on our two day trip in Holliday, Texas! Oh yes, we headed to the true country with some friends and didn't want to leave. The girls played and played, had some good country food, seen more horses and cows than they could count and learned how to go four wheelin'!

Who says you need the beach to have fun? All we needed was our good friends, a few acres, a trailer, a four wheeler, a tree house and the best darn folks you ever met in your life.

Here are some pictures of the girls and I from the past two days...by the way, next year's spring break will be scheduled much sooner and for a lot longer time in the country. Get ready Gigi and Bopper! :-)





Thanks again for such a fabulous time!! Holliday rocks!

My latest sewing project

I must admit I get a little weird-eyed when people say, "oh you can sew" because really I have not taken any sewing classes, I don't use patterns and I literally make up everything I make or I copy it from something I see in a catalog.

This time I saw a valance I liked after searching through my Design Ideas for Windows I picked up at Half-Price Books store. So I bought some fabric and trim and started my little adventure. Now I wish I would have bought more fabric to make it a little more 'scrunched looking' but of course it is discontinued. I originally bought the fabric for my kitchen nook but realized it wasn't what I wanted so I used it for our master bathroom hence, the shortage in fabric. :-) See I told you I wing everything!

I made it while hubby was out of town last week and surprised him when he got home. He really liked it! There was no suggestions this time that came out of his mouth (like most other times) about changing it, yeah! So if any sewing project gets hubby's approval - it stays and mama's happy!

Here is how it turned out...

Wow, three posts in two days...I don't know about you but I'm impressed!! :-)

Wonderful Snow Days here in Texas

You read that right...this past week we had two days with snow! We got about an inch or so on Tuesday then Thursday a winter storm came through North Texas and we got a total of 5 inches! You know what that means?? Snowman time!! This is why I love Texas so much, Wednesday we were in the driveway doing finger paints and the next day we were building snowmen. It was a beautiful day!

Time for some major updates!

My little Sugar is now three years old. I can't believe it...my girls are growing so fast. She celebrated with a Hello Kitty party with friends from the neighborhood, her ballet class and her preschool. We played pin the bow on Hello Kitty and the kids decorated their own cupcakes. Check out some of the moments we captured from her party.