Pook & Diesel

TLP Blog Hop

2010-03-31T23:08:00.014-05:00

The Lilypad is having a storewide sale this weekend and it's something you don't want to miss! In honor of the sale, we're hosting a blog hop and chats all weekend. If you haven't stopped by the Pad yet, you are going to LOVE this month's BYOC. Just may be my fave to date. A color palette to die for.

Without further ado, here is my contribution to the blog hop. It's a QP with some of the yummy goodies from the BYOC. I so hope you like it. Your next stop is the blog our fabulous guest designer, Pamela Donnis. She's got something truly special for you.

{image is linked}

Revelation Song

2009-08-13T20:24:00.002-05:00

If you know me, you know that I like and listen to all types of music. Well...everything but rap. I just can't do that anymore. I must be getting old. But I digress, I love MUSIC. In another life I might have tried to make a career of it. As it is I'm blessed to sing with our Praise Team at church. This is one of the awesome songs we sing. I'm telling you that I could listen to this song over and over and over again. Such powerful lyrics!

If you're wondering...

2009-08-06T18:57:00.002-05:00

...what we've been up to lately. Here's a clue.

Yes, we're all living in Round Rock now and a lot of our evenings are spent hanging out at the ballpark. Good thing we like this sport, huh?

Yes, I know I'm a terrible blogger and I could make a promise to do better but I don't want to make one I can't keep. :)

Earth Day

2009-04-22T10:54:00.002-05:00

In honor of Earth Day I thought I would share with you the coolest reuseable shopping bags I have found. They are called Joey Totes and in a word...ROCK! Designed by a friend of ours, these bags really are fantastic!

How many times have you walked out and left all those bags you bought at the grocery store? Or didn't want to carry you grocery store branded bag into the mall? Well, you won't with these bags. They're so compact that I just threw them in my purse and when I breezed into Target yesterday, I just whipped them out a the check out line.

These bags come in 2 sizes and each collapses into an oversized pouch sewn into the inside seam of each bag. How cool is that? They are made of ripstop Nylon that's tough enough to carry 40 lbs. AND get this, they're even machine washable! The large tote is pictured below and it is BIG! Plenty of room for all your stuff.

You're probably wondering how much these bad boys cost, right? Well, shocker, they are really and truly reasonable and affordable. You can check out the pricing here. I even have a coupon code for 10% off if you're interested in them. Just enter LESLIE ROCKS in the coupon code. Easy peasy!

A few new pages

2009-02-20T08:55:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to share some of my latest pages with you.

there is love here

camden loves kota

be you

u are the sweetest thing

Artisan Notebook!!!

2009-02-01T17:48:00.000-06:00

Check it out! I've been published in the Artisan Notebook for being part of the fabulous Shabby Miss Jenn's creative team and part of the deal was to post a blog prompt on my blog revealing a little bit about me. I chose the "Tell about your favorite song/album/CD in high school" one so here goes...

As a child of the '80s I grew up with an eclectic taste in music so I would never be able to nail down an absolute favorite song from that time of my life. However, I must confess to being a total hair band junkie. I still like them today! Bands like Poison, Cinderella, Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, you get the picture...were all staples of the radio and my cassette (yes, I said cassette) player. Isn't it funny how a song can take you back to a particular place in time? It happens to me all the time and I love it! What was your favorite in high school?

The Daily Digi redux

2009-01-22T08:38:00.003-06:00

After my post on The Daily Digi, Janet contacted me and asked me to participate in their More With Four challenge. I had to take the four products she gave me and come up with a page. I am completely honored that she asked and I found that it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Here is the page I did and make sure you stop by The Daily Digi to check out the fantastic pages the other scrappers did!

The Daily Digi

2009-01-16T11:44:00.006-06:00

If you're even remotely interested in digital scrapbooking, I have a new site for you to check out. The Daily Digi is the brainchild of Janet Phillips and I've been so incredibly impressed with the info she is putting out. AND it's not just about scrapbooking. She has some other really cool info like today's post about Firefox. She has also put together a grab bag of fantastic designers for dirt cheap so that you can maybe try out a designer you never have before. Here's a page I did with Shabby Miss Jenn's contribution to the Digi File this month.

blessing

Some Big News in Digiland

2009-01-15T23:12:00.002-06:00

After 5 Designs is having a site CT call!

Amy and all of the designers at A5 are absolutely fantastic to work with. I consider myself very, very fortunate to be on the team. So if you're interested make sure you get your application in!

P365

2009-01-07T11:57:00.001-06:00

The Project 365 blog is now in full swing, complete with a whole week's worth of photos. I've also added quite a few pages to my slideshow on the right. Feel free to take a look.

Project 365

2009-01-01T11:56:00.002-06:00

Today I embark (great word, embark) on a mission to take more and better pictures this year. I will we taking the Project 365 challenge and you will find my photo a day on this blog. No photo there yet, but tonight there will be. Stay tuned!

New year, new look

2008-12-31T11:32:00.002-06:00

I thought I'd get a jump on the blog redo and make it over today. It'll still be a work in progress (as are most things in my life) until I get it the way I want it. I'll leave you with the year in review page I finished yesterday. Happy New Year everyone!
YIR 2008

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T10:41:00.008-06:00

we wish you a merry christmas
We want to wish all our family and friends the merriest Christmas, filled with the joy of the birth of our Lord and Savior. We hope you get to enjoy the time with the people your love remembering the true reason we celebrate this season.

As for us, 2008 brought a lot of changes. We started the year both still working at Baylor. Early in the year, Ryan Sanders Baseball came calling and in March, Khalil took the job as the Director of Stadium Operations for the Corpus Christi Hooks. I continued to work at the Baylor Alumni Association until May and then resigned in anticipation for our move south. At the same time, the organization moved Khalil in the same position to the Round Rock Express. Yes, the kids and I are still in Waco. We are pretty much here until the house sells or we can lease it out, at any rate. So for the time being, I'm a stay at home mom and Khalil is an hour and change down the road and comes home as much as possible. This year saw Emma turn 5 and Camden turn 2. Both are as precocious and rambunctious as ever. They are the true blessings of our lives. We have so much to be grateful for and we look forward to all the fabulous changes that 2009 will bring!

A little video treat

2008-12-22T14:55:00.001-06:00

I've been trying to add this video now since last night. Finally, got it done!
Here is our little angel singing in church yesterday.

Just wanted to share

2008-12-19T18:37:00.004-06:00

I've been scrapping some older photos and I just wanted to share this page and a story. Last night, Pook and I went through all of the toys and got rid of some to make room for the new ones coming at Christmas. She loves the thought of giving them to someone who doesn't have anything. She told me that she wanted to get rid of all of her baby toys. After all, she is 5 now and it's time for them to go. As I was telling her daddy this last night on the phone we both got really emotional because our baby girl is growing up. Daddy, of course, wants her to stay this size forever, to always crawl up in his lap and just snuggle with him. It seems like just yesterday she was the size she is in the photo below. It's crazy how time flies!

emma at 8 weeks

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMDEN!!!!

2008-12-14T17:23:00.005-06:00

birthday boy
It's so hard to believe our baby boy is 2 today! Where has the time gone?

New look and other stuff

2008-11-26T13:49:00.003-06:00

Like the new look of the blog? It's courtesy of Shabby Miss Jenn's blogwear. This one is Grandma's Xmas, but you can spy all of her fabulous, shabby blog stuff here.

Still no news on the house front, other than the fact that we have also listed it for lease. With the holiday season here, I just can't imagine that we'll see too much action in the way of showings and/or sellings.

Speaking of the holidays, we're off on our visit traveling Thanksgiving this afternoon. Yep, this is the first time in our 7-year marriage that we have not hosted turkey day. I'm kind of sad about it. We really enjoyed doing the entertaining. I also did something this year that I swore I would never do....
I put up the Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. Gasp! Horror! I am a staight-up day after Thanksgiving decorator. However, since we are traveling this year I knew that I would be too wiped to do it when we got home so I decided to break my rule and do it before we left.

Did you catch the mention that K-man and I have been married for 7 years? That's right, our anniversary was Monday. All usual 7-yr itch jokes aside, we have been extremely blessed with the life we have. Khalil joked on Facebook, "here's to 7 more," but he's knows he's stuck with me for a lot longer than that.

I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! I pray you enjoy the day and time with your family and friends. May you remember to count your blessings!

Our trip to Mexico

2008-11-14T11:04:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful vacation at the Excellence Riviera Cancun. You know when you scope a place out on the internet you wonder if it's going to be as good in person. Well, let me tell you...this place is seriously gorgeous. What you see on the website is what you get! We're already planning our return trip! It will come as no surprise that K-man was even named guest of the day while we were there. He was quite the little joiner. Here are a few pics from our time there. I was a bad photographer and didn't take many. I was too busy relaxing.

charity

I want to share a charity kit with you. Danielle (Artemia) is a sweet member of the digiscrap world whose family has been involved in an automobile accident. 13 fabulous designers got together and created a kit to show support. You can read all about it here. Below is my page with this gorgeous kit.

such a slacker

2008-10-07T21:17:00.002-05:00

I'm such a horrible blogger, but my guess is you might be tired of hearing me whine about not selling our house. One of these days. I'm holding out hope and praying for it every single day. It's such a scary thing with the economy in the toilet but that's a different topic altogether. Please keep praying for the right person to come along to buy our house. I know I've said it before, but it's past time for our family to be back together.

On the up side, the weather here today was gorgeous. We got a fair amount of rain the past couple of days and that front brought in cooler temps. I love being able to turn off the air conditioner and so does our pocketbook! The kids and I ran around in the yard while dinner cooked and had a blast...all without sweating.

more digiscrap news

I've been extremely blessed here lately in the digiscrap area of my life. I was invited to join 3 more creative teams and I am so excited! Krystal Hartley, Traci Murphy and Scarletheels are all incredibly talented designers and I can't believe I get to work with their creations. As soon as my Picasa is functioning again I'll be adding their blinkie's to the right hand side of the blog. I'll also be uploading a bunch (and I mean a bunch) of new pages to the layouts link.

bird is the word!

2008-09-20T09:35:00.004-05:00

For a couple of weeks now, I've been keeping a secret in the digiscrap world. However, today I can shout it from the rooftops! I'm officially a CHICK! I was invited to join The Digichick creative team and now I get the awesome privilege of working with tons of fabulously talented designers.

Kim and the incredible team there did a whole site redesign and we're celebrating this weekend with a big party! There are challenges and the entire store is 20% off! Come on over and check it out!

I...

2008-09-16T21:42:00.002-05:00

I snagged this off of another blog tonight and thought it was too cool. Pass it along.

I AM … a child of God, a wife and a mother
I WANT… to sell this house
I HAVE … a really good life
I KEEP … way too many clothes
I WISH I COULD … design things for a living
I HATE … being away from my husband
I FEAR … something happening to my family
I HEAR … my children laughing
I DON’T THINK … anyone but God has all the answers
I REGRET … very little. it's all led me here.
I LOVE … my daughter's eyes and my son's red hair
I AM NOT … alone in this world
I DANCE … because I just can't sit still
I SING … all the time
I NEVER … say never
I RARELY … sleep through the night these days
I CRY ... when I'm mad, frustrated, hurt
I AM NOT ALWAYS … the woman I would like to be
I HATE THAT … our family is separated right now
I’M CONFUSED ABOUT … why people do mean things
I NEED … to exercise more
I SHOULD … go to bed...now
I HOPE ... that my children know that they are truly loved and truly blessed

is tomorrow really friday?

2008-09-11T23:09:00.004-05:00

Man, this week has flown by! Is it just me? It kind of has my head spinning.

I hope that you took a minute today just to remember. It's hard to believe that it was 7 years ago. God bless all those who died that day and also bless those men and women who serve in our military to protect and keep us safe.

house news

By now you've probably guessed that we still haven't sold our house. We are definitely at THAT point. It is past time for us to be together as a family again. Need proof? Check this out. She just melts your heart.

whoo misses daddy?
We do, however, have a new realtor. His name is AJ Johnston and he happens to be a good friend. It's always scary working with friends on something as big as this, but we have faith that he's going to get the job done. So please keep praying.

We thought we were going to have houseguests this weekend due to Hurricane Ike, but it seems as our friends have decided to ride out the storm. I told them that they're crazy, but what can you do.

the pookster is 5

I promised a post about our baby girl turning 5 and I guess I should just bite the bullet and do it. I have been doing a lot of scrapping here lately and as I go through pictures I just can't believe where the time went. In the past two weeks, it seems as though she has matured and is carrying this air about her. It's like 5 was a magic number to her. We still have our moments and I have to remind her that 5 year old don't do this or don't act that way, but it's been so weird to watch her transform before my eyes. She still pretty much hates to wear clothes. She would run around and play in the front yard in nothing but her panties if we let her. And talk about a chatterbox! She redefines the word. She's so inquisitive and social it's almost unreal. She's almost 40 inches tall, but still wearing some 3T pants for her teeny tiny waist and butt, but they hover on the edge of being too short. The classic curse of our family! She is the best big sister in the world and Diesel just adores her. You should see them destroy the house chasing each other and rolling around on the floor together. Moments I truly treasure! I had been trying to scrap a page of her with a baby photo and one from her birthday and I finally got it done today. I'll leave you with it. The journaling reads:

When did this happen? When did you get to be such a big girl? I cannot really believe that you are 5. It may sound cliche but it really does seem like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital. A lot has changed since then, but you can bet on one thing...no one will ever love you like your mama does. I know the day is coming when you won’t want to talk to me so for now I’m trying to remember to relish the fact that you are a chatterbox, full of ideas, questions, and songs. My gorgeous girl, you have such a full, vibrant spirit. Everyone says you’ll be famous one day. Know what I say? You already are!

september 2008

then & now
Incidentally, it was picked up today as a gallery standout at the GSO blog.

I'm also uploading all my recent pages to my scrap blog here if you want to see them.

relaxing weekend, busy monday, and other news

2008-09-08T14:19:00.004-05:00

The K-man was home this weekend and it was so good to have him here. I swear the kids climbed all over him and barely left him alone all weekend. He even made it home on Friday in time to go play softball with our co-ed rec team. I think, however, I'm getting to old to play anymore. I pulled my quad first time up to the plate (still got a hit and got on though). Maybe I'm not too old after all. :)

Saturday was a day of just being lazy around the house. I scrapped a little while I had someone to occupy the kiddos and of course, there was college football to be watched. I also promised an adult-friendly dinner for my sweet husband after serving him kid-friendly fare Friday night. He requested the truly Southern meal of chicken fried chicken and mashed potatoes and that's what he got. I've got to tell you it was pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself. We had a garden salad and fresh asparagus, too. And about this meal, Pook announced midway through supper that this was not just for adults because she really liked it, too, and then proceeded to ask for seconds of the chicken. That's how I know I must have done something right.

Sunday was another pretty worthless day. We skipped out on church and pretty much just spent time as a family. Nothing special but the long honored tradition of a Sunday afternoon nap. It was glorious! Plus, we got word that our new realtor (more on that later) is showing the house today at 4:30. So needless to say, I've been cleaning most of the day trying to get the house back in shape after a weekend of sloth. Obviously, I'm done or I wouldn't have the luxury of sitting down here while Diesel naps. It so crazy that to think 15 minutes after we return from vacating the premises for the showing that it'll be right back to a disaster zone. I guess that's life with a preschooler and a toddler who is a one man wrecking crew! Now, I'm off to the shower. Hey, at least I'm going to get one today! LOL!

i love you...too and a fun quiz and a procrastination

2008-09-04T20:19:00.004-05:00

I bring you a Diesel funny tonight. This kid is not only cute (yes, that's the mother in me talking) but he knows he's cute and cracks himself up on a regular basis. What follows? Well, you know that he cracks us up, too. The lateset? Check out the following {very} short conversation...

Me: Camden, I love you!
Diesel (with that ever-present mischevious twinkle in his eye): Too!

That's right, he can't be bothered to say the words I love you. He just says "too" like that should suffice! Is he all boy or what?

a procrastination

As you know, Pook turned 5 this past Tuesday and you may be asking yourself what kind of mother am I that I haven't documented it on this blog. A mother in denial is what I am! I am in full-fledged denial that my sweet baby girl has turned 5. Where, oh where, has the time gone? I do, however, promise to return with a blog post later solely dedicated to her and this milestone birthday...as soon as I get a grip on it!

a fun quiz

In honor of the start of the school year, I'll share a fun quiz with you that is sure to take you back. Dust off your color memory and try this Crayola Color Quiz. I made it through with only 7 mistakes. It's harder than I thought it would be. Have fun!

little more info

2008-08-30T23:33:00.004-05:00

I forgot to add a very important piece of information about digiscrap in my last post. You must check out Digital Artist Magazine for the latest in trends and designers. They put out a monthly, downloadable magazine ($6/issue) and you get a free exclusive download with your purchase. I just bought my first one last month and I put it in my budget to buy one each month from here on out. There are tutorials and tons of inspiration in each issue. Make sure you check it out! (Oh, and, yes this is a shameless plug for DAM...if I blogged about it, then I'm entered to win a $5 gift card from one of five designers. Who doesn't love free stuff?) Did I mention that I already won a GC to oscraps from DAM for their blog party?

digiscrap info

2008-08-28T00:18:00.004-05:00

I've had a few people ask me for info on digiscrap and so I thought I'd knock it all out by blogging it. (What a fantastic idea, Leslie!) Hey, cut me some slack...it's late and I'm trying. :) Please, please, please, don't think I'm an ol' pro at this by any means. I'm constantly learning and having fun, but I'll do my best to pass on what I've learned so far.

I was a pseudo-paper scrapper for years. By pseudo I mean, I had all the stuff, but only pulled it out when I had some waaayyyy extended free time or if LaNae and I were getting together for some planned scrapping. With the digital camera era I found that I printed my photos less and less and would either post them on my old website, email them or blog them. When Diesel was born, I designed his birth announcement and it wasn't long before I fell head long into digital scrapbooking. The question I get asked most is what program I use. I use Photoshop Elements 5 but Adobe has just released PSE7. I've used the full versions of Photoshop but I really like how user-friendly (not to mention cheaper) PSE5 is. As with any software, there will be a learning curve. The best method is trial and error. Ctrl-Z is the shortcut for undo and it becomes your best friend.

The next question I get is where do you get kits, background papers, elements, etc. When I started I basically googled free digital scrapbooking kits. The best site around for freebies is Ikea Goddess. Seriously, this woman puts in a massive amount of time sorting through the gobs of stuff out there and posts her picks daily. If you stop by, make sure you leave her some love in her comments.

What is going to follow next is a list of online galleries and forums where you can get a wealth of inspiration and a bevy of information about how to get sucked into this addiction. LOL!

my scrapbook art
digishoptalk
scrapartist
the digichick

I'm currently on creative teams (CTs) for two fantastic designers. I'd be remiss if I didn't steer you in their direction for supplies. Just click the blinkies to the right and you'll get to their stores. As far as my other favorite designers and shoppes, here's a list of those, too!

shabby miss jenn
the lilypad
sweet shoppe designs
shabby pickle
catscrap

Oh, Jessica Sprague has some great tutorials for Photoshop. She's absolutely fabulous at making it easy to understand.

Okay, I think that just about covers it for now. Please feel free to email me if you've got questions. I promise I'll do my best to help you out!

prayer warriors

2008-08-22T09:12:00.001-05:00

We have another showing of the house today at 11:30 CST. Please pray that this couple falls head over heels with the house and makes an offer on the spot! LOL!

look out now!

2008-08-19T11:06:00.002-05:00

I am simply amazed, but this page was selected by pickleberrypop as their August LO of the month! I am so lucky to be a creative team member for Kaye Winiecki and she makes it easy to scrap adorable pages. (Did I just pay myself a compliment?)

drool....

2008-08-18T20:18:00.005-05:00

I just discovered something that I would LOVE to have. It's a custom made camera strap and it is just gorgeous. Strange to say, I know...but look!

I am seriously drooling over it. You can click on the photo to see the etsy store of Cotton Candy by Natalie.

'08 summer olympics

2008-08-08T23:49:00.004-05:00

Does anyone else love the Olypmics like I do? From the Opening Ceremonies to the last day, I'm like a junkie. I keep track of the mdeal counts and I'm glued to my TV to watch even random events like trampoline. Did you know that was an actual event? Don't even get me started. I can only imagine what it would be like to participate in just the Opening Ceremonies. To walk into that stadium full of people representing the country you love would just be the coolest thing. Tonight's ceremonies were quite the spectacle and done quite well. I'm amazed at the technology behind it all. However, now that they are over...let the games begin! Bring on Michael Phelps, Jeremy Wariner, Dara Torres, the USA softball team, women's gymnastics, beach volleyball...do I really need to go on? I love the Olympics! The athlete in me just can't help it.

something else to look at...

Okay, so I make no secret that this is one of my all time fave shots of the kiddos. Crazy, since you can't see either one of their faces. However, to me it was the perfect shot that day (as evidenced by the fact I use it in my blog header). I know it's overkill, but I can't help it. Anyway, Kaye Winiecki and Tara Dunstan have this fabulous kit called All That Twitters that I swear was taylor-made for this photo so I had to show you what I came up with.

a perfect day

A little eye candy for you

2008-08-07T11:44:00.003-05:00

I finally (and it's about time) got back to scrapping again. Here are 2 with recent pics of the kids. I've also been working with some older photos and they can be seen here. Enjoy!

such a sweet face

u delight me

Oh...you gotta see this!

2008-07-28T20:09:00.002-05:00

At an Express baseball game that had gone into extras, the entertainment staff was filling some time in between innings. My crazy husband was asked to participate in a dance off (yeah, you read that right) with a young intern. The following video is why my dear, dear husband is now the reigning champ. Enjoy!

More modeling!

2008-06-30T16:02:00.004-05:00

I finished a dress for Emma this time. She thinks she's ready for the catwalk!

2008-06-28T21:22:00.010-05:00

I know I shouldn't brag (especially about myself) but I just can't help it. Today, with a lot of guidance from Grammie, I finished the outfit that I started for Pook earlier this week. To say I am pleased with it would be an understatement and as you can tell by the photos, she likes it, too! My mom will tell you that my sister and I were some serious hams for the camera when we were kids, so I wonder who my kiddo takes after?

K-man's Father's Day present!

2008-06-25T13:27:00.008-05:00

I will return to add more to this post later.

Little Rewards

2008-06-11T14:51:00.004-05:00

I quite often get shots that capture our children in the exact way I don't want to, but every once in a while I actually get it right. While taking a little excursion to the local arboretum I, of course, carried my camera and was completely rewarded with this...

Pleased as punch doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this one!

I'm working on week 2 of being a stay-at-home mom and it's just so weird. Talking to my mom the other day I told her it I felt like I was running a race a full speed and then suddenly came to a complete stop. It is nice to slow down though and I'm thoroughly enjoying my time with the kiddos.

We're still trying to sell this house. We had an open house last Sunday and, according to our realtor, had 2 really interested couples. Unfortunately, she's not been able to reach either one by phone to give them the follow information they requested. Please, please, please continue praying that we will sell the house very soon. I don't think I need to tell you how badly we need to get to where Daddy is in a big way!

Work in progress

2008-06-10T01:31:00.003-05:00

You'll have to pardon the state of my blog. I'm currently working on new stuff for it and since it's late, I'm going to bed.

fly-by post for pics

2008-06-02T15:52:00.004-05:00

First, a precious pic of my almost 90 year old grandmother and two of her great-grandkids!

A pic of Diesel in the recovery room. Taken by K-man with my cell phone, but it was just too sweet not to post.

"Mommy, I'm following in your path."

2008-06-01T17:21:00.003-05:00

Talk about words that will stop you dead in your tracks.

While walking my darling daughter down the hallway to Sunday School this morning, she looks up at me and says, "Mommy, I'm following in your path." She, of course, was talking about our walk down the hall, but it gave me pause. It made me stop and contemplate the bigger implications of those 6 words. Is the path I'm walking, the path she is following, the right one? I pray. I pray earnestly with all my heart that I am. That the example I am setting for her is one that is pleasing to God and one that I would be proud for her to follow. It's no secret to me or to other moms all around the world that our goal in motherhood is to be the best mom we can be. I am so extremely blessed with my beautiful children, with a terrific partner in life, with a wonderful extended family and friends. I pray that I can do my blessings justice...to be the absolute woman God wants me to be...to be the best mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend that I want to be.

Diesel's surgery

Please keep us in your prayers tomorrow. Diesel has his procedure for tubes in his ears tomorrow morning at 8:45 a.m. I'll confess to being a little anxious. I guess that's completely normal, but it still makes me nervous to think about my sweet boy being under anesthesia even if just for 15 minutes.

Hold on to your hats, people....

2008-05-22T23:24:00.003-05:00

There's a lot to cover in this post.

First, the good news...there have been some major (and I mean MAJOR) developments with Khalil's job. After just 2.5 months in Corpus, he is being bumped up to the AAA affliate in Round Rock. Yep, that's right, we are no longer moving to Corpus Christi. We will be making our new home in the Round Rock area instead. He starts with the Express on June 2. Crazy stuff, right? I am just so extremely proud of my husband! It is such a wonderful answer to prayer that someone is finally recognizing the incredible talents that he possesses. Of course, he jokes that he had to make the move because nobody would come visit him all the way down in CC. He's funny, that man of mine. Now...if we can just get our house sold and be able to join him! This living apart is for the birds if you ask me. We all miss him terribly and I can tell you that being a single mom is really no fun at all. Being the only one to say no, do all the disciplining, and still make time for fun stuff with them is completely taxing. Thank goodness for the power of prayer!

Next, in order of occurrence, would be the news that we have scheduled the appointment to have tubes put in Diesel's ears. After 9 weeks of fighting the same ear infection, we paid a visit to an ENT and he concurred that tubes would be the best course of action. Seems that his ear infections have cleared, but they left a mucus the consistency of rubber cement behind his eardrums. It would probably clear on its own in 4-5 months if...and that's a big if...he didn't get another ear infection. So June 2 it is! Busy day for us.

Our sweet Pook gave me quite a scare tonight. I got a call from school to tell me that she was running a 100.4 temp. Picked her up and she felt fine, but as the night wore on her temp went up and up, finally peaking at 104.2. Grammie came over because I was about to head to the ER. A second tepid bath and another dose of medicine seemed to take the steam out of that train and now my precious girl is sleeping peacefully in our bed. It absolutely breaks my heart when my kids are sick. I hate feel powerless to just be able to snap my fingers and make it go away. Pook is a little upset because she'll be missing her field trip tomorrow at school. However, she is even more upset that we won't be able to go and see her cousins tomorrow. We'll be praying that we can head up on Saturday for the Memorial Day weekend.

For my mother...

2008-05-01T22:14:00.012-05:00

I have neither the time or energy to post about our trip to Corpus Christi, but needless to say we had a marvelous time. Nonna, these pics are just for you!

Anyone want to buy a house?

2008-04-29T10:35:00.012-05:00

Hello! It's me again. Yes, it's really me. Back among the land of the bloggers...at least for today. It has been a wild time around our house since the announcement of the big move. Preparations to get the get the house on the market have caused quite the flurry of activity. However, I am proud to say that it is finally up for sale! Yeah!!!! I'm even posting some shots of it for you. We refinished the kitchen cabinets, updated all the hardware, new cook top and oven and finally got new countertops. We've stripped the house down for staging...yada, yada. All just in time for the move. I could go on and on about the endless hours spent doing all this (how in the world did we accumulate so much stuff in 5 years?) but I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

The aforementioned kitchen

The den

Formal living

Dining room

Pook's room

Diesel's room

Our "pared down" bedroom

I hope to be back again tomorrow with pics from our time with Daddy on the beach and the tale of the fried avocado.

Please pray

2008-04-02T22:17:00.003-05:00

I know that it has been a while since I have updated my blog, but there has been so much happening here as we prepare for the move. I just had to take the time to post and share another blog with you. Please visit Bring the Rain: The Story of Audrey Caroline and join me in lifting up this amazing woman and her family in prayer. Start from her first blog entry and read forward so that you can fully understand their story.

I promise to try and update you on our lives soon (with pics even).

Until next time...

Big...HUGE news!!!

2008-02-09T09:24:00.000-06:00

We are moving! Not just across town... but across the state and back to baseball! We are moving to Corpus Christi! K-man is going to be the Director of Facilities and Stadium Operations for the Corpus Christi Hooks. They're the double A ball club for the Astros. It's an incredible oppurtunity for K and we're so excited we can hardly stand it! There is so much to do now though it's a little overwhelming. Getting ready to put the house on the market, finding a school for Pook and day care for Diesel, finding a house in Corpus, and doing most of this while being without K for a little while. He'll be down there by March and we'll stay behind until the end of the school year. Wow! It's all still a little surreal! I'll do my best to keep you posted on the developments as they happen.

The Diesel is now walking...everywhere! He's also got a total of 4 teeth now. Two on top and two on bottom. He looks like such a little boy now. He'll be 14 months old next week and time is just flying by. Oh, and have I mentioned that the boy eats like a horse. I shudder to think what our food bill is going to be like when he hits his teens.

The Pookster is still loving pre-k and has recently begun having sleepovers both here and at her friends' houses. It really is the cutest thing. She excited about moving to the beach. Although, to tell the truth, I don't think she's really grasped the concept of "moving." Pray that this transition will be smooth for her. I'm not the least bit worried about her making new friends there, but she's going to miss the ones here terribly much.

So that's our big news! WOW!

How 'bout those Bears?!?!?!?

2008-01-24T09:00:00.001-06:00

If you haven't heard...
Baylor Bears and ESPN

Oh, and the boys returning to the Ferrell Center last night.

What an awesome game & win for our Bears! Sic 'Em, baby!

Few new/old LOs

2008-01-23T10:41:00.000-06:00

I've posted some pages I've been working on. Mostly older pictures that needed to be scrapped. Link is on the right.

Guess who is walking?

2008-01-19T09:58:00.000-06:00

Not hard to figure out since the Pook is 4, huh? Diesel started taking steps this week. He hasn't taken off across the room yet, but he's not afraid to let go and take 3 or 4 steps to get to something he wants. Most of the time that's me or K-man. It's so cute! We're going to be in a world of hurt when he really gets going though because I have the feeling he break out in a run and we won't be able to keep up with him!

Brrrr...
We've been hit by a cold spell. It's in the 20s right now and while that may not be cold to some people. It's dang cold to this Texas girl! It's usually about now that I start deluding myself that the summers here aren't all that bad. HA! Still I think I much prefer the sun and warmth to frigid temps any day.

fly by post...for Nonna

2008-01-08T22:26:00.000-06:00

I have been so swamped at work that I don't know which end is up, but I had to take the time tonight to post this pic for my mom so she'll quit bugging me. ;-) So...here you go, Mom...a photo of all four of your grandkids together.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T22:05:00.000-06:00

What a wonderful, wonderful past two days it has been!

It's been so nice (and that's an understatement) to have K-man home, really at home for these past couple of days. We were actually able to get ourselves and both kids dressed and out the door for Christmas Eve service at church yesterday with minimal trouble. K joked that maybe church should start at 5:30 p.m. on Sundays, too. Seriously, sometimes it's nothing less than a sheer struggle to get us out the door on Sunday mornings. But I digress...the service was great. We have a tradition in our church that children participate in part of the service as angels complete with white smocks and tinsely garland halos. Pook was the most angelic angel of them all until they handed her a glow stick before the singing of Silent Night. That's when K spotted her have a sword fight with another little girl on stage. Ha! That's my girl!Diesel sat quietly (well, mostly) through it all. I think that the snacks of Goldfish, Cheerios and sweet corn puffs had something to do with that. However, he was a hungry and tired boy by the time we made it home and was not really interested in the fact that Santa's elves had been to the house and dropped off Christmas PJs for him and his sister. Crazy thing...neither was Pook. That little oddity can be attributed to the fact that our next door neighbors grandkids were coming to the door wanting her to come and play.

We have great neighbors and we always run over on Christmas Eve to socialize for a bit. Mimi and Papa Jack are so incredibly sweet and always include our kids in their gift-giving. Polly Pockets (oh joy!) for Pook and a cuddly snowman for the Diesel.

K-man and I even made it to bed before 1 a.m. this morning! Shock of shocks since I still had to wrap EVERY last present. We got such a late start on the gift buying that I just decided to knock it all out at once and save it for last night.

This morning, we awoke to the sounds of Diesel ready to be out of his crib and had a blessedly peaceful 30 minutes before the Pookster got up and the feast of presents began! After it was all said and done, we had a very excited 4 year old who loved all her new books, clothes, movies, toys and bike and a very tired 1 year old who was more interested in the tissue paper than the opening of gifts. It was on to Daddy's pancakes for breakfast and then the rest of the day has been spent lounging about. Grammie made it over just before the festivities began and we all enjoyed a low key Mexican Christmas dinner tonight. As per request, I made my sour cream chicken enchiladas and we busted out the Dean & Daluca green chile chicken tamales that Bill & Connie sent us for Christmas. Mucho gusto! And now finally, the kiddos are asleep and I'm able to steal some time to get pics uploaded to the computer and post about our day.

I'll leave you with a Pook funny. As you know, we live in Texas and hear Spanish spoken quite often. The Pookster's school is great about incorporating the language into the curriculum. Well, while on the phone with Aunt Sherrie tonight, Emma tells her "Felis Labidaub." Yep, that Feliz Navidad for all you non-speakers! I can't do it justice because you really need to hear her say it. That girl keeps us rolling!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Our baby boy is 1!!!!

2007-12-18T11:04:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know I'm a little late with that announcement, but I do have a treat to share to make up for it....

Is he not the cutest thing EVER?!?!? Yes, I know...I'm that Mom! Can't help it.

I'll be back to post more about his birthday in a bit. Off to lunch with Grammie and Janae.

We've got a toofer!

2007-12-08T09:08:00.000-06:00

FINALLY!!!! Diesel finally cut a tooth. Woke up on Wednesday morning and I did my usual toofer check and squealed like a little girl! Ten days away from his first birthday and he gets his first tooth. Geez! I hope they all start coming in now. We've got to play catch up.

Not my week
At the ripe old age of 35, I got my first case of strep throat...ever! Let me just put it to you plainly...it blows! Spent most of Tuesday feeling like utter poop and then Wednesday morning woke up with a fever. Finally got in to see the doctor at 1:40 and a shot of pencillin later I was on the road to recovery. Felt like a new woman on Thursday, but somewhere in the early evening I started losing my voice. This may be good news for some people, but for me, not so much. I have to sing a special in church on Sunday. I'm praying I miraculously get my voice back by tomorrow. Guess I'm going to have to Google remedies and try them all.

Baby boy got a haircut

2007-12-03T20:05:00.000-06:00

Isn't he just the cutest? We were trying to hold off until after his birthday for his first haircut, but it just got to be too much. My Diesel looks like such a little boy and not a baby with his haircut. I'm finding it really hard to believe that he'll be turning a year old in 11 days! Where did the time go?

Speaking of which...I am a terrible blogger! Thanksgiving came and I never even came close to attempting to post anything. Worse...I took 1 picture the entire holiday! What is wrong with me? I'm going to lose that mom of the year award yet. HA!

We had a bustling house full of people for Thanksgiving, including my 89-year-old grandmother. It was so good to have her here although I'm sure she was glad to be staying with my MIL so she could get away from the gaggle of kids that inhabited our house and actually get some rest.

Happy Anniversay to us!

K-man and I celebrated six years of wedded bliss on the 24th. Seems hard to believe, huh? Feels like just yesterday we were getting married. Still, here we are 2 beautiful kids and 6 years later. And...in case you didn't know, I married one magnificent man. I don't know how I would ever make it without him. I am thankful to God everyday for the gift He has given me in my partner in this crazy life. He often drives me nuts, but he more often keeps me sane and there hasn't been a day go by that he hasn't made me laugh. I pray that I'm as half as good to him as he is to me.

Knock, knock

Who's there?

Christmas!

Aaaahhhhhh! Heaven help me! When did it become December? I haven't done a lick of shopping. Not one gift. This is stressing me because I usually already have presents wrapped and under the tree by now. Oh well, I guess it'll get done. Sometime...

K-Man comes home today!!!

2007-11-20T09:08:00.000-06:00

Can I just tell you how excited our household is that Daddy is coming home today? It's been a very, very long week without him. Don't think I've ever missed him this much when he's traveled during the season. He has missed the kids something fierce, too, so some quality Daddy/kid time is in order. Now, I just need to clean the house some before he gets home.

Good news...the Baylor Bears won the Paradise Jam tourney in St. Thomas (you know, where K-Man has been roughing it on his week away)! This may not mean much to many of you, but it's exciting stuff for us! Makes his job a lot more fun when we win.

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is Thursday. We'll be making our last run to good ol' HEB tonight for groceries. My sister, her two kids, and my grandmother will arrive tomorrow evening and then Nae has to run back up to Dallas on Thanksgiving Day to pick up Mike at the airport. Please pray for no delays and a smooth trip for him.

A couple of new LOs

2007-11-10T20:24:00.000-06:00

I've posted a few new layouts (link is on the right). There's a page from Diesel's baptism and a couple from Halloween. I've been scrapping my booty off. Looks like I'll be getting more scrapping time in to starting next week. K-man leaves for the Virgin Islands on Wednesday. I know, I know...poor baby, right? However, it is work and he'll be gone a week and get home just in time to start getting Thanksgiving dinner ready.

Pook funny for the day

The Pookster has taken to saying "cool" and "totally awesome" as if we were still living in the 80s. And she says "totally awesome" like she stepped straight out of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It's a total trip! I asked her where she learned it (because we gave up saying that in the 80s) and she said she made it up! We may have to start calling her Al Gore. HA! Actually I think it comes from watching our copy of SchoolHouse Rock. She loves it! I'm posting her fave.

A little post-Halloween treat

2007-11-01T16:31:00.000-05:00

It's midnight...

2007-10-27T23:57:00.001-05:00

and I can't sleep. Must be that 2.5 hour nap I squeezed in today. More than likely it's the multitude of things rattling around in my head, none of which I can quite seem to place a finger on except for one. We baptize our sweet, sweet boy tomorrow and I find myself struggling with the fact that he's 10 months old and I have no idea where the time went. I feel relatively adjusted with the fact that the Pookster is four and that she's not a baby anymore, so why am I feeling this way?
Is it because he is our last baby? Is it because I feel so ultra-swamped with work and life that I feel like I'm missing out/have missed out on so much? I went back to work when Pook was 3 months old and I still feel like I had so much more time to give her. Maybe that's it...maybe it's having to split the time between my two precious kiddos that makes me feel like this. The classic working mother's guilt, huh? Maybe one day soon, my dream of being a WAHM will come true.

Gorgeous fall weather

It was an absolute jaw-dropping kind of gorgeous day! Sun shining. Light breeze with the perfect fall nip in the air. You know my mom and stepdad are in town and we had a glorious picnic at the RV park they are staying in. Pook had a blast playing at the playground and it was so incredibly peaceful that I had to drag myself and the kids away to head for the house to take naps.

Basketball widow

Have I mentioned that I'm basically husband-less until late March? Basketball season has started and that means long practices and away games. K-man does a fantastic job of really being here (you know...not just a body sitting in the chair kind of "here") when he is home. The kids squeal with delight when he comes through the door. Just tonight, Pook stood at the back door watching for his headlights in the driveway. I thank God everyday that our children love their daddy and that he is a daddy worthy of such love and adoration.

Off to bed for me. I think I've blogged myself to sleep. Until next time...

Random mommy thoughts

2007-10-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

You know you're a mom when you bend down to tie you own tennis shoes and catch yourself as you double knot them to keep them from coming untied. I had to sit down and have this conversation with myself. Leslie, you're not tying Pook's shoes. These are yours and if they come untied, you know how to re-tie them.

Took the kiddos to Family Treat Night at Baylor last night. The dorms are decorated and the students hand out candy from their rooms. Really kind of cool and Pookster came home with a haul of good candy. She even gave me the Butterfingers because she knows they're my favorite. She is a ballerina this year and Diesel is a scarecrow. They're both adorable if I do say so myself. I'll make sure to post pics after Halloween trick or treating next week.

Startling realization

I'm settling in to 35 pretty well. Or at least I thought I was. I really was doing fine until DH & I were watching the Today Show about Hoda Kotb's breast cancer story and then it hit me...I'm only 5 years away from having my first mammogram! Five years! As I said as much to DH, he reminded me that he's only 5 years away from yearly prostate exams. He wins!

Family time

My mom and stepdad are visiting this week and as such, it's been a hectic week. I feel like...check that...I HAVE been meeting myself coming and going. I told Mom, "welcome to my life!" We are baptizing Diesel on Sunday and I'm so glad that they are going to be here for it. At least this time, we're getting it done before he's a year old. Pook was baptized on her 1st birthday so we're ahead of the curve on this one.

Oh and I've decided that once the blog counter hits 1000 I'm taking it off. Just thought you might want to know.

Some boys are cute

2007-10-12T08:47:00.000-05:00

Two...almost three...weeks since my last post. Bad blogger, bad blogger! But, since I'm sitting here waiting for the plumber to arrive, I'll take the opportunity to update.

Pook story first. Her PreK class went on a field trip to the County Fair this week. In the course of talking about her experience my 4 yr old and I had the following exchange.

Pook - "Mommy, Tanner's mommy forgot his snack today so I shared mine with him."
Me - "Sweetie, I am so very proud of you for sharing. That was very sweet."
Pook - "I shared with with Tanner because he's cute."
Me - "Excuse me? He's what?"
Pook - "Yeah, Mommy, some boys are cute."

WHAT?!?!?! Are you kidding me? Not yet! Don't start this just yet.

The Diesel is still toothless, but he does love his table food. This kid is a chewing champ! Crawling everywhere on all fours these days and he's started pulling himself up, too. Hard to believe that he's 10 months old. Where has the time gone?

Plumber problems
I mentioned that plumber earlier. Yep, it's official. We have to get a new water heater. We discovered it was leaking earlier this week and as I type this he's taking out the old one. I swear when it rains it pours around here. Thank the good Lord above that it's just the water heater and not some in the wall plumbing issues.

Broke down
I did. I finally caved to the technologically hip and got a BlackBerry. While not as ultimately cool as the iPhone, it does serve it's purpose for me and I love it. And, of course, I went with the red one. What can I say? I am a sucker for color.

Had to share a couple of pics

2007-09-30T19:52:00.000-05:00

Took these both this weekend and just wanted to show off our beautiful children.

Ever just have one of those weeks?

2007-09-29T09:03:00.000-05:00

Our household was apparently bitten by the stomach bug over the past week and a half. It started last Thursday night with Diesel. Pook woke us up about 4:30 Monday morning with her turn. Her bout was accompanied by a 101.4 temp. That was fun! Normally, I'm usually inexplicably immune to the kids illnesses. Sooooo not the case this time. I spent most of Thursday in the bed, finally returning to the land of the living on Friday. So hopefully that explains the pitiful non-updated nature of the blog.

Tiny confession to make...part of the reason the blog wasn't updated this week is because it was premiere week for all the shows. Had to scope out which new ones are going to make the cut in this house. Jury is still out so I'll have to post more about it later.

A special screening of Happy Feet is beckoning. The Pookster wants me to come watch with her so duty calls.

Oh yeah...

2007-09-21T12:12:00.001-05:00

New blog header! Do you like it?

R-E-D...that spells red!

2007-09-21T08:55:00.001-05:00

Another bragging post on the ever so precious Pookster. I just can't get over how much she is learning. We played a quick round of Boggle Jr. (thanks for leaving it Nae) before her bath last night and I was amazed at what she was able to do. Then as we were reading her bedtime story last night, she stopped me when I read the word red and proceeded to tell me how to spell it! She also had to show her daddy the word in the book. I love how far her letter recognition has come.

Upchucking

The Diesel and I are at home today. He vomitted three times last night and then once again this morning so we are, of course, banned from daycare. He doesn't even remotely act like he feels bad and he's not running a fever so we're at a loss for what's wrong. He's been on amoxicillin for a week now and I'm wondering if it's some kind of reaction to that. I've got a call in to the doctor so we'll see what he says.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and clean some of the house, do a little scrappin' and catch a nap if I can.

New LOs

2007-09-15T11:17:00.001-05:00

Posted a couple of new LOs for your perusal and enjoyment! :)

Growing, growing, growing

2007-09-15T10:05:00.000-05:00

Why is it that our kids can't stay little forever? Of course, I don't really mean that, but I am amazed at how quickly they grow. Both kiddos had doctor's appointments yesterday. Pook for her 4 year visit and Diesel for his 9 month check-up. Diesel went first and he now weighs in at 19 lbs. 14 oz. and is 28.5 inches tall. He's a growing, healthy boy with a double ear infection.
Yep, you read that right. An infection in both ears. He's inherited my family curse. The thing is you would never have known his ears were hurting him. He hasn't tugged on them or any of the normal signs. Looking back the only thing that could have tipped us off was him shaking his head no for the past couple of days. Well, that and the fact that he fell asleep in his saucer on Thursday evening while I was getting his dinner ready. Thankfully, we've now got him on antibiotics and on the road to wiping those nasty things out.

The Pookster weighs 29 lbs. and is 37.5 inches tall. She's still in the 10th percentile on the charts for her age. Developmentally (according to those sheets they have you fill out) she's in the 90th percentile for a 5.5 year old. She really is a bright child.
(I know, I know...knock off the "my child is a genius speak"...but you know that's not what I'm saying.) She had to get 3 shots and that was no fun. In true Pookster fashion, she recovered quickly and went straight for the toy box. The yo-yo was her choice of comfort this time. However, I was able to take a photo of something you never see in our house...Pook asleep at 5:30 in the afternoon, completely unprompted.

BTW, aren't sleeping baby pictures just the best?

B...B...Bear

2007-09-12T16:45:00.000-05:00

Bear, bubbles, balloon, boy, baseball, bat, beans...the list goes on and on. I got quite the education on all things that start with the letter B on our way to the grocery store yesterday. Our little Pookster is a sponge and soaking up so much new stuff at her new school. I am amazed at what she has learned in the few weeks since school started. She sings the Days of the Week song, the I Can Spell Red song, and their darling Following Directions song. Her name writing has improved and I'm floored at the things she knows now. My sweet little girl is thriving at school...

...and driving us batty at home. I'm praying this argumentative phase ends soon...very soon. I find my patience wearing extremely thin and I'm searching for the strength to endure it. She is still a loving and sweet as they come, but it seems as everything is a battle. God grant me wisdom to deal with it all.

Afternoon at home

I'm spending the afternoon at home today. Our daycare for the Diesel called and he was running a fever. I picked him and Pook up and came home. Thankfully, Diesel is no longer running that fever, just a snotty nose which could be attributed to his allergies and/or teething. He still hasn't cut a tooth yet. Nine months old on Friday and no toofers. Pook finally had one pop through the morning of her 9 month check up. Don't see one coming through for the Diesel by Friday.

A cold front has moved in and brought allergies with it and I'm pretty much miserable so an afternoon at home was just what the doctor ordered. Not such a bad deal, all in all.

I am NOT small!

2007-09-07T09:35:00.000-05:00

Our dear, sweet, petite Pookster has a severe aversion to the words small and little when used to describe her. Naturally, I have a story to illustrate just that point. On Tuesday, Grammie picked Pook up from school and when I met them at the door this is the coversation that ensued:

"Mommy, Walker said I was small!"
"Well, Pook, you are not as tall as everyone else so I'm sure that's what he meant."
"Nuh-uh. He said I wasn't 4 and that I was small!"
"Honey, you just aren't the same size as everybody else and that's okay."
"Well, I am NOT small!"

And off into the house she went in a huff. Bless her tiny heart.

And it begins...

2007-09-03T08:23:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Pook told me that now that she was 4 she wouldn't whine anymore. (We'd previously had a conversation about how being 4 meant being a big girl and not whining.) I was so proud of her and she's been true to her word since yesterday. However, on our way to Chuck E Cheese's yesterday, she began to argue with me in that way that she does. When I said to her, "You know, 4 year olds don't argue either" this is the response I got. "Oh Mother, I'm still 3!" Grammie and I just about lost it. She's been dying to be 4, but apparently only when it works in her best interest. She later told us that it was "all just a little joke!" Man, are we in trouble when she hits her teens or what?

Where did the time go?

2007-09-02T22:25:00.000-05:00

From this...

...to this

The Pookster is 4 today! So strange considering that I can remember vividly the day she was born. I'd never really understood love at first sight until the first time I looked at her. Isn't it amazing how much love we are capable of? A gift from God. Both the love and her. At 4, she now seems like a little girl and not the baby I want to hold on to. She is our opiniated chatterbox and oh-so-sweet lovebug. She is always telling us how much she loves us and I promise you that we never tire of hearing it. She is super-inquistive and incredibly smart. She'll be much smarter than me very soon I'm afraid. Her personality is bigger than she is and one look at those eyes tells you that she'll conquer the world someday. I pray that she always knows that she has us in her corner...that we want her to fly, but know that she'll always have a place to land. I pray that she will continue to grow in the love of the Lord and will one day make her own decision to follow Him.

I want to be able to put down in words everything I want for her, but words fail me and I find myself sitting here crying. Maybe that's my cue to turn in for the night. Maybe I'll be able to come back tomorrow and post more.

Random thoughts

2007-08-29T10:15:00.000-05:00

My BIL comes home from the Middle East this week. This tour was only 3 months long but I can tell you how hard it's been on my sister and their kids. I can't even begin to imagine what Army and Marine families have to endure. I got to thinking about it again after watching the season finale of Army Wives this week. As the soldiers prepared to ship out and their wives and families stood there saying their goodbyes, I was in tears. I have such immense respect for the people who sacrifice so much for this country. Not just the soldiers, but their families...the ones left here to carry on. It's heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. I'm going to try to remember this when I complain about the travel involved with K-man's job. He's gone a week at a time at the most and at least I know there is always a return date. So really, what do I have to bitch about?

Happier thoughts

The Diesel is a monster! He's getting so big. Still doing the whole army crawl thing, but our sitter said he really crawled a couple of different times yesterday. I'll have to be on the lookout for that. We have had to lower the crib mattress though. After two mornings of walking into his room and finding him standing on his knees holding on the crib rail, I figured it was time. He's pulling up like that on everything he can reach these days. It really is cute. Especially when he looks and you and smiles like "do you see what I'm doing?" Still no teeth, though. It's crazy. We'll think one is about to come through and then it disappears so all we get are his adorable gummy smiles. He's also eating us out of house and home. I swear everytime I turn around I'm buying him more food at the grocery. I think it's a portend to his teenage years.

The Pookster loves her new school and has already learned so much. I love that we get something in her send home folder every day and she's so excited to show it to us. So hard for me to believe that she turns four on Sunday. Where has the time gone? Instead of this chubby little baby, we now have a petite pre-K kid who goes 90 to nothing pretty much nonstop.

Wouldn't trade either of our kiddos for all the tea in China! They and their daddy are my life. How'd I ever get so lucky?

First day of Pre-K

2007-08-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

I probably should be crying, right? I probably would be if Pook wasn't so darned excited about her new school. Kid you not. She had serious trouble going to sleep last night b/c she kept wanting to go to school. She was up at 11:30 last night standing on my side of the bed telling me that she had slept and that it was time to go to school. I sent her back to bed and when I got out of the shower this morning at 6:45, she was up. All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to start the day.

You should've seen her when we dropped her at school. She went into her room like such a big girl and just started doing exactly what she was supposed to. Writing about it now makes me want to cry. I didn't even get to kiss her goodbye she was so busy. She just blew me a kiss and said "'Bye, Mommy!"

Mommy and Daddy are going to have to get used to this being at school by the same time everyday. That means managing the alarm clock a little better. Making lunch and gathering snacks have now been added to the morning routine. We'll get it down. Even if it means I have to get up earlier. Ugh.

BTW - the back-to-school desktop is a freebie from Shabby Miss Jenn Designs in honor of its first birthday. She has some really, really cute kits. Go check it out!

Parent orientation

2007-08-21T16:39:00.000-05:00

Your newly excited about enrolling your child in a new school that you just feel is going to be great for her as you sit down. You listen as the principal goes through the handbook. You glance around at the other parents. You shift in your seat after 30 minutes beginning to wonder how long this is going to last. You feel your eyes glaze over as you enter hour #2 of the same bits of information being repeated. You begin to imagine beating your head against the seat in front of you if you don't get up and move soon. Finally, the grandest words ever spoken..."That's all we have for you. Have a great night!" Ahhhh, freedom, sweet freedom! Feeling restored to your legs and fresh air in your lungs never felt so good.

Just a snippet of how K-man and I spent last evening. It really was vital information for us about the Pookster's new school, but it was unnervingly long and tedious. Welcome to Pre-K!

Couple new pics of the kiddos

Back to School...

2007-08-19T20:19:00.000-05:00

Guess it's not really back to school for us, but in a way it sort of is. Pook starts her new school on Wednesday. So in preparation, we went through her ENTIRE wardrobe, tried on EVERY article of clothing she has, to see what still fits and what is going to be given away or sold. Our petite little thing is finally moving out of the 2T pant size. Bless her heart, she turns 4 in 2 weeks and is just now outgrowing the 2Ts! They all pretty much still fit in the waist but they are all definitely too short. I had flashbacks to my childhood and wearing too-short pants as we waded through the Pookster's clothes. Luckily, all her skirts and shorts still fit. We'll just have to begin the arduous task of finding pants that actually fit her tiny butt.

Next stop...shoes. Her shoe basket is in desperate need of a good cleaning out. There are umpteen pairs in there and I think maybe 5 she can actually still wear. She's in that oh-so-hard-to-find 6 1/2 size. You know that size where the 7 is too big, the 6 fits for now, but you don't want to be out looking for new shoes if she outgrows them in a week? That's where we are. She has to wear close toed shoes to her new school. No more flip flops or sandals to school. Ugh. Now I've got to keep up with more socks. Small price to pay I guess since Pook is very excited about attending her new school. We have parent orientation tomorrow night so I'll let you know how it goes.

High School Musical 2

2007-08-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

Yes, we succumbed to the ultra-hyped Disney machine and watched HSM2. I should be embarassed to admit that I liked it...but I'm not, not in the least. We even made a 2 day affair of it all by watching HSM1 the night before. Can I tell you that there is nothing cuter than watching Pook sing along to these songs? She's currently watching the HSM2 sing-along version on the Disney channel. Our girl, she's destined for stardom. Don't believe it? Just ask her. She'll tell you she's going to be a pop star. It's a hoot!

Decision made

2007-08-13T16:00:00.000-05:00

We came to a decision late last week about Pook's new school and we are very much at peace. We just feel like God laid it on our hearts that this was the right place for her. She'll be in a class of only 6 kids and she's excited about going to a new school. We have a back-to-school luau there tonight so hopefully she'll get to meet some of the kids in her class.

In other news...
It is dang hot here. Summer has finally come to Texas. This is the heat we all know and hate. I guess we should be thankful that it waited until August to arrive. I'm just praying that this doesn't mean that summer is going to hang around until November now.

First words sort of

2007-08-07T18:07:00.001-05:00

We have another talker on our hands. The Diesel has taken to making Ma Ma sounds and he's getting pretty consistent with it...especially when I'm not feeding him fast enough. Then just this morning I heard him saying Da Da Da. It's all cute and gravelly and loud. He's presently talking my ear off and I love it! And this boy can seriously scoot. He's got the one armed army crawl that cracks us all up but he knows how to get there in a hurry when he wants something. Don't let us leave a flip flop on the floor. That's prime material for him. He also loves being under the computer chair. Something about the light from the CPU and external hard drive just draws him like a moth to a flame.

Frustration abound

2007-08-07T15:56:00.000-05:00

I am beyond frustrated. Please allow me to vent.

The Pook turns 4 on September 2 and we'd been led to understand...no TOLD (by her school administrators)...that she would be going into a PreK class as of August 27. So last Thursday I get a call from Pook's school regarding her placement for this next school year. They told me that b/c she will not be 4 on Sept 1 that they will not move her up to PreK but put her in a 4 yr old class instead. They stated that it was b/c of the TX standard that a child must be 5 by Sept 1 in order to be eligible for Kinder. Then why did you move her up to the oldest 3's class and tell us that she'd be going to PreK this fall? And why, praytell, did you wait until 2 1/2 weeks before school starts to let us know this little piece of information?

DH and I have been on the phone calling every private school in town checking on availability and seeing if they might be the right fit for her. Look, we don't think our child is brilliant or a child prodigy. We just don't want her educational choices and opportunities to be limited b/c she was born 1 stinkin' day late. If after the year of PreK her teachers don't think she's ready for Kinder then we have absolutely NO problem having her in PreK for a 2nd year. Even her teachers at her school now are PO'd. They can't believe the school has done this and told us that they wish they would ask them who was ready for PreK and who wasn't. To top it all off, the school administrators weren't honest with us about the real reason for not moving her up. It slipped in a conversation with DH that there wasn't room for her in a PreK class. It's just all so frustrating.

After a crash course in private schools I think we have it narrowed down to two. I have a headache and my dang hand hurts from filling out applications. Not to mention that our checkbook is taking a beating, too. Is it just me or is $400 a bit excessive for a registration fee?

What would you do in our shoes? Just suck it up and put her in the 4 YO class or try and find her a PreK?

Just a fly by post

2007-08-02T16:20:00.000-05:00

I have now landed for at least a little while. K-man, the kids and I took off for Kansas last Friday for a family reunion. Lots of good food and the opportunity to show off the kiddos made the 8 hour drive almost bearable. You know, I could really go for some more of the onion souffle right about now. Think I'll have to post that recipe for all to enjoy.

One of the best men from our wedding (yes, I meant one...K-man had two) got married a couple of months ago and there was a reception for them while we were in Kansas. So after a day of stuffing ourselves we headed over to help our friends celebrate. A grand time was had by all...especially by the Pookster who danced her little feet off. It was a very late night and Sunday morning came a tish too early. I had been asked by K-man's aunt to sing at their church. Now, you may or may not know that I have a horrendous case of stage fright when it comes to singing by myself in public. Not that I don't think I can't sing, I'm just afraid that somebody (or everybody) will think that I'm terrible. Silly, I know, but there you have it. My sweet girl helped me out with that and stood right up there on stage, microphone in hand and sang her little heart out right along with me. Church full of people? Who cares? Not her. It was almost too much for me. She a natural born performer. I'm hoping to post the audio when I get the copy of the service. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll figure out how to do that.

Stopped over at my sister's for the night on Sunday. It's always good to visit with her and then headed south on I-35 Monday morning. Of course, a pit stop for fried pies was in order. Completely not healthy, but oh-so-tasty.

No sooner do we get home that I'm packing again. An overnight staff retreat called me away from home on Tuesday. Needless to say, I am more than happy to have slept in my own bed last night and to know that I'll be enjoying that comfort for a while.

Hotel beds
Which brings to mind a question? Do you have a favorite hotel? Hotel bed? For the most part, we're not 5-star travelers, but after sleeping in a Best Western and a Comfort Inn the past few days...I've got to give my nod to the Comfort Inn for the better bed. Higher off the ground, softer mattress, weighty enough comforter, and plenty o' pillows. Of course, neither compare to the Westin Heavenly Bed. Sometimes I'm just random.

Today I am 35

2007-07-26T13:31:00.000-05:00

Yes, today is my birthday and I am officially closer to 40 than 30. Wow! Not that I'm complaining. I have thoroughly enjoyed my 30s to this point. Most of the great stuff in my life has happened in (or around) this decade of my life and I have much, much, much to be grateful for. I think it's fitting to take stock of who I am in this point in my life.

I am a child of God. Forever forgiven, loved, and blessed.
I am a wife to the love of my life. He often deserves better than me, but I am ever thankful for the life we have together.
I am a mother to two gorgeous children who light up my life. I never knew it was possible to love this much.
I am a daughter to two wonderful mothers - one by birth and one by marriage.
I am a sister to my incredible sister and her fabulous husband and aunt to their two great kids.
I am a niece and cousin in a fantastic family.
I am a loyal friend to those that really matter.
I am a working professional at a job I love.
I am a volunteer to help those in need.
I am, at best, a horrible housekeeper. I can procrastinate with the best of them.
I am a self-confessed computer junkie. I love my Photoshop, my message boards, my blog.
I am a perfectionist when it comes to things I want to be good at.
I am a happy person who loves to make others smile.
I am passionate about the things I believe in and not afraid to let you know it.
I am a 35 year young woman who is quite comfortable in her skin and in her place in life.

Just a small list of who I am that will probably get added to as I think of more.

BTW, Pook took the picture. She did a fabulous job, don't you think?

Happy Birthday to me!

My first Top Ten

2007-07-19T12:02:00.000-05:00

Once again motivated by Jessica, (who I am not afraid to admit I have a slight girl crush on...I mean, c'mon on...how can you not? The woman is so incredibly creative and just from reading her blog you can tell that she is one of the best mothers on the planet) I am tackling my very first top ten things of right now in no particular order.

1. Watching K-Man play with Pook and Diesel. They adore their father and all is right with the world when I get to watch him in action with them.

2. Spending time with my sister. We live 4 hours apart (too far) and she's visiting for a while with her kids while he DH is deployed to the Middle East. We've spent our time tag-teaming our children as they run the gamut of loving each other sooooo sooooo very much to fighting the way kids do when they've spent too much time together in one sitting. Ours is a special relationship, one that has matured too much to even try to describe over the years. We're finally at that comfortable place where we are able to fully accept each other for who we are individually. We can argue, agree, and then somehow she's the recipient of a MUCH needed pedicure courtesy of moi. I'm a great big sister! ;-)

3. Our weather right now. It's been an incredibly mild summer by Texas standards. TONS (and I do mean TONS) of rain and we've only hit a high in the high 90s once or twice so far...and it's mid-July!

4. Music. I'm singing in a friend's wedding in September so I'm learning the music she wants me to sing. I've also got to pick out a song to sing next Sunday at my DH's childhood church. Must. go. do. that. SOON. I've been listening to a lot of Selah and getting goosebumps. They've got some songs that do it to me everytime.

5. Believe it or not...work. July is a pretty slow month for me in the office actually and I just got my last big project for the summer out of the way so I can relax...just a tish.

6. My tan. Yes, it's incredibly vain, but I love my golden glow.

7. Anything cooked on the grill. DH is a master griller and we had burgers and dogs last night. There's just something about not messing up my kitchen that makes them extra tasty.

8. Summer. Which for me, always includes reading completely worthless books and not feeling guilty about it.

9. Homemade ice cream. DH made some this past weekend and I'm already craving it again. Maybe I can talk him into making more this weekend.

10. Good friends. We've been blessed with some incredible friends. What is is the old saying? In your life you have two families, the ones your born with and the ones you choose. I guess sometimes they choose you, but nevertheless I'm grateful to be able to count good friends as family.

Blissfully tired & happy to be home

2007-07-09T09:16:00.000-05:00

Ahoy, mateys! We're home and settled and blissfully tired. Now the mountainous task of laundry begins. What a great week we had. Four different ports and we have fallen in love with Roatan, Honduras. Seriously...DH was online last night looking for vacation properties there. On the 4th day of our cruise (July 4th) We hopped a cab with our two couple friends and headed to West Bay Beach. Our personal tour guide was Grace and she was fantastic. She stayed with us the whole day, sitting on the beach and watching our stuff. I snorkeled for the first time in my life in the reef there. They have the second largest reef in the world and it is absolutely gorgeous! So wish I'd have had an underwater camera. The colors of all the fish were amazing! We swam so far out that we could feel the temperature of the water change and when we looked down we had reached the drop off at the edge of the reef. The ocean floor drops to 1800 ft. there and I was staring down at the bluest water I've ever seen. The beaches are pristine and we were so sad to leave there, but know without a doubt that we will go back. It really was paradise.

Our first port, Cozumel, was fun as well. It was the only day we actually did an organized excursion. DH went on a Mexican Cuisine one and I spent the day on the beach. Luckily, they were at the same resort so I could run up and visit at any time. I also had the added perk of being able to sample the stuff they cooked. The grouper was outstanding, but I had to show you a photo of his dessert creation.

Day 5 had us porting in Costa Maya, Mexico and once again we grabbed a cab and headed out. We'd learned from some people in Honduras that Mahahual was the place to go and we soon found out that they were right. It's a very primitive fishing village with a stretch of gorgeous beach, the perfect breeze and friendly people. My friend and I got massages right on the beach and DH & her DH found us the perfect spot on the beach under a mangrove tree. Our only complaint about the place was that we had to leave it all too soon.

Progreso was our least favorite port so we spent only about an hour roaming around the city. I did get some cool architectural shots though.

Days 2 and 7 had DH in meetings all day so I spent my time lounging by the pool and reading and visiting with all the other wives on the trip.
I knew I had missed my kids, but I wasn't prepared to feel just how much I did until I saw them yesterday. They were waiting outside for us when we pulled up and I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. Pookster ran out to meet me I started crying. Our friend brought Diesel to me and I'm not ashamed to admit that I can't keep my lips off either one of my precious kiddos. They're going to be sick of me by the end of the day today.

Pook starts her first VBS tonight. She so excited and I know she'll have a blast. Laundry and the grocery store await me so I need to get off the computer now, but I'll be back to post about our nightlife aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas later.

Slacker blogger...but not by choice

2007-06-29T10:10:00.001-05:00

Man, I haven't truly posted something worthwhile in what seems like ages. Work has had me so swamped that the only thoughts swimming around in my headache riddled brain have been about making sure that the mondo-conference I'm wrapping up today went off without any major bumps. T minus two hours and I will have achieved that goal. Yes, I'm blogging from work. Don't tell my boss. I needed a little me time in the middle of this morning. So shoot me!

I'm hoping and praying that this tic in my right eye goes away later today, too. Somehow I'm thinking it's going to hang on until we are leaving port on Sunday. I've made myself checklists of everything to pack...one list for the kiddos, one for DH & me. If you could be here right now, you'd see me on the phone with DH as he runs errands for me this morning. What brand of diapers? How many? Does this sippy cup sound like it will work? Will he eat this type of veggie or fruit? It's so sweet and incredibly cute when he is being helpful.

Rain, rain go away

We're going on our 3000th straight day of rain. Okay, so 3000 is a bit of exaggeration, but I swear it's been raining since I can remember and we've still got chances of rain in the forecast through next Tuesday. We've had our fair share of flooded roadways, rivers, and creeks, but other parts of Texas have gotten it even worse. Parts of the Hill Country had 19-20 inches of rain in 24 hours a couple of days ago. North Texas isn't any better. Homes are flooded, bridges washed out. I can't remember ever getting this much rain at once. The jokes abound around here about needing to build an ark. What's not a joke is that we do need to pray for those people who have lost everything due to these flooding rains. My heart goes out to them.

Even Pook, who loves the rain, is walking around singing Rain, Rain, Go Away. I think it's just because it's cutting into her pool time. Since she learned to swim with her floaties and jump off the side of the pool by herself, all we here is "when do I get to go swimming again?" She's starting to doggy paddle in her bathtub just to keep up her skills. ;)

Other random stuff

Try giving the Diesel a bath these days and you're going to get wet. He luuuhhhuuuvvvvsss his bathtime! He also loves to kick and splash water everywhere. We've got to get him in the pool. My sister gets to do that this week. Lucky her!

I'm so going to miss my kids this next week. I asked DH if I was like this when we left the Pookster for the first time when she was 10 months old. He responded with a quick yes, so I guess it's to be expected that I'm a little anxious about our trip.

Must cut this short for now. IT is coming to run a virus scan on my 'puter.

Rough day

2007-06-26T21:30:00.000-05:00

Don't really want to elaborate, but if you can spare some prayers...send an extra up for me. No one is sick or hurt and it's not the end of the world, but I could sure use the power of extra prayer to get through this week.

I don't have a right to complain or whine. We're going on an already paid for cruise in 5 days. I just really need to feel the arms of Jesus around me right now.

One week from today

2007-06-24T14:27:00.001-05:00

For some odd reason the Love Boat theme is playing in my head. ;)

Now if I can just make it through this week at work, there is a big, honkin' light at the end of the tunnel. Seven days until we set sail. I'll be back later to add more to this post. I have a meeting in about 30 minutes. Working on Sundays BITES!

Great news & one happy face

2007-06-20T22:31:00.000-05:00

How did our trip to Austin go, you ask? The actual car ride was miserable. Rain...all the way down. Traffic was horrid and we were 30 minutes late, but the results of the voyage were completely worth it. The pediatric cardiologist did not hear the murmur from the VSD in Diesel's heart so he officially removed the VSD from his medical file. Praise God! Dr. Wong is a fantastically nice guy and turns out he and his wife are Baylor grads to boot. We spent 20 extra minutes just chatting about that. Small world, I tell ya!

In honor of our fantastic news I just had to post this page. By far, my fave photo taken of him so far.

Here for credits

Oh...the Pookster & Father's Day

2007-06-17T21:25:00.000-05:00

Father's Day turned out to be a rainy one here. Very rainy. However, I do think that DH had a great day overall. I mean, you can't go wrong with a lazy Sunday afternoon spent watching the drama unfold in the US Open. And the one thing you can always count on is that at some point during the course of a normal day, Pook is going to make you laugh. That moment came early this morning as we were getting ready for church. She had made her daddy a present at school and gave it to him this morning (a really cute pic of her in a magnetic frame). As DH is telling her thank you and gushing over it, she says....

"Yeah, well when it's kid's day they better be making me something!"

I just had to interject, "Honey, everyday is kid's day."

Kids! Where do they come up with this stuff? My dad was visiting us this weekend and he swears we've got to get her in commercials.

Speaking of Dad, we had a great visit. There's a lot of history there that I won't go into right now, but it was actually nice to get to see him. He brought along my little brother, too. He's 5 and such a sweetie. Big into Spidey these days. I guess I have all that to look forward to with Diesel.

Another Pook story

I wasn't actually present for this one, but I'm going to share it anyway. Apparently, DH was watching that new Fast Cars & Superstars and Pook comes strolling through the room, spots the photos of the Alltel commercial guys on the hood of one of the cars and says, "What up...Chad." You think that means our kid watches a little too much TV? Yikes!

PS

I posted a couple of new LOs but wanted to show this one off. I am blessed beyond belief!

Here for credits

Just your average boy

2007-06-15T10:43:00.000-05:00

Had Diesel's 6 month appointment yesterday. Our chunk of burning love weighed in at an even 17 lbs. and was 26 3/4 inches long. About the 50th percentile for each...just your average boy. He seems so big to us because while Pook was a chunky baby, she was always on the petite frame size and fell off the charts for height at one point. She's still petite, just don't call her little. She has a severe aversion to that word when used in reference to her. Little toot!

Our sweet boy was born with a VSD (ventricular septal defect) that caused a heart murmur. However, the ped and ped cardiologist believed that it would close on its own by the time he was 6 months old. I'm happy to report that our ped didn't hear it and we go to the cardiologist next Wednesday to get the all clear from him.

After three shots and a whole lot of screaming baby, we left the doctor's office with a very sound asleep boy on my shoulder. He didn't even wake up when I put him in the car seat or took him out at the sitter's. Don't you wish you could sleep like that again? Such is the life of being a mom. Every little noise wakes you up because you're always on guard about your little ones. Hey, I'll sleep when I dead, right?

Trifecta

2007-06-13T22:27:00.000-05:00

How could I forget to post this? My bodily injury trifecta became complete when I turned my ankle in our softball game last Friday night. Yep, you heard right. After my self-inflicted, dog-inflicted, burn-ridden torturous week, I turned my ankle rounding 3rd. In the first inning! I felt like such an old lady. Luckily, it's not bad, but it sure hurt for a solid 3 days. The old body...she just ain't what she used to be. :)

Gamote & defrigiderator

2007-06-13T13:56:00.000-05:00

I'm just a little sad. DH & I were reminiscing today about the things the Pookster used to say and do. Since she started talking, she's always had a vocabulary that amazed us, her teachers and even strangers. Still there were times that some words just weren't easy to say and she wound up with her own special pronunciations like

gamote = remote
defrigiderator = refrigerator
hunder = thunder

You get the idea. What has made me sad is that my sweet baby girl is not a baby anymore. She's not really even what I'd call a toddler. She's full-blown, sassy malassy, parent-correctin' little girl.

"Uh, Daddy...it's not gamote it's REmote."

Heaven help us when she hits her teens. :)

When it rains...

Why is it that when one part of your life gets hyper-busy all other parts seem to follow suit? This week at work has just slammed me. It might not be seem as bad if this week wasn't the week for the Pookster's swim lessons. Thank the dear Lord above for DH's flexible summer schedule (and help from my MIL) that has allowed me to work an extra 45 minutes while they run all over town picking up our offspring only to bring them back to this side of town for her swim lessons. The house is once again a wreck and laundry is screaming to be done. This is my life, I guess.

Cruise coming up

Passports? Check!
Tickets? Check!
Excitement? Double Check!!

This will be my first cruise (DH has been before) and I cannot wait! A glorius 8 day/7 night adventure for just us. And a couple of friends. And a boat full of people. But, hey, we'll be kid-free! Don't get me wrong. We're going to miss them like C-R-A-Z-Y, but they'll be in excellent hands with my sister (Hey, chica!) and having a blast with their cousins. 18 days and counting, baby! Can we leave tomorrow?

What church do you go to?

2007-06-08T09:54:00.000-05:00

Pook story coming up. Keep in mind that this is our chatterbox of a child.

At school, the teacher is talking about making good choices (this is the staple of their classroom) and always telling the truth. Our dear sweet daughter walks up to Mrs. Duncan, taps her on the shoulder and says.....

"Mrs. Duncan, Jesus doesn't want us to tell the truth."

*Mommy sidebar - HUH? Since when?

A lengthy conversation followed and I'm not really sure why the Pookster said that. It might be because we talk all the time about what makes God happy. You know...minding Mommy and Daddy, being nice to Diesel, not arguing, etc.

Oh...and Mrs. Duncan's reply?

"I've got to ask your Mommy & Daddy where y'all go to church?"

Goodness gracious!

The weekend

Thankfully the weekend is upon us and for the first time in what seems like forever, we're all going to be at home together. These are my favorite times. Lazy Saturday mornings when Pook climbs into bed between us and pesters us to turn on cartoons while we try to catch just a few more minutes of sleep before the Diesel beckons. Maybe my sweet husband will treat us to his yum-yum-yum delicioso pancakes tomorrow. (Those of you with kids will surely get that Dora reference :))

Speaking of tv shows...can I just say how completely bummed DH & I are that Studio 60 was cancelled. Grateful as we are that NBC is at least airing the remaining episodes, it just reminds us how miffed we are that it's not coming back. How they can keep My Name is Earl and dump such a witty, well-written show is beyond me.

Have I mentioned that DH & I play on a coed rec softball team? Silly me. It's a regular part of our summer routine. First softball game is tonight and we are soooo looking forward to it.

Breathe deeply.....heck, just breath period

2007-06-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

Whirlwind of a ~~day~~ week already. Oh, wait it's Thursday. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. What natural law is it that says anything thing that can go wrong will? I'm renaming it Leslie's Law.

Earlier this week, while curling my hair, I dropped the curling iron and tried to catch it...with my bare arm. Brilliant, I know. I'm sporting a pretty sweet burn on my upper right arm. Looks like I tried to brand myself. Then, today we almost had one seriously dead dog on our hands. Well, that's because I almost killed him. I had the responsibility of taking both the kiddos to their respective school and day care this morning. That always makes for a hectic morning, but it's not normally so patience-trying until you throw in an uncooperative dog. Shiner, our still-a-puppy Australian Shepherd, decided he didn't want to be put up this morning and proceeded to toy with me and wouldn't come when called. Not even for a treat. Damn dog. A result of his "play" he raked his tie-out cable across the top of my foot at a high rate of speed and took multiple layers of skin with it. Again, damn dog. So now I'm the not so happy host of not one, but two burns in the span of 3 days. I think I'll lock myself in the house this weekend and not even attempt to go near anything that might leave some kind of damaging mark on my skin. I just need to remember in times like these , when nothing seems to be going my way, to breathe deeply...heck, just breathe period.

The Pook & Diesel, by the by, were safely delivered. Thank God for those bright spots in my day.

What I did on my day off

2007-06-01T08:04:00.001-05:00

I had to stay at home with Diesel yesterday. Our sitter was having her 6 month cancer free cat scan. We are praying that it comes back clean as a whistle.

Sooooo I got to do some scrapping. Yeah, me! Here are a couple that I worked on. Of course, you can always find my layouts here.

Here for credits

Here for credits

Good times, tired kids...oh, and my first comment

2007-05-30T21:09:00.000-05:00

Good times

We spent the Memorial Day weekend at my sister's house. BIL leaves for a 3-month tour in the Middle East next week so we went up to spend some time with the fam. We are so, so proud of him and what he does and don't want to miss the opportunity to tell him so. It's always so good to see them. We desperately wish we lived closer to each other. Our kiddos always have such a great time and there is never a shortage for laughs. Or arguments for that matter. Hey, when you get a 9 yr old, a 5 yr old, a 3 yr old and a 5 month old together there's bound to be tattling going on. Add another 5 yr old to the mix and you have the makings for some loudness. We did our fair share of refereeing and shushing, but it was all worth it. We also got to visit with my dear sweet grandmother. She's living on her own again and has the cutest little two bedroom cottage. Can I just tell you how much I love this woman? I'm telling you that the seat next to Jesus in heaven is marked reserved especially for her. She is the godliest, best person I know and we are extremely blessed to have her in our lives.

Tired kids (mommy & daddy, too)

Our original intent was to travel home on Sunday, but the Baylor Bears made the championship game of the Big 12 baseball tournament so we spent the afternoon at the ballpark. As you can tell by the photos, we had two very, very tired kids on our hands. Needless to say, we spent another night and it was as it should be because we got to just sit and visit around the new fire pit on the patio.

Sweet angel faces.

And btw, I'm completely stoked!!!! Even though I do this blog primarily for me and my fam, it's kinda cool to know somebody else actually visited. So, thanks to Christine for posting a comment. Who knew I would be this giddy over a little ol' comment?

Have you heard the news?

2007-05-25T12:07:00.000-05:00

The fabulous Jessica Sprague's new website is live! Check it out here!

In case you haven't figured it out...I love her. Her tutorials are so informative and easy to understand. Try 'em out. You'll love 'em, too.

What do you want them to remember?

2007-05-24T09:57:00.000-05:00

So I'm perusing some of the blogs I frequent (meaning read and lurk and occassionally post a comment on). I'm reading Jessica's this morning and enjoying as always her stories about her kids and she posed the question...."What do you want your kids (or those who love you) to remember about their life with you?"

I'll probably be working on how to answer this all day. Well, that and I'll probably come back and edit it like 3 different times. The most important thing I want my children to remember is that they were loved and wanted and that no matter what, there will always be someone in this world who wants only the best for them. If they know that in their souls, then I will be happy. I want them to remember always that their father is a man of great integrity and that his sole reason for living is to see joy on their faces. I would love for them to remember how much we like to give tons of hugs and kisses, how much we love to laugh and sing, the cookies we've baked together and the messes we've made.

Quick Pook funny & a shocking finding

2007-05-22T10:14:00.000-05:00

The two are totally unrelated but I thought I'd share them both.

First the Pook funny

K-man was out mowing the yard last night and Pook was watching him through the front windows. As he disappeared around the corner she turns to me and we have this little exchange...

"Mommy, Daddy is through yarding."

"You mean mowing, Pook?"

"That's what I said, Mama. Yarding."

Apparently, I had no clue what I was talking about. It's not mowing the grass...it's yarding. Man, I love this little girl.

Now for the shocking finding...for some reason, I can no longer access DSP from my work 'puter. This is troubling as my friends/co-workers like to see new pics of the kiddos that I might not have posted here yet. No, really...they do. That's only partly the reason though. I'm bummed because it was my favorite time-killer at work. You know, where I liked to browse when I was avoiding the massive stacks of work to be plodded through on my desk. I've also sunk to a new low. I even called ITS to find out why. Yep, you heard right. I called ITS about a non-work related site. The tech I talked to love it though. She couldn't even access it and she wants to now because she wants to learn more about digiscrap. Yeah, that's me...enlightener to all who wish to become as addicted as I. Gotta go see if they fixed the prob yet. Toodles!

Happy Mother's Day to me!

2007-05-12T21:17:00.000-05:00

The Pook and Grammie conspired to buy me this beautiful hibiscus. Isn't it gorgeous?

Sick baby & one helluva week

2007-05-11T20:18:00.000-05:00

The Diesel apparently has some kind of virus. Sitter called today to say he was runing 101.5 and not eating. Now, for my son not to eat is a big deal. He's always game for a meal. Not usually the paranoid, let's run to the doctor for every little thing type...however, it was Friday afternoon and I didn't want the sweet boy to suffer through the weekend with an unchecked ear infection. Luckily, ears are clear and he's not even fussy. I've got great kids! (Remind me of that the next time my 3.5-going-on-13 year old tries my patience.)

K-Man is out with the ex-nanny/adopted daughter for drinks.

*Sidebar* -Given the whole Jude Law thing that probably didn't sound right. Janelle was our nanny for her final year of college. She was phenomenal with Pook and became just another member of the family. Tragically, her father passed away in March 06 and we became surrogate parents. I love this kid and would go to the ends of the earth for her.

I'm ready for them to come home. I'm hungry and they're brining Bueno. Think I'm going to scrap some while I'm waiting on them. Maybe I'll even post the finished products.

New banner

2007-05-06T16:42:00.000-05:00

You like? I'm semi-pleased so it'll do for now. I really like the colors, but we'll see how long I keep it. HA!

Went for a yummy lunch at Pei Wei after church today. The Pookster got to pick where she wanted to eat for lunch. Bear in mind she is 3.5 years old and digs on Chinese food. She is her father's daughter. I ventured from my usual spicy chicken and went with Mongolian beef today. Soooo good!

Got in a nap, too. Felt fabulous although it would've been nice if Pook hadn't woken up before the Diesel. DH is at work trying to get his grades turned in. He had to do it today so he work uninterrupted in his office. A feat not possible during the regular work week. He should be home soon and then we'll scott over to his mom's for dinner. Have I mentioned my MIL yet? I have this saying about her that I won the lottery when it comes to MIL. She is terrific! Don't get me wrong I've done my fair share of complaining about her when we see her too often (DH is an only child so you see what I mean), but she's always game to keep the kids, a tremendous help when I need some kind of home improvement done and it's in the middle of basketball season, and just a general kind soul.

I need to get these last 3 CDs transfered on to the external. Ugh.

A day

2007-05-05T22:22:00.000-05:00

10:23p. Saturday night. What I am doing? I'm sitting at my computer transfering the gazillion digital freebies that I have on CDs to my new 500GB external hard drive. Happy early Mother's Day to me! :) Have I mentioned how much I love my husband? The original gift was supposed to be the 320GB one, but he surprised me with the extra. Yeah, he pretty much ROCKS! Next task is to actually finish organizing them. Monstrous task that I am not looking forward to.

Had to work an event today. Working weekends bites. To top it all off, I locked my keys in my car this morning, locking my cell, my suit jacket, lipstick and full cup of Starbucks inside. Spare keys were here at home, but I couldn't bear to ask my extremely tired DH to load up 2 kids and bring them to me so I forewent the jacket and mourned the demise of my decaf cinnamon dolce latte. Several hours later, my friend gave me a ride to the house to retrieve aforementioned spare keys and took me back to my car. Trip to the grocery and my beloved Target and I finally made it home to watch the run for the roses in the Kentucky Derby. Did you see it? What a race! Street Sense by 2 lengths after running in 19th for 3/4 of the race. Amazing!

Did several loads of laundry, made taco salad for supper, put a tired Diesel and a VERY tired Pook to bed. The boy stayed down...the girl didn't. It's really our fault. We've got to get back to a consistent bedtime for her. Well, that and the fact that she didn't nap today. Two hours in her bed and not a single minute of sleep. We had several meltdowns tonight as a result. Bless her little heart.

My CD drive is now acting up and refusing to cooperate and I'm getting frustrated. I guess I should call it a night. I'm singing in church tomorrow so I really should already be in bed anyway.

Trying again

2007-05-04T10:27:00.000-05:00

My first attempt at blogging absolutely sucked so I am now going to make a concerted effort to do a better job. Why did I fail so miserably the first time around? The reasons are many, but the main being that I got bogged down in the thought of how much personal stuff to post. I mean...my family (read Mom) could read this and what if I need to vent about her or use a curse word. Both have been known to happen. Then I realized I'm a 34 year old grown ass woman with a mind of her own. Voila! I'm back to blogging. Dear lord, I'm already sounding like a girl with mommy issues...so not what was intended. Anywho, Mom if you do read this you know I love you like no other and I'm missing you already.

Soooooo much has happened since I lasted posted. And I should hope so, it's been a friggin' year. K-man (that's my DH), Pook (the DD) and I welcomed Diesel into our family. He was born a toddler at 9 lbs. 2 oz. and 21 inches long on December 14, 2006 via c-section. Now he's dang near 5 months old, rolling over, laughing, and bringing so much joy to our lives. It's impossible to look at him and not smile. Just try it. The Pookster is the BEST big sister ever. (A title previously held by yours truly. It's true. Just ask my sister.) She is a nonstop chatterbox and is SO funny! Not a day goes by that we don't laugh at something she has done or said. I marvel at the little family we have and thank God every day for letting us borrow two angels from His chorus.

I'm still working full-time and still dreaming of being a WAHM mom. DH is still working insane hours and I'm still dreaming of a job that allows him more time for him and his family. Hey, a girl's got to dream, right?

I've picked up a new obsession...er, hobby. Digital scrapbooking. Lands, it's revolutionized my whole picture/memory preservation. I figured that since all our pics were digital these days it just makes sense. However, because our pics are all digital we have no new pics of Pook up in the house and poor Diesel doesn't even have one. Must get some pics printed and up. Soon.

In my daily perusal of the web, I came across this on one of the many digi-scrapping blogs I visit. It is a lot of fun and eerily dead on. Go get yours!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™