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| Both of my kids have the most beautiful eyes. The shape comes from their Daddy but the beautiful blue is more of mystery. I have green eyes and Jared has hazel eyes so credit for the color goes to the grandparents. My Mom and grandfather have beautiful blue eyes. It's interesting because I have my grandmothers green eyes when my Mom has blue and my Dad has brown. Can you say recessive gene? |
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| This little bunny keeps showing up in our yard. I try to explain to the kids the closer you get, the more the bunny will move, but that never stops them from being in hot pursuit. :) |
........try to kill your flowers and plants again. I have to say that Texas Summers are brutal for a lazy gardener such as myself. Even plants and flowers that are considered "drought resistant" are sometimes no match for this sample of hell that people call summer here. And the first wipe out this summer can be blamed on a torrential Texas Storm not the brutal unforgiving god awful heat. But I will say that my Gardenia bush met its maker through a combo of my inattention and heat. So today I gave it another go. Just really wanting my garden to look beautiful. It was again over grown with weeds and I needed to weed it. But my dread of being in the heat caused me to procrastinate. I even got a quote from a lawn company who said they would charge me $85 to weed it. What? Yeah, I'm too cheap for that. I decided I was just going to have to pour on the sunscreen and bite the bullet until last Friday morning when I heard the gentle hum of a lawn mower in my neighbor's back yard. And what luck, 2 hard working high school kids hard at work. I walked up and asked the kid, "What would you charge for weeding that bed over there?" he looked leery and I thought he was seeing $$ signs when he said "I dunno $5 maybe $8 so my buddy and I can split it." I said "Really?!?!" Almost too emphatically. But before he could change his mind I was off to my car to dig through my Dave Ramsey cash envelopes. I gave the kid 2 $5 bills and you should have seen his face. "Thank you so much!" I love a kid that appreciates earning money for hard work. I will encourage both Kate and Carson to get good summer jobs when they are older.(Maybe in a couple of years...I joke!) So I guess we both walked away thinking we got the deal of the century. And when I got home from work...Ahhhhhhhh nothing but dirt! It laid the ground work for this......
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| I decided not go overboard on the flowers. That way if things don't work out I won't be cursing Texas summers.....as much as I usually do. |
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| Third times a charm for this spot in the back yard. First it was a magnolia tree, then it was my gardenia, and now a hearty "drought resistant", minimum of 6 hours of sun, water once a week in prolonged dry periods, $9.88 special, Crape Myrtle. I have high hopes this time. |
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| My new addiction is photo editing. And I just have Picasa which is a pretty cool photo editing program considering it's free. I just wish I could have made the strawberry going into her mouth red. Now that would have been cool. |
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| I now have this sign hanging on the top of my door frame in my bath room. A constant reminder every morning. |
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| I love to hear my kids during bath time. They could spend hours in there if I let them. This particular night they had a race track set up and a "Big Race" was under way. Never thought about it, but the edge of the bath tub really does make a good race track:) |
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| My Mom, myself, and Kate all have the same fingers. :) They are long and slender. No matter how big I get in other areas my hands and fingers always stay skinny.:) Kind of unfair don't you think? I could tell even when Kate's hands were baby pudgy that she was going to inherit "the fingers." Now when I look at my hands I see my Mom's hands. I love that. |
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| This picture is such a sight for sore eyes. For almost 6 years there have been 2 lots surrounding our house that have been empty. Within the last month both lots have been built on. Gives me hope that maybe our house price will go up someday:) |
There was a time when I was afraid to go anywhere by myself with these two. Fearing a major melt down, potty accidents, and uncontrollable chaos. And then I decided I had to get over it and just roll with it. And you know what I got? Major melt downs, potty accidents AND uncontrollable chaos. But such is life with a 3 and 4 year old.
However, today I bit off a little more than I could chew and pushed my luck with these two but everyone came home in one piece and relatively happy (I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Krispy Kreme donut holes we all shared on our way home:) Today we went to the library, got my car's oil change (I had to clarify with Kate that this involved the car only when she exclaimed, "But Mom, I don't need my oil changed!"), went to the post office, went to get my eye brows waxed (Carso sat on my lap fascinated. "Mommy! WHAT are you doing??"), and then on to get groceries.
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| Carson woke up at 7:30 wanting to chase this little ball everywhere. 7:30 is early for us. Kate slept in til 9:30:) A girl after my own heart. |
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| I heard Carso rustling around in his room and when he came out he had put on his black shoes. Great get up don't you think? Striped shirt, red thomas unders, and black slip on shoes. |
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| He wanted me to take an action shot of him running. Do you see the ball in the air? |
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| "Oh no Mommy! I lost Julian's shoe!!" Aaaaarghhh! "Son, for the 50th time those are NOT Julian's shoes!" Well at least now he wears them. |
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| Putting Julian's shoe back on. |
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| And just like that play time was over. A look I know all too well. |
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| This was Kate's chosen look for today. Yes, it's 100 billion degrees outside. BUT Saturdays are dress yourself days and we were going to be in A/C the entire day. |
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| The kids loved the library. There was a great librarian there. She was like having our own card catalogue.I would ask "Do you have books about Pirate ships?" and she would go right to the shelf. It was great! |
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| I really hope that my kids will have a love for books like I do. |
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| Carson found a book about Dinosaurs and trucks. What could be better? |
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| When we got home, instead of leaving the books in a pile I displayed them on our shelves so the kids would be able to actually see them:) (And we wouldn't lose them!) |
*** I was working in another room last week end and I heard Kate call out "Mom? I really really really love you!"
***Last night I was laying down with Carson and he said, "Mommy, you're a great Gwerl (girl)". I love the way he says girl
***A couple of weeks ago Kate and I were sitting there waiting for church to start and she says completely out of the blue, "Mommy, Mimi's my best girl." Of course I immediately had to text my Mom.
***Kate has started saying "Can I play with your hair?" or "Can I brush your hair?" I love having a girly girl
***We went to McDonald's tonight and as we were walking in a little boy ran up to us and said "Hey Kate! Hey Daddy it's Kate." I love how when kids see each other outside of school they get so excited. This happened to us once when Kate saw one of her friends at Target. It's so cute because you don't really know the kid, but they sure do!
***And this last one well I kind of want to forget it, but it's all comes with the territory of being a Mom. All the way home I was talking to my Mom on the phone bragging about how great Carson was doing with potty training even talking about what we were going to give him for his big surprise. WELL today is payday so every payday the kids and I go out to eat which includes either McDonalds or Chick Fil A. It was McDonald's tonight and just before Carson went off to play I reminded him to let me know......It wasn't 2 minutes later that I saw him squatting in the top level of the play gym. Drat! So needless to say I had to do the walk of shame through the McDonald's with the poopy boy and the teenagers shooting us looks of disgust.
I loved this day. Not only did I have fun looking for things with texture, but I had a blast working with the photo editing in Picasa. :)
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| This is a pink pillow of Kate's that I did a close up on and then added HDR effects to. |
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| This is a picture that hangs in Kate's room. Someone made this for her before she was born. It has a lot of 3d texture to it. |
I once heard Paul Mc Cartney say something to the effect of that what he really wishes for his kids is that they grow up to be kind people. This has stuck with me. I am always trying to encourage my kids to "use kind words" "be kind to each other and their friends" Kindness of other people usually brings me to tears for some reason. On my cynical days I say that kindness is in short supply in this world. But when you really think about it there is kindness and kind people all around us. So I have really made it my goal to foster kindness in my kids. Because let's face it, you have no control over how other people act but you do have control over these little ones, for awhile at least.:) And sometimes I wonder if ANYTHING i say or do is sinking into their little minds. But lately God has given me some proof that some of the things I say are coming in loud and clear. He's so good to me in that way because I can get so easily discouraged these days, especially in the parenting department.
My Mom has been keeping close track of Carson's potty training and has promised him a BIG surprise when he becomes a complete success. When I picked him up today the teacher reported that he had yet another successful potty day and I praised him over and over. He said "Can Mimi get me my big surprise?" I told him that he would probably have to wait because Mimi wasn't feeling too good and we could talk to her about it when she felt better. Tonight after dinner my Mom called and I put her on the phone with the kids and Carson was REALLY wanting to talk to her. He came on the phone and said "How are you feeling Mimi?" (totally not prompted by me- I was proud) but then at the same time I thought "Oh good grief he is asking her to see if she feels better so he can ask about his surprise." But you know what? He didn't. He just kept asking her how she was feeling and when my Mom told him that her knee hurt he got the saddest look on his face. I am a big believer in teaching empathy because I think it is a hard thing for little ones to learn but especially for little boys. Carson never once mentioned his BIG surprise. He truly was concerned about his Mimi.
Everyday when we leave daycare I tell Carson to hold the door open for his girls (me and Kate). He usually half heartedly does it and runs ahead. But today as he was going for the door he said in a big loud voice, "I gotta hold the door open for my ladies!" I loved it! I was beaming and everyone got such a kick out of it.I always tell him "you gotta take care of your girls Carson."
And tonight when we got home we noticed that 2 birds were hanging out on our porch railing. There must be babies near by because I have seen these 2 birds in the same spot for weeks now keeping watch. I brought the kids over and showed them. They were in awe for a little while and then Kate said something I couldn't hear and they ran into the house. I thought "well, that's that." I went to go get the mail and by the time I was walking up the driveway I saw this.
Wedgewood blue has been my favorite color my whole life. So classic and serene. I just painted my kitchen a color that is very close. And I love how it pops against anything white.
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| If you live in the metroplex you know that there is construction everywhere you turn. Last week this huge crane had an enormous flag hanging from it. |
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| This was my lunch today, Lemon Chicken stir fry. I love my emeals.com subscription. I signed up for the clean eating plan and it has been wonderful. It uses no processed food just fresh meat, dairy and produce. I love cooking again:) |
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| I have nothing resembling a garden right now at my house so I got to pull up a blast from the past when we did have a garden. One thing I learned is if you plant it, it WILL grow. Unbelievably grow! Look how little the kids were. This was 2 years ago. |
Ok so I am totally joking about that title. I don't think you can qualify as an expert if your kid finally gets it at 3 1/2. And I'm talking about both of my children. Yikes! That's lots of diapers, wipes and pull ups! Were talking thousands...it boggles the mind. Ok here comes the randomness...
**I think Moms are going about this potty training thing all wrong. I propose doing potty training at night. I found that Carson was more than willing to go multiple times to avoid going to bed. And of course he knew I would be game every time because I was so desperate. Side note: Kids can smell desperation like last week's trash and if they get a whiff, it's all over. So Carson really had his best experiences at night around bed time. I also found that he could go on command even when he had just gone. A hidden talent maybe?
***Ok all judgmental Moms do not read this next one lest you cast disapproving glances my way next time you see me. Carson's ultimate key was Transformers. I found Transformers,( the 1984 version) on Netflix. It brought back great after school memories for me and I half expected my Mom to bring me a snack and tell me to do my homework. Good times. My strategy was to get him hooked which was a total breeze. An added bonus is hearing the way he says Optimus Prime. Really cute. Ok after he was hooked (this was by the first episode mind you) I told him that he could only watch another one if he went potty. Worked like a charm. We got a rhythm going and we went by the practice makes perfect approach. So he watched hours of TV that day but by God he's potty trained. Desperate times desperate measures friends.
So with this sage advice I'm thinking about writing a book or starting a lecture tour. Any takers????
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| I am in major attack debt mode so there are no interesting fun pieces of furniture in my house and if there are I will have them on Craigslist in about 15 minutes:). SO I live vicariously through other people. I saw this teal beauty from Pier 1 on someone's blog and just thought it was so beautiful. I'm a pretty traditional decor person but I do like the idea of adding something with a pop of color! |
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| For some reason I thought today's theme was close to the ground so I took my pictures outside. Which is a good thing because any floor in my house is dirty right now and does not need a close up. Above is Carson's idea:) |
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| And I caught this one of Kate while I was laying on the ground. She has been carrying around this bunny for at least a week now. She got it when she was a baby and has just rediscovered it. |
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| My girl and I at the Splash Park. Playing in the water and chocolate on your face...what could be more fun???? |
Today was filled with a lot of firsts for my kids. We made the most out of our day off together. We still have to go watch fireworks and I think they are exhausted already!
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| Our day started with Kate and Carson's first ever parade. The parade started at 9:30 so I knew it was a small one when we were able to roll up at 9:20 and park anywhere we wanted. It was in the little town of Trophy Club. It was about 10 minutes long:) But the kids loved it because they gave away all of this candy and other little toys. And because it was their first they didn't know any different. That's the cool thing about firsts....no expectations! |
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| Anticipating the start of the parade. He waved the entire time. It was so cute! |
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| My camera was being a weirdo so this is the only shot of the parade i got. |
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| After the parade we headed to the Splash Park. This was the kids (and mine) first time at a splash park. This one had a pirate theme so it was right up our alley. The weather was actually great. Not suffocatingly hot like usual. A cool breeze would blow through and it would get chilly for a nano second. |
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| This boy was in heaven with the pirate ships and water cannons. |
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| Kate loved the slides and even went on this really big slide a couple of times. I was amazed by her bravery. |
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| You can see the big pirate ship in the back ground |
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| Here we are headed to another first....the kids first movie in a theater. We went to see Madagascar 3 and it was really good. The kids sat completely still the entire time. They loved the whole experience. |
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| They are wearing the shirts that my Mom got them. That little USA snaps on and off the shirt. The other snap on that came with it is the republican elephant. We will be using that one for election day. Now we are off to the fireworks!!! |
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| Hands down the best part of my day is when I look in my rearview mirror at 6:30 and see my kids in the back seat. I've just picked them up from daycare and we're headed home to be together. |
