Adventures of the SAHM

day number 8 of 2012...

2012-01-04T20:22:00.000-08:00

~January 8, 2012~

Into day number 8 of the new year and how is everyone doing?

Our happy little family is doing pretty good! Not counting a recent trip to the ER. Miss Em's elbow got out of line again{this makes #3} Monday evening. We waited for around 2 1/2 hours and finally got to see a DR. By then it had worked it's self back in line. All I can say is having a child with a nursemaid elbow is no fun! You know how 2 year olds are running around and pulling away and very active. We are always having to be extra cautious with her arms.

On top of that this past week I apparently used up all my free photo space on this here blogger! So now I must pay to have more photos added to my blog through Picasaweb! UGH! This really stinks! Not sure when or if I'm going to pay this big whopping fee...starting at $5, not sure what to do really. Wish I new more about blogging... Ho Hum...what to do? What to do!!!

Saturday we went to the Safari Show in Dallas. The kids and hubby loved it!!! We went with some of hub's co-workers and his hunting buddy. It was a real nice time and the kids were great!

More great news. Hunt was on very good behavior this week a school! Which if you know him or us, you know this isn't always easy for him. Way to go Bubba! He earned a pre-historic animal and caveman set that I've had for months...waiting for a week where he was on super great behavior!

Maybe a few of you have seen all the felt food and goodies that people are making for kids to play with. I love them I tell you! So...I decided to make Em a stuffed turkey.

It turned out pretty cute. The wings and legs are detachable with velcro. I got this idea from my friend Michelle, but I added the wings to mine. She will love cooking it in the kitchen she got from Santa.

Until next time...

....Happy New Years!...

2012-01-01T09:12:00.000-08:00

~January 1, 2012~

Happy 2012 everyone!

It's a new year and a time for some new beginnings, or maybe just some finally getting finishes. Maybe some things we've needed to finish for a long while or things we decided we now needed to start. At any rate...luck to y'all during this 2012 year!

One of my things to do/keep up with is our family blog diary here! I can easily say I'm so far behind it's ridiculous! And I know I've said it before, but I am going to try my HARDEST to make an entry at least once a week!!!

So with that said...here are some photos of the kids ringing in the new year.

We ate some lobster, had some chips and dips(my homemade guacamole...yummm!) and I made some chicken, jalapeno and cheese wrapped with bacon. The lobster was pre-steamed all I had to do was heat steam it in a pot and it was ready to go! And it was yummy to...and super easy!!!
Hubs had to work on the 1st, so he went to bed early and didn't make it to 12:00! Before he retired to bed he did play some XBOX games with Hunt and Em! They had a blast!

Hunt and Em had a sprinkle confetti ice cream cone! They hated it!....HAHAHA!...you know that wasn't true!!!

After putting our PJs on...
I enjoyed some rose champagne...

It was the best I had ever had! I will buy this again next year for sure!

The kiddos tried some sparkling grape juice...

I even put it in some cute little plastic glasses.

Em was not a fan, Hunt said it was OK.

This morning I made myself a mimosa with some of my left over champagne...pretty good stuff!

Again....HAPPY NEW YEAR...Hope it's your BEST one yet!!!.....

a trip into Big "D" !.....

2011-09-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

~September 10, 2011~

What a beautiful Saturday it was!

A very good friend of mine invited us to go with her family to the Dallas Farmer's Market.

And of course I said yes!...

Did you know that the Dallas Farmer's Market has been around for 6 decades, that's 70years! WOW! Since 1941! And they are one of the largest public markets of their type in the country!!!

{got our market baskets and Miss Em...ready to go!}

{Hunter and Kaya...ready to go!}

I am so glad that we went! Oh goodness...I had never been and let me tell you how AWESOME it was!!!!

First of all I LOVE farmer's markets.love.them!!!! But this one...oh heavens!!!! It was so great! There were plenty of vendors, some coming from as far as 150 miles! And they offer just about everything under the sun to make your mouth water!

{Mr. Lemley has been coming to DFM for 35 years}

And samples...let me tell you about the samples...everyone was more than willing to offer you a taste of their goods.

Tasting all the samples was divine. You could about fill your bellies up on all they have to offer...heck you COULD make a meal of it! HA! Fruits, veggies, honey, nuts, meats, spices, grains and even plants, flowers and specialty foods...just about everything I'm telling ya'll! Local and not so local.

{organic Texas raised}

And a few shops...

{Hunter and our friend Kaya, pretending like they were asleep}

{cheeeeeese! my beautiful baby girl}

Even some places to eat!...

{smelled delish!}

Of course I took my camera with us and snapped some cute photos! If I only had photoshop! How much more good they would be....

Here's what we came home with...

Sweet corn on the cobb, vidalia onions, zucchini, cucumber, two types of tomatoes and carrots!
I could have bought so so much more! It's hard not to! Just look at all the beautiful colors!...

Such freshness to make your tummy happy! HA!

{My little farmers}

Go check it out sometime. They are open 7 days a week(8am-6pm), 362 days a year!

I can't wait for the spring, and to get our little garden going again! Here's to hoping that another Texas heatwave doesn't happen next year to!

After the market we ran over to In-N-Out Burger.

Our friends had tried it before, but this was our first time. The lines were crazy long, but it went super fast! They were pretty good burgers! I don't think they are close to my favorite, but still good!

What a FUN day!!!

Thanks Vass family for inviting us with ya'll on a little trip into Big D!...

2011-09-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

~September 6, 2011~

How was everyone's Labor Day?

To celebrate, we decided to take a trip to Fossil Rim.

Daddy took the day off and we thought we should spend the day as a family doing something. The weather was GREAT! And it seems that everyone else had this idea to. It was super busy! But the animals were out and willing to eat the pellets that we bought to feed them!

Daddy almost freaked out a couple of times at a few white tail deer there. They had some impressive antlers!

We had such a nice time, even with all the waiting in line that we did!

Oh hey... back on August 5th we found two tiny eggs amongst some dried leaves on our porch. The kiddos and I decided to put them in a jar to see if they would, at some point, hatch. So in the jar they went with some leaves and a bit of dirt to lay on. We left the jar on the porch.

Well... today I peered into the jar...

and noticed that the eggs had holes in them with nothing inside!

So after closer inspection, I saw 2 baby gecko lizards!

We have LOTS of them around our house and in fact a friend told me that that was what the eggs were. So April...you were right! Hunt and Em were very excited when I told them about our babies! I brought the jar inside and we opened it up and set it in a clear plastic container.

See... we wanted to observe our sweet babes before we set them free! Hunt was so cute! He kept saying how cute they were and tiny! He wanted to keep them, but I told him that they needed to be outside. After we watched them for a bit I got them back into the jar and we headed outside to release them.
They were a little apprehensive at first, but finally took off into the big world!

Be free and safe lizard babies! Thanks for the lesson on patients and letting go!
{just the other day I was thinking of dumping out the jar(I thought the eggs might be duds...mama isn't always patient. so glad I didn't}

I've been getting things together for Em's 2nd Birthday Party! Her Birthday is on October 5th(a Wednesday), but I plan on having it on the 8th(a Saturday). It's not a for-sure date yet, but I'm pretty sure that's when we will have it. I'll be looking at some venue ideas today. More than likely outside area/park.

I'm going to throw some photos of summer fun and things here and there in up coming blogs. Take a deep breath...we'll make it through it together! HA!...

2011-08-31T07:55:00.001-07:00

~September 4, 2011~

Happy September Ya'll!

It was a bit cooler today in the Lone Star State...in the 90's!

I consider September the start of the Fall/Autumn Season! So in honor of that...

I made some simple fall sugar cookies!

And the kids and I headed out to the park!
We played in the creek bed...

in the wooded areas, and at the playground. We had a fun time!

Oh...We had a Milestone in our house recently!...
Hunt lost his first tooth on July 23rd!!!

A visit from the tooth fairy left him a gold dollar coin, a Mexican coin, a tiny little note in a tiny little envelope and a wooded gnome doll.

She was so busy that night that there was fairy dust under Hunt's pillow and a trail to the window! Wow! How cool!
Well...He lost another tooth at school this past Thursday!

And again the fairy dust was flying so to speak! HA! More dust under his pillow and another trail to the window! This time she left Hunt another gold dollar, a coin from Spain, a rolled up spiral written message and a leather journal!

The journal was left on the window sill. Hunt commented that she probably needed help bringing that! HA! If he only knew! Hunt has really been into writing and drawing in notebooks and note pads lately, so I guess the tooth fairy thought he might like a nice journal!

The week before school started hubs took a vacation week so we could spend time as a family...before the extra chaos started. I say extra because we always have chaos! We didn't do too much, it's so stinking hot here in Texas! Too hot to do much outside, even inside for that fact. We did take a trip out to the deer lease. If you know us and our family, then you know that hunting is a very important thing to the males in the household! The kids had a blast!

{Daddy telling Em about the cactus}

{Running around like uncaged zoo animals}

{Messing with the big red ants}

{Collecting animal bones and a turtle carcass}

{Shooting BB guns...and play guns}

{Helping daddy with feed and treats for the wildlife}

{Bubba and Em's matching deer lease boots. Hunt's has an orange stripe on the side and Em's has pink}

{More BB gun action...target practice this time}

Someone thought he was way too cool getting to ride in the back of daddy's truck!

It was a fun, hot and dirty day...which the kids both LOVED!!!

Just before school started I set up a snack container in the fridge.I borrowed the idea from a friend Crystal Bond! It's been working out pretty good. The snacks that I add to it are healthy*semi-healthy*or close and in individual sizes and amounts, so it's super easy for the kiddos to grab and go. I change things out here and there to give them a variety. Maybe I'll start a little segment in the blog called...Our Snack Container This Week...and list the snack goodies for the week. Here's ours for this week...

::Our Snack Container This Week::
grapes
carrots (a container of ranch to go with the carrots if so desired)
granola bars
trail mix
clementines
cheerios
string cheese
fruit chewies
blueberry rice cakes
cheese crackers

Another segment I was thinking about adding is our weekly dinners. A list of our dinner time meals for the week, called...What's Cooking...I'll have some simple and quick, and some more time consumming. Fridays and Saturdays we usually go out.

::What's Cooking::
Sunday:breaded and oven baked pork chops
scalloped potatoes
glazed carrots
simple autumn sugar cookies
Monday: dinner out with friends
Tuesday: Cheese enchiladas with chili sauce
Wednesday: Froggy in the holes
bacon
Thursday: chicken stir fry with noodles and veggies
broccoli, snap peas, carrots, mini corn)
Friday: eating out
Saturday: eating out

I don't know who else may do this, but it's something that I started last year with Hunt. Every day that he brings a lunch to school(which is most, if not all the week)I put a little note in there for him.

Just a little have a good day, or you are awesome or loved type note. Sometimes I may included a sticker or a single little candy(not often). Some I bought as a set and wrote messages on the back. About 97% of the time Hunt kept the note, but other times he would give them away to friends, usually girls, in his class. SO anyhoo, this year I decided that I would make 2 notes, one to keep and one to give away.

I forgot to throw these pictures in last blog.

{notice sisiter's mini pony tail...LOL}
Just a few I snapped while we were school supply shopping!

We signed Hunt up for flag foortball again.

He played in the spring and enjoyed it. We are hoping to get the same coach that he had last year. We really liked him. We register through I9 Sports. It's a wonderful and fair group. Everyone gets a chance at playing no matter their skill level. They learn values each game and the one player that showed that value earns a metal. Hunt won one last year for team spirtit!

I have SO many photos to share! I'm so very far behind, so ya'll hang in there, ok!

Ya'll have a good night now...

hello world...

2011-08-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

~August 30, 2011~

MY it's been such a long time!

I keep reading blogs and more blogs and. more. blogs. and keep feeling guilty! Guilty that my sad little blog diary is all alone, just sitting here with no attention, no love. I'm sorry little blog! I really want to keep you up. I really want to update you regularly with all of our fun, photos and crazy moments. I do! So...here I am AGAIN saying that I am going to try hard to add a new post. at. least.once.a.week!

Hunt started school last Monday. First Grade! Goodness, how can he be in first grade?! I handled it well! I didn't even cry! Yay me! I felt sad, but I made it without shedding a tear.

{My handsome First Grader!}

{First Grade}

{Hunt going into his room}

{putting his stuff away in his locker. not sure why he looks so terrified! HA}

{Giving Mrs. Ross her gifts}

I made Mrs. Ross a cute sanitizer and gave her a journal. Hunt also gave her an apple.

I snapped a couple of photos from when I picked him up...

Look how happy Sister is to see her Bubba! Such a smile!

I made a little treat for Hunt's class to celebrate the first day of school. I wrapped up smarties to look like pencils!

I also whipped up a new sandwhich and snack bag set to go with Hunt's new firetruck lunch box.
{Please just ignore the horrible stitching! My tension was off on my sewing machine. It has since been adjusted...Thank God!}

The Thursday before he started school we meet Hunt's teacher. Her name is Mrs. Ross and she seems so nice and a good person. I just pray that she has plenty of patients and understanding! Hunt is excited to go back to school. He loves it!

{Hunt was so excited to me going back to school}

{Hunt picking out is locker...#17!}

{Hunt and Mrs. Ross}

He did so great his first week! He received 15 honorable character numbers! WOW! Way to go Bubba! He has 3 friends in his new class that he had in his kindergarten class last year. He was happy to see them. He told me that he meet new friends Jonathan and Kaden. And Mrs. Ross said he had a Good Day!!! Hunt said that he really likes Mrs. Ross!!!

The parents have a curriculum meeting with the teacher this Thursday. So I'm excited to hear about what they will be learning throughout the school year. I do know that their grading system will be similar to the grading he had in kindergarten, which is sort of a bummer! Mrs. Ross said that this changed just this year.

Hope it's going to be a fun school year!!! How was everyone elses first day of school?

51 ! ......

2011-05-16T20:40:00.001-07:00

~May 16, 2011~

5 1 !!!!

The number of days since my last entry!!! Ridiculous really! I'm not very happy with myself!

So here's a quick post...
Hunt is playing flag football{more on that a bit later} and the team got to go to Cowboy's stadium and do a tour and play a game on the field. It was a neat experience and the kids loved it! We won just by an extra point.
Here are some of the photos I took...
{Hunt posing on the field at Cowboy's Stadium}

{sweet sissy}

{my beautiful kiddos!}

{Em posing on the field}

{she had a blast running around like crazy}

{practicing with Daddy}

{Hunter shed some blood on the field due to a football pass to the nose. It was bleeding pretty good. I'm so horrible...I tried to get a good photo, but he would not let me! Kids! Ha! Hey...it was only after I made sure he was going to live and stop most of the bleeding.}

{Em made a new friend. her brother plays for Hunt's team to. she's 4 months older than Em. They were SO cute}

{taking the field}

{getting directions from the coach}

{cheerleader's locker room}

{Em with her little buddy}

{Mama being silly}

{Daddy helping Hunt into a jersey and pads}

{mean face!}

{in the press room}

{look at sister! HAHAHA!}

Ok, this one down...so much more to follow! Lots more to blab about...I'm so very behind!

2011-03-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

~March 26, 2011~

Looking at the clock it's actually March 27! I need to get my bum in bed, but before I go...

I just wanted to tell hubs that I love him! Not sure he'll read this, but wanted to tell everyone else!

So...

I Love You Hubs!!!...

And...

I'm working on a new blog diary post. to add Soon. I hope!

hello...

2011-03-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

~March 24, 2011~

Well here I am again...trying to find time to update our family blog diary!

I will...at some point...get it updated!!!

Now that holidays and birthdays are over with for a while.

I WILL find time to post!

check back soon...

whoops!...

2011-01-31T06:59:00.000-08:00

~January 31, 2011~

Did y'all see what happened?!!!!

Whoops...It seems that my recent January 30th post didn't appear at the top of our blog diary! I think because I've been working on it since December! Sorry!

So... scroll down and click on "Older Posts" and look for the date "January 30,2011" a few posts back...

Or...look over at the right side of the screen tool bar and look for the "2010" date and click it. When it opens up, it will be the second post after December 29th, dated "Januray 30"!

Sorry for the confusion!...

back in the saddle again...maybe...

2011-01-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

~January 25, 2011~

Well here it is January 25th and my attempts at keeping up with our blog diary are not going so well. We've been fighting off colds, ear infections and arm injuries. These on top of everyday activities and this mama has been more than busy around here!
So I think I'll just throw this post in so maybe it will help me get back in the saddle again on posting our family news...

Alrighty, let's see...I still need to post 3 months back, but we'll start here...this past Friday, just before picking Hunt up from school hubs and I decided to stop off at a park not too far from Hunt's school. We had extra time before picking him up and decided to get Em out and show her some ducks and geese there. So we made our way around and parked. I got out and noticed a duckling laying in the grass next to the curb. It was on it's back and I thought it was dead until I saw a foot move and then the eyes open. So I turned it over and it wouldn't walk or move. It appeared to be sick or hurt. There were a few ducks in the vicinity of it, but none close enough and with babies to assume it belonged to any of them. So I picked it up and told hubs that I couldn't just leave it there. Over across the pond we did noticed a duck with babies that to me looked like they were bigger than the one we had just found. Anyway I took it with us in hopes that we could help it or at the very least keep it warm before it passed on. It was so cute, with black and yellow down. Hunt named it "Bob"! We ended up taking Bob to a vet's office. We knew a girl that worked there and she said she would have the vet look at it. She took down where it had been found and even said that the vet has a pond with ducks to. By the time we left, Bob was trying to walk more and moving more than earlier. Poor Hunt was crying because he wanted to keep it. I would have kept him to, if we only had a place and a pond.
SO Luck to you Bob!!!{I called and left a message with our friend at the vet office to see how Bob was and where he'll be ending up...no word on him yet}
Later that evening we meet Kelley and Ken at Martha's for some yummy Mexican food and drinks! It was to celebrate Ken's birthday which was on the 19th. We had a nice dinner as usual!

Oh yes...Hunt got his report card Friday as well. And he got developed(they do kindergarten grades at his school as D-developed, S-still developing or N-needs improvement) in all areas! His teacher even tested him and marked "D" in areas that aren't normally tested until later in the year. But the down side is(dunt, dunt, dunt)he got an "N"in behavior!!! N for needs improvement! Tell me something I don't already know! We keep going down hill on the behavior area of the report card. First E then S, now N. The only other grade is a U for unsatisfactory!
I pray that it doesn't get to that point. Ugh!!! What's a mama to do I ask you?!!!

Saturday we meet up with Kelley and Ken and Wendy and Monte for a trip to the Fort Worth Stock Show. We love to go every year and check out all the animals and exhibits. And...some of the yummy cinnamon rolls and cowboy burritos!!! If you go, you MUST try both!!! To Die For!
This year Emma really enjoyed everything to! She liked looking at all the animals and making the animal sounds. I think her favorite was the cows and sheep. She did not care too much for the horses! I think she didn't realize how big they were, and when they whinnied and snorted, well that was the end of it! Her eyes got as big as saucers and she was ready to move on to something else. Ha! Here are some photos I took of what we saw and did at the Stock Show...

{look at those hams...}

{because who knows how much longer he will want to hold my hand...}

The highlight was just at the very end of the day as we were leaving. We got to witness a calf being born! It was so very awesome! It brought tears to my eyes! In an instant a new little life starts, so amazing! We almost missed it. The only reason we were lucky enough to see this was because I had decided to cross the road opposite everyone else and go snap a few more photos of some cows outside the barns. I stopped to shoot a photo of this one cow and she was in labor. She was laying there and I didn't notice it at first. The owners were there helping her and so Kelley and I had to stay and watch. Then the rest of our group joined us in enough time to see this little fella drop. Of course by then a crowd had gathered to. Poor cow had absolutly no privatsey what so ever! I took a few photos, and I will not gross you out with all of them. Just one of the mom and babe minutes after birth.

Both kids had pretty good behavior the entire day!!! Yay for that!!!

Monday Em and I picked Hunt up from school and surprised him with a trip to the park.

The weather wasn't too cold and the day was pretty. I took Em out of the stroller to run around some while Hunt played. At one point Hunt was on the bottom of a slide and jumped off and landed right on Em, knocking her down. Of course she started crying so I picked her up. She cried when I put her back in the stroller, but after we walked around she stopped and seemed fine. Afterward I loaded her in the tahoe and she started crying again and I just assumed it was because she didn't want to get straped in, and wasn't ready to leave. She stopped before we drove away. Getting her out at home she started crying again and that's when I noticed she wasn't moving her right arm. When we got inside I tried to get her to raise it and she really started crying. So I called her Drs office to try and get a nurse for help. She phoned me back and told me to go ahead and take her to the Cook's urgent care center just to be safe.
After waiting for over 2 hours in a waiting room more than past full, we saw a Dr. He felt up her shoulder, on her wrist and up to her elbow when he said... "yes! there! I felt it pop!" He said that a ligament in the elbow had got stuck. And he just realigned it and popped it back in place. They call it a "nursemaid's elbow" and said that it is common for children under 5. And that one third of children who have this will have a recurrent episode in the future. Oh just great!!!
But after he did that Em wanted down and was trying to get into the cabinets and such in the room, so it seems she IS back to her normal self. Crazy how fast it worked! Up until then she didn't want me to put her down. At least she's feeling better! They went ahead and gave her some Motrin there at the center for pain. Now, if we can seem to keep well after being that long in a waiting room full of the strep, flu and Lord knows what else, we'll be doing good! At least the kids are both still on antibiotics from the ear infections! Halleujea for that!!!

I think that's enough to leave y'all thinking about, huh?!!!
Ear infections, report card behavior, a half dead duck, stock show highlights, a calf birth and an arm injury...yep, that should do it...

I'll holler at y'all later!..

2011-01-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

~January 4, 2011~

Well...it's a little late, but....Happy New Year!!!

{what our New Years was like...crazy family fun!}

With hope I will be keeping our blog diary more up to date than last year!
I still need to post October, November and December happenings of 2010. So they will be coming only a bit later...when I have the time!

...But for now, let's talk about this "new year". A new chance to start what you may not have got around to last year, or to stop what you needed to and didn't! Either way, luck to you... and to me! I have a few resolutions, that I will keep private, that I hope to continue through 2011. Or at least until I feel they have been accomplished or I have really tried my best. At any rate...this new year will be great!

On Friday December 31st we made a trip to Central Market to pick up some steaks, shrimp and goodies for our family New Years Eve party! Hubs wanted to go there since their meat always looks fantastic! So along with the above mentioned surf and turf we grabbed some blueberry breakfast sausage links, some blackeyed peas, cabbage, other fruit and veggies and fresh breads. The lady that helped us in the meat section of the market actually gaveus the sausage! Wow how awesome was that?! She and I were talking about the sausage and she was telling me how great it was. I didn't even know it at the time, but when we got to the register, she had marked through the price. When the check out lady called back to the meat department "Kelly" told her that it was no charge!!! I was shocked! How kind!
We had planned to cook these yummies out on the grill that evening, but by the time we got home and got thing put away...well it would have meant that we would have rushed things. So we decided to cook them on Saturday instead. We enjoyed dinner at Fogatas. Then came home and watched the movie "The Legend Guardians"(I think that's right). It was really sweet and had the cutties owls as characters. Hubs and I had some adult beverages and as soon as the movie was over we put in a Godsmack video. Lets just say hubs was enjoying himself...a whole lot...and was playing the kids bongos and acting silly! It seems that the Crown Black and Coke he was having relaxed him and he was having fun! Both kids stayed up late and both made it to the new year!

Em was the first out at around 12:15 and Hunt at around 12:45. Hubs and I stayed up until about 2:30 and then called it a night, or a day, or what ever you would call it at that point! Hahaha!

Saturday was a relaxing day at home of course. We had our traditional blackeyed peas and cabbage for luck at lunch time and that evening we did our yummy cookout of the steaks, shrimp, squash and zucchini, onion and mushroom and baked potatoes. Then after everything was cleaned up Hunt and daddy played the Wii hunting game and then Guitar Hero! Truth is that we don't allow Hunt to play any games during the week. He is allowed to play his DS on the weekends only and that is if he has been good at school. So he doesn't get to play them often...HAhaha... and rarely gets to play the Wii and XBox etc. It was a treat for him!!! And he loved it!!!

Sunday hubs had to go back to work. The kids and I hung around the home all day to.

Hunt was out of school until today, so Monday the kids and I hit an antique store and a thrift store. I love going to both!!! We snatched up a few goodies. I found a wooden childs chair that had a crazy paint job(a project for me...re-finish it) for $6, a couple of childrens books, some cookie cutters, clown flat sheet(I plan to use it for fabric)and a few other things.

Today it was back to our normal routine! Hunt going to school, daddy going to work and me and Em driving each other crazy!HA! Em and I made a trip to Target! Good buys in the $1 sections!!! My oh my!!! Good thing was that hubs worked first shift so he was home by about 5! He leaves for Florida tomorrow to accompany a "guest" there! He'll stay over night and be back home on Thursday. Hope he's safe and doesn't get to bored.HA!

talk to y'all soon!...

oh my, oh my.....

2010-12-29T18:48:00.000-08:00

~December 29, 2010~

My oh my am I way behind! It seems that I am having trouble finding time to keep our blog diary up to date!

I so need to catch it up from October until present time.

So I will attempt at doing that soon...I hope...

Next year I have a resolution of staying on top of it better.

Let's just hope I can stick to it!

Wish me luck!!!

2010-11-02T18:55:00.001-07:00

~January 30, 2011~

Wow... the weather here in Texas where we live has been awesome the last week!

We've made 3 trips to the park!

I hear it's going to get nasty next week, so I made sure we got out today! We all needed to blow some stink off us! Ha! Both kids now have runny noses and some sneezing, which actually started when they woke this morning. Now, after being outdoors today, both my babes will be fighting off what I hope is just allergies. Hub's allergies have been so horrible since about Thursday. Poor honey! He's been miserable! And we're still waiting for the allergies medicine to fully kick in!!! I've been fine until this evening...just a little while ago...my throat is starting to feel scratchy! I'm crossing my fingers that it will be gone by the morning.

So I've been thinking of getting one of the hiking type child carriers. The ones that you carry on your back like a backpack. I've been wanting one for about a year or so and now am really wishing I had one. So I've been searching online and checking reviews of a couple different types and styles. I'm leaning more towards the Kelty FC 3.0

I tried one on at Cabela's and put Little Miss E in it. At first she seemed nerves, but then once I walked around she seemed to be fine with it. It seems very sturdy and safe, but I just wish the price tag was A LOT less!
Another company called Deuter makes carriers as well that I've read good reviews on.

It doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the Kelty.
So with hopes I will be getting one maybe soon!

And now for some more catching up...
Back on October 18th I went with Hunt's class on a field trip to the Green Meadows Petting Farm. It was a lot of fun! I had Hunt and 5 other class friends in my group. All the children behaved so well I was very pleased! The kids got to learn about and pet cows, pigs, horses, ducks, turkeys, chickens, sheep, zebras, buffalo and goats! About halfway through we meet up with the rest of the class and ate our lunch and watched a cute show. Then rode on a hay ride. At the end the kids got to pick out a mini pumpkin. Hunt was so very excited because this was his first time to ride a school bus! He loved it! Here are some photos I took while we were there...

I took photos of all the kids and had extras printed up that I gave to the teacher to give to the parents of the kids in my group.

The kiddos and I meet Grandma, Aunt Misty and cousins "M" and "R" at the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound on October 7th. We had a fun time and Emma had a ball! We took lots of photos! We rode the hayride, the kids and I rode the little train, they played in the jump houses and we picked out pumpkins!
After the pumpkin patch Grandma treated us all to McDonalds for lunch and let the kids play some more!

{cousin "R" was loving on Em}

{look how happy the girls look! And the boys...well...}

{mama and her babes}

{Hunt on the hayride}

{Grandma looks like she's having fun!}

{Em enjoying the hayride}

{Hunt and cousin "M" getting ready to ride the train}

{riding the little train}

{wow...can't even see little Em because all you see is Big Mama!...Geez!}

{new additions to BedRock!}

{brother and sister!}

{goof ball!}

{time to slide...}

{my punkin' heads!}

{we found our pumpkin to take home}

{Grandma treated us to McDonald's after the Pumpkin Patch}

{ Well... so many photos, just not so many that are that good! Dang kids!!! Oh well, we all had a good time!!!!!}

October 11th we headed into Keller to Homestead Farms! Hunt got to pet and feed goats, cows and horses and hold baby chicks. We saw where they milked their goats and meet Scout the farm dog. There was another little boy with his mom there to. So Hunt had a friend to play with!

{too funny! There was another little boy and his mother there that day to.}

{hay jumping}

{holding baby chicks}

{getting hay}

{in the trailer going to feed}

{mama and Em...mama looks horrible!}

{time to feed...}

{feeding and petting the goats}

{where the goats get milked}

{checking for eggs}

{they were nice enough to let Hunt play on the tractor}

Thanks Michael and Sarah for showing us around!
We have since been back to the farm to purchase fresh pork sausage and bacon and fresh eggs...ummm ummm good!!!

Hubs and I took the kids to the zoo on October 8th. Both of them loved it or course!
{ready for the zoo}

{flamingos!}

{look at those big turtles!}

{checking out a lizard}

{Em checking out a fish}

{Hunt got to pet a snake}

{let's see how far we can jump...}

{even daddy gave it a try!...go daddy}

{tickle time}

{he's getting so big!}

{bird head...}

{we loved the penguins}

{and loved feeding the birdies}

{my sweet babes}

{daddy and Em}

I hope everyone(all 2 of you)hung in there through all these photos!
Adios...

photo mess up from (previous) November 1 post...

2010-11-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

well poop!

It seems that several, if not most of the photos I put on the blog messed up! So if you double click on the photo it will send you to the photo bucket site and you can view them there! Just click "next" and you can scan through them.
I know, what a pain in the rear!... sorry for the trouble!!!

the post from hell...

2010-10-21T19:05:00.001-07:00

~November 1, 2010~

::August...err, I mean September, NOPE...now...October...GEEZ...November 2010!::

Wow, August and September flew by and then October and now here it is November!
We have been beyond busy around here and with that said I've been really neglecting my blog diary! As you can tell from this post!

So...

This is pretty much My Brain Dump!...
Activities, thoughts, lots of photos. You name it it's in here! And from way back, a couple of months worth! Heck, someone turned 11 months and then turned a whopping 1year!What??!! Someone started school! Where has the time gone?! My babies are growing up too fast!

Anyway, I'll send this post with updates through September. Then the next will have October and so on.
It might seem strange the way I've thrown this together, but I just needed it finally out of my brain and in text! Then the next will have October and so on.

Be warned...this is a HUGE posting!!!!...

Ok, so...July 29th we left for the Hill Country for a last minute summer get-a-way before Hunt started school.
I know I've said this before, but we LOVE the Hill Country!
On our way down hubs decided to stop at Inner Space Caverns.
It was a nice beginning to a good family weekend! Hunt really thought it was super cool when our tour leader started talking about the bones that have been discovered there. The animals that were around there many many years ago were the ones similar to the movie Ice Age. So of course Hunt perked up! There were drawings depicting these animals down in the cavern that they added to show what they looked like. We found out that the cavern is more like a cave. After riding the mining type cart down a little ways and walking the rest you go down about 70 feet. We saw stalagmites and stalactites, but didn't get to see the bats(Eastern Pipistrelle) that call the cavern home. They must have been on a trip of their own. These type bats don't migrate like some of the others. And they call them "chicken nugget" bats because they are about the size of chicken nuggets. We also learned that the land owners family still get money from the tours and such, so they are sitting pretty!!!

We decided to stay in Kerrville again. It's usually where we stay when we go down there. After arriving in Kerrville and unloading all our stuff at the hotel we ate dinner at Mamacitas. It was really good! And boy were we tired and stuffed!

{my little nearly bald, baby girl}

{my sweet Bubba!}

{look at those legs! I call these her booty shorts..hahaha!}
Friday we decided to go through the shops at Fredericksburg.

{ready to shop}

{some of Fredericksburg's shops}

{LOVE this boot jack}

{just look at that silly kid of mine! nice wig and rollers grandma, I mean Bubba!}

{Hunt loves these little town sets!}

{someone tuckered out}

I found a cute Hereford painting print on canvas and HAD to have it!

I love it! The artist is Diane Whitehead. It was my favorite purchase from the weekend.
I also found some other goodies like this cute tank and tutu set for Em...

A sweet buckle ring and 2 other jewelry items, monogrammed bloomers, 2 new fabric pieces, 2 more knitted finger puppets, some nice hankies, ...........
I saw this adorable boot jack! It's in one of the photos above in a store window. Oh I wanted it so bad...until I found out the price was $250.00! Can you believe that?!! CRAZY!!!
Hubs said he could make it! Well honey...it would be a sweet gift to your wifey dear!HA!
We had lunch at Wheelers. And dinner at Billie Gene's. Billie Gene's has a good variety of food with tasty deserts!
Some photos I snapped outside Billie Gene's...

Saturday we decide to go do some geocahes. We had 5 total that we were looking for. The first one was suppose to be at the "stone hinge" site. But...they are now moving stone hinge to a different location and it said closed and some of the rocks were downand a bull dozer was near it. So we didn't even attempt to get out and look. The second one was outside the "Y O Ranch". And we did find it!YAY!
(geocache photos)

{Hunt...such a boy...he found a jaw bone(and other bones) of a deer and thought they were so cool! He wanted to bring them home for the nature table. But mama said no}

And the next 3 were a bust! Either they had been moved, lost stollen or washed away. We searched and searched, but didn't find them!
We also stopped at the Guadalupe River to dip our feet in. Just Hunt and I got out and walked in the riverbed. The rocks looked much smoother from the road driving by. We found that they were rough on the feet!

Sunday after stopping for fresh peaches, tomatos and okra we headed home. We always hate to leave!
Here are a few interesting photos of sights around Fredricksburg/Kerrville and surrounding areas...

{I love the color of junipur berries}

{boots on fence posts}

Monday was a slow day of just hanging around the house for the kids and mama, but it was back to work for daddy!

We made our final trip to Henrietta Creek Orchard to pick peaches the 3rd of August. And lucky for us we went because it was their last day to be open for the peach season. The peaches were scarce and kinda sad looking(lots on the ground), but we managed to get enough. We also picked some apples, a few figs, some okra and some beans. Sue, the owner, is such a sweet lady! We had planned on going back in September for apple time, but never made it. There was only one type of apple this day with just a few ready to pick.
Thanks again Henrietta Creek Orchard for the fun and yummy food!

Hunt and I used some of our peaches and made a peach cobbler. Yummmmyyyyyy!!! we used the recipe in the Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook. It turned out so good last time when we used it to make the blackberry cobbler, so I figured what the heck. I didn't take any photos of us making it this time. I had a horrible headache and only got a photo of it after it was done.

I showed Hunt how to make peach sun tea the next day.
We filled our glass jug with water, added the tea bags and as a special treat, and because we had fresh picked peaches, we added cut up peaches to it. We left it out in the sun for about an hour and a half. We brought it in and I added a sugar syrup. So refreshing!!!
While we were waiting for the tea, we practiced out t-ball skills.

Someone discovered they like peaches!

August 5th! Someone turned 10 Months old!!
Emma, you're 10 MONTHS old...

So what's been going on?
*you got some new teefies(teeth) coming through...we noticed the top right one coming in on Wednesday July 21st and July 23rd, another one on the bottom left. Then the top left tooth started in on July 28th. so many at one time!
*when you pull on me wanting up, I say ...up and you answer with your "yes" babble...too cute!
*you feed me a piece of your corn the end of July...it was so sweet, but then you wanted it back, trying to reach in my mouth.HA!
*you are still SO VERY cautious when a stranger speaks to you. you look at mama or daddy as if asking if it's ok. I guess it's a good thing though, but your brother was never like that. He knows no strangers.
*when mama doesn't wear her glasses, or when she wears a cap or bandana you always just look her in the face. I guess because she looks different.
*you've started to throw some fits, throwing yourself either down or back and bouncing around all the while crying or screaming. Mama is NOT a fan!
*you've been clapping alot.
*when we speak to you or ask you a question, you always try to answer us or communicate with us with a grunt or a noise.
*you've also been doing a lot of standing by yourself. you let go of things, or me and stand so proud sometimes clapping...it's so cute!
*you've been hugging your babies and animals and an occasional weird item like daddy's cap or a car.

*you've been giving a very few kisses

I bought a coconut a while back and had Hunt punch the holes, drain the milk and crack it open... We tried it and talked about it. Hunt thought the meat wasn't too bad, but did not like the milk! Pobably because it wasn't sweetened. He really enjoyed using the hammer and hitting the coconut...a boy and a hammer, need I say more?!!!

We had lots of fun on the 6th of August! Grandma treated all the grandkids to lunch at Chuck E Cheese! And of course they ALL had a blast! Even little Miss Emma liked it! Hubs had taken a trailer over to have grandpa help him work on a few things and my rug rats played for a while.

Then we meet Aunt Misty and cousins "M" and "R" at Chuck E's! Thanks for the fun grandma!!!!

The 7th of August I started a beginners knitting class. I had been wanting to learn and can't seem to teach myself...I've tried several time. The only knitting I was able to do was on a loom. The classes were on the 7th, 14th and 21st.
This was what we completed...

a dish/face cloth.
It was a fun time and the instructor was great! Thanks Trudy! So I can now say that I know how to knit! It may be basic, but I can knit! I hope to go take more classes in the future!

I registered Hunt for school on August 9th. It was neat to see his reaction when we first entered the school. He thought the wall murals were cool! Wow I can't believe he's in kindergarten!

We meet some of our Early Childhood Mommies at a Jump house.

Both kiddos had a blast!

On the 18th we meet some new friends Michelle and her daughter "K" at Pepe Le Potter to have some pottery paiting fun! We let the kiddos pick out a thing to paint while we watched/assisted. "K" painted a hand print plate and Hunt picked out a train. It was a good time and I can't wait to go back and do more! I have a few goodies I want to do and maybe a few gifts for others as well! Afterwards we all had lunch at Chik'fil A. The kids played and we talked which was really nice! Thanks for a fun time Michelle and "K"!

{and the finished train}

This is strange, but I decided to get a photo of Hunt getting his hair cut for school. Just something I threw in here...

The 19th was meet the teacher night at his school. His teacher's name is Mrs. Stephenson. She has been teaching for 11 years. And thankgoodness she has 2 boys of her own close to Hunt's age(and older step children as well)! So yay...she knows how boys can be! There is also another teacher in his class, maybe a student teacher, her name is Miss. Burke. We gussied up a hand sanitizer with ribbons and peeled off the label to add a large hand print vinal sticker. It was cute, but I forgot to take a photo. We also gave the teacher a teacher journal.

{waiting in line to go in the school}

{Hunt meets his teacher!}

{Hunt giving Mrs. Stephenson her gift}

{First time to use a school bathroom}

{trying out the "weird" sink. boy it brings back memories}

The school PTA offered free ice cream! SO of course we got some! Em loves ice cream!

{Hunt got to meet the school nurse}

On the 20th our family headed out to the Hunter's Extravaganza! Both kids LOVED seeing all the animals and had fun! We hung out with some friends there and later ate dinner at Dos Gringos. I had not been in umpteen years, so it was a nice change.
I took an old pair of Hunt's camo shorts and made Miss Em a skirt and flower pin!

August 22, the day before school started, we got all of our stuff together.
We picked out our clothes and decided on a lunch. Since it was the first day, we wanted to look our BEST(or close to it)! So we decided on a blue button down shirt, a black and grey rock guitar tie, a dark blue sweater vest, blue jeans, and suede boots. We decided a lunch of carrots, pretzels, a jelly sandwich and cookies would work for that day. I wanted to be sure it was food I knew he would eat.
The next morning before we left I got it all packed up in a rocket ship lunch box. I made some snack baggy and sandwich wrap sets so that we don't have to keep using bags all the time. Here's a few photos of the western theme one I made.
{bag set}

{sandwich wrap}

{opening it up}

{velcro closing snack bags}

August 23rd...First day of School!I think I was just as excited as Hunt that morning! It's not everyday that it's your FIRST day of School...Kindergarten! I was anxious to see if Hunt was going to get up on his own. We went to Walmart and purchased an alarm clock for his room. I wasn't looking forward to getting him up in the mornings. It sometimes can be tough! I thought if he had his own that he might think he was a "big boy" and get up on his own. And what do you know...he did! He got up, turned it off just how I showed him and came in the kitchen. YAY!!! No fights! And he has done it ever since!
Anyway...He looked SO HANDSOME that morning!!! I told him that he could take the sweater off once at school. I knew he would be a bit warm. All I could get him to eat for breakfast was half a granola bar. The kid usually isn't hungry until later.
We took photos outside before we headed to school.

I almost forgot to take a photo of the adorable little gifts that we brought Mrs. Stephenson and Miss. Burke on the first day. So here is the photo I snapped quickly in the car...

They each got a cute apple in an apple cozy sweater. I love these!
Once at school I parked and walked him to his room. There was no way he could carry all the school supplies by himself and plus I wanted to see my baby boy just a bit longer before I had to leave him!
I helped him find his locker and cubby and a seat at a table.
With camera in hand a snapped photos. I ran down my list of things I say to him like... the I love yous, have a good day, make good choices, listen and keep your hands to yourself, I'll see you later, etc...got my hugs and kisses and left teary eyed!

Walking back to the Tahoe I couldn't help but to think about all that we've been through. All that we've done. The day he was born,February 3rd, on MY birthday! The day we found out that he had a stroke and the hospital stay that followed. The neurolgist visits. All the therapy visits. The first time I heard him giggle. A seizure on Christmas Day! Getting his ankle braces. The first time I heard the word "Mama" come from his sweet lips. The day he turned 1. His first steps. Growing and learning all the time. Me getting so very lucky to stay home with my sweet boy! When he first told me he loved me. Then he turned 2! With all the energy in the world(still has that)! All the running and climbing and limit pushing(actually that was before 2!) Then 3 came. How could it be 3? Didn't we just meet? Didn't he just enter the word yesterday? Didn't our lives just change with the birth of our son? Growing still in size as well in mind. Such a smart little boy! So smart and sweet! Everyone telling me that he is very intellagent for his age. Along came his 4th birthday. Oh 4! It seemed that 4 got a little harder. He started pre-school. Which was difficult on this mama to. It was a rough time for him. With the trouble he had with his behavior. He had to learn that not everyone wants to be hugged or even talked to. And to keep his hands to himslef and be considerate. He became a brother and his world was changed in an instant. Now he had to share HIS parents! Share the only 2 people that he had spent most of his days, his life with. No longer getting all the attention as before. But how exciting it was. Soon it was 5! 5 years old my baby boy is now! 5! Starting his school years! And away from mama for so long. Why has the time flown by so fast? Why do the days seem to sometimes be a blur. Rushing through life at times. It's often hard to imagine when he was 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, or even 4 years old. We can't stop time. We can only just try and remember all the fun times we had and learn from mistakes. Try and replay our children's smiling faces and laughs in our minds. Try and do the best we can for them and love them unconditionaly!
So I get in the Tahoe, I sit there for a minute, wipe my eyes and smile. Look how far he's come...how far we've all come! I've learned how to give more love, have more strength, more patients, more understanding and to even let go a little. For me letting go is so hard. But I'm learning how to do it, one day at a time!
Picking Hunt up after the First Day of School...

I was just as excited to see him!!!

I had written down some highlights from his first week of school, but can not for the life of me remember where the notebook is, so maybe I'll add them here when I recover them. Just to have a record of it.

Just some before school photos...

At Hunt's school the kindergarten has a special disciplane type plan that envolves each child having 2 popcicle sticks and a close pin. If the child is called upon he is told to remove a popcicle stick. Once both are gone, then his clothes pin clip is moved down the board to different colors and the action is taken such as principles office, call to parent, etc., etc. So the other day we were in the car and Em was doing her little load talk/yell and I had told her to be little quieter. And of course she didn't. So Hunt looked at her and said..."Em when we get home, pull a stick"! Which meant she wasn't making a good choice and needed to get a popcicle stick taken away. HAHAHA!...kids!!!
Homework fun...
{Hunt's mini me}

{after school goofies...}

{Some shirt I made...}

Also in August Hunt went to his last library story time...for a while anyway! Since he will be in school, he'll miss it. And Em is still too young for me to take her by herself. So here's some photos of our story time morning...

We meet Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle David and Aunt Misty, Cousin "M" and Cousin "R" for dinner at Edelwise to celebrate some birthdays. It was a really fun time!!! The kids loved dancing and doing the "chicken dance".HA!

{Kids doing the Chicken Dance}

Labor Day weekend was nice. Daddy took off that Sunday and Monday so that we could all be together for the long weekend. We left Friday for the lake. We hadn't been since the Fourth of July! The kids did pretty good at the hotel again.
{fun in the hotel room}

{they loved getting in the night stand! and of course Emma doing her usual...pulling everything out of mama's bag!}

Hunt enjoyed riding his four wheeler, watching the baby birds, some fishing, riding in the boat and swimming.

It was Em's first time to ride in the boat. She didn't seem to care for it that much. And when we stopped to get out and swim, she cried and cried. So Daddy stayed in the boat with her. Hunt loved it as usual and kept jumping off the boat into the water. Some family friends had fun skiing, wakeboarding and kneeboarding. Even the 50 something year old neighbor there at the lake house did some skiing. This mama chickened out. I wanted to do it, but am so overweight and out of shape that I didn't want to embarrase myslef! HA! It has been 3 years now since I had even tubed! And wow...can't believe summer is over and we only rode in the boat this one time! Kind of a waste! Times have changed from what they use to be. I wanted to get Hunt on a tube, but didn't...maybe next year. I know he would have loved it! He loved it when he rode with me once a few years ago. And he didn't get to do his fireworks again either...sad! Poor little guy! Maybe they'll keep until next year and we can take them somewhere and shoot them.

{Here's the T-Rex dinosaur tree we see every year while riding the boat}

{Some tired kids}

{Daddy bought Emma this cute cap!}

Bubba and Daddy did a little fishing before we left.

11months!!!
Em...you're 11 months old now!

{likes to find eyes on animals and dolls}

{look at the way she's looking at the bear!..funny!}

EMMA...11months!
what are you doing these days?
*eating up a storm!

*you make a goofy smile and scrunch up your nose and show your pearly whites.

*you really like bananas!...and I mean REALLY!

*Em you're crazy about caps

*you got your first "real" tooth brush, instead of the finger brush that mama had to use on you.

*you have been standing by yourself for a long time, ready to walk, but not there yet. it will be soon I know it!
*you wake up still once or twice after I put you down at night and you nap once a day.
*you have 5 teeth through, and two more on each side at the top poking through.
*you like to bend over while your standing and look through your legs...I guess you like the look of things up-side-down.
*Em you are so, so silly!!!! One month and you will be 1 year old!!!

We had an ackward experience last month that I thoguht I'd share...
We went to a resturant to eat and there was this drunk man that came over to our table and started to talk a little to us and alot to Emma. Well she started crying, really loud! He just kept standing there and talking. Leaning down almost in her face and showing her a photo on his phone of his son. He was saying "it's ok". I had pulled her high chair close to me and was trying to comfort her, but she was very upset. And Daddy was getting very upset to! So he finally walks back over to the bar. Emma calms down and we try to enjoy the rest of our meal. After about 10 minutes or so he comes back over and is telling us bye, like we were all good friends or something. Again he gets down close to Emma and is talking to her and some to us and she starts crying again. By this time Daddy is about to clobber this guy! We try to stay polite to him and just let him finish and leave. After about 7 minutes he heads to the door. I was watching to see if he was driving and if so I was ready to call the police. He had NO business being out on the roads!!! So as he's leaving through the door our waiter comes over and asks us if we were doing ok or if we needed anything. I say that "we are fine, but is that man driving(as I point out the door to him getting into his truck)"?!!! The waiter looks at me and says yes. I then say..." he doesn't need to be". Hubs says..."he's had way to much to drink"! The waiter replies..."he only had one"! So I was like..."really, well he didn't act like it"! He then says...yeah, I think something else is wrong with him, in the head". Hubs says he acted more like he had been drinking. Maybe only one here, but he had to have had more before, you could smell it all over him! Well hubs told me later that he was about to jump in that guys s***! He kept telling himself I don't want to go to jail! It was just a strange thing!

The first time I went to eat lunch with Hunt at school was September 10th. It was just Em and I. Since then Daddy had got to come with us to.
Here's some photos of our lunch...

{trying on sister's bow...goof ball!!}

Saturday(11th) we didn't do anything special. We had lunch and came back home. That afternoon Hunt helped daddy build a hog feeder thingy for the deer lease. It was a large pvc pipe with one end glued shut and the other with a screw on cap. A chain with a ring is attached to an end so that the ring can be hung over a t-post. Then you drill holes in the side of it some that corn or whatever you want to put in it can fall out as the hogs push it around and play with it. Hunt loved helping daddy drill the holes for it! Mama had to take a few pictures...

We tried an experiment a short while ago where we used heavy cream and shook it in a jar to make butter. Hunt and I took turns shaking the jar. I got the instructions from a book I got at a thrift store that has some neat experiments to do with kids.

Daddy was having some trouble with his truck, so he and Hunt worked on it one day.

I got a homemade granola bar recipe and gave it a try. They turned out pretty good! So I will be making these again!

Our neighbors yard had some mushrooms back in September so I walked down and took some pics...

I tried my luck at strawberry freezer jam...actually it's been a few months back!!! It turned out SOOOO good though and I just wanted to share this important info(HAHAHA)!!! The consistency is a little weird. Not sure if it was the fact that I put it in the freezer and fridge 2 hours before the recipe called for or maybe I didn't cook the sur-gel long enough. At any rate...it tastes really yummy and no one's died yet, so it can't be that bad.HA!

And...Had to add...
My Hunt...the other day we were driving and this mama just wanted some quiet time in the car. I told Hunt that I wanted it to be quiet for a while and I didn't want to hear any talking or noises. So a few minutes go by and Hunt says..."Mama, turn around"(wanting me to look at him) I say..."What Hunt"? He says..."Read my lips". I then reply..."Why"? He says to me..."Well you said I can't talk, so you can just read my lips"!
And then there's this...
Weird child...I walked in the living room the other day and found Hunt sitting on the floor and in his toes, this...

{chop sticks!}
Weird-O!!! I wasn't sure if I should be affraid or impressed.HA! I guess if I actually see him using them like that I will decided...hahaha!

So...I'll be stopping it here...

And will try to keep this blog diary more up to date! Updating at least ONCE a week or TWO! HA!

Next blog will include Em's 1st birthday party, the Pumpkin Patch, some farm visits, a zoo visit, trick or treating/Halloween and more!!!

Thanks for hanging in here and reading this!...until next time...

2010-10-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

~October 13,2010~

Ok I know I've been saying that an update on our blog diary is coming soon, and it is coming...we've just been really busy in these parts! So I decided to do an update through the end of September I think. And then will come what I have for October and so on...until it's caught up!

So thanks for reading and check back by the end of the weekend!

2010-08-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

~August 19, 2010~

YES...I am still here and will be finishd updating soon...I HOPE!!!
We have been crazy busy around here still and the blog has been put on the back burner for a bit. But I will catch up, oh yes, I will catch up!!!

Until then...

weird...

2010-07-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

If you see something strange on the bottom portion of the last blog post or two, just ignore it. My notes section joined my "these busy summer days" blog post and it looks out of whack!

Ta ta!...

these busy summer days...

2010-06-22T19:03:00.001-07:00

~July 28, 2010~

WOW...I am way behind! Has it really been that long since I posted on here?!!!

We've had busy,busy days here lately, so...time to catch up...this is another one of those BIG blog diary posts...with a crazy amount of photos!
It really boils down to alot of stuff you're probably not interested in and lots and lots of rambling!

Little Miss Em turned 9 MONTHS old on the 5th of July! Holy Moly!
And yes I'm so very behind on posting it!UGH!
Little Miss, what in the world have you been up to?...

*Emma you have stood and let go for up to 5 seconds on your own and then you love to just fall down

*you have VERY strong opinions on a lot of stuff and don't mind telling us...HA!
*when you get mad you make fists with both hands and yell
*you crawl ALL over the house
{this is what a lot of my photos that I end up deleting look like...just a blur. you're getting pretty fast!}

*you really love to hit things together....like cymbals and other various toys

*of course you still won't sleep through the night
*you love ice cream
*on July 6th {9month ck up date} you were 28 inches long- at 90% and almost 22 pounds- also at 90%
*you cruise some around furniture and stuff
*you like to wave at us and others...when you want to
*(ahem)you have taken to biting your mama while nursing at times when you are full...does not make mama a happy person
*you WILL NOT BE STILL when I change your diaper. it's like holding down a wild animal
*you have gnawed a large area on your highchair. you especially tend to do this when you don't want to wait for mama to get your food ready at meal times or you want up
*you get SO excited to see Bubba sometimes you squeal and jump all around
*when you smile you show off your two pearly whites, it's so cute!
*you laugh at Bubba all the time
*you love to get in the diaper bag and pull out mama's wallet

The kids and I made a trip out to the cemetery back on June 26th. Hubs was out at the lake doing a bit of cleaning up from the flooding so he was gone most of the weekend. I had not been out to the cemetery, where my mother and some family are buried, in about a year and really needed to go. I took flowers to mom's, granny Mc's, grandma Connaway and cousin Aaron's graves. And this might seems strange, but I took some photos while we were there.

After the cemetery visit we had lunch and then mama wanted to go to a little fabric/quilt store in Fort Worth called Cabbage Rose. OMG!!! They have some wonderful fabric!!!! I purchased some large paper doll fabric while we were there. That was all I bought, but I will be back...oh yes...I will be back!!!
At dinner time we picked up Kelley and filled our bellies at Genghis Grill and topped it off with a trip to Brahms afterwards for ice cream. Oh Dear Lord how I was stuffed!

Sunday June 27th we meet some family over at my cousin's house to celebrate "T's" birthday. He turned 10 years old. The kids enjoyed swimming, jumping on the trampoline, playing on the jungle gym and shooting a few hoops. Hunt really loved the trampoline!!!
They cooked burgers and dogs and had cake and ice cream. It was good to see some of my family!

{cousin LeighAnn with Em}

{trampoline fun}

[trying to shoot hoops}

{uncle Kenny}

{aunt Leona}

{uncle Philip and cousin Jonathan}

{uncles Philip and Kenny}

{the birthday boy}

So how was everyone's Fourth of July? Our's was not very good! We left Friday for the lake and came back Monday. I won't go into details as to why it wasn't good , but let's just say unplanned stuff happened and it kind of rubbed hubs and I wrong. The fireworks Sunday night were good of course, thank goodness for that!
I made Em some outfits to wear to celebrate the Independence Day holiday. So she had some for the whole weekend. Hunt made a hand print eagle shirt

and I made him one also to match a dress that I made sister. I also made him some new pjs to.

{firework trash bonfire}

{sister wasn't feeling up to taking photos}

{I got this tye-dyed shirt while we were on vacation in Port "A" back in April/May}

Tuesday July 6th we meet some moms from the Early Childhood PTA group at Henrietta Creek Orchard for some peach and apple picking. They had peaches and one variety of apples ready to pick.

{picking peaches}

{apple picking}

{oh these kids...Hunt and "R" holding hands as always}

The kids also got to pick a carrot and check out all the other veggies, fruits, flowers and other plants growing all over the farm/orchard. They spied three LARGE garden spiders and were in heaven...mama, not so much. For I am not a spider fan.HA!

{getting our goodies weighed}

{Hunt and his friends "R" and "S"}

We also picked up some flavored honey tubes, a louffa sponge grown from one of their gourdes and an embroidered cup towel with beets. The lady who owns the farm, Sue(I think was her name), told me that her mother makes them.
{look at that...I already got the cup towel dirty}

{basket full of peaches}

{yummy apples}

{we cut an apple to try at home and noticed that it was shaped like a heart}

{trying out a flavored honey tube. we decided that the rootbeer one was the best so far}

Thanks so much for sharing your yummy fruit with us Sue and Henrietta Creek Orchard! We will be back!

And Wednesday July 7th we had some art fun at the ArtHouse in Southlake. Hunt painted a self portrait in Modigliani style. He did a great job! It made me want to drag out my easel and paints! We just may have to go back there and do other art activities. It was neat! The kids learned about brush strokes and color mixing. The two instructors did very well with the kids and are beyond patient!

{getting started}

{a Modigliani version portrait. this is what they showed the kids to discribe what they will be doing}

{a finished background)

{ready for the shirt and face}

{little sister kept busy and was an angel the entire time}

{the smile}

{Hunt presenting his portrait to the class}

{looks just like him huh?!HA}

That Thursday we stopped into a couple of thrift stores and I got a few good deals...

A smocked dress for $2.99! And no stains of flaws!
Em her first pair of cowboy boots{pink!} for $1.99! Maybe worn once! The bottoms were clean and really looked brand new!
Some vintage Christmas stuff...a Santa and Mrs Claus, and a couple of ornaments. and a jar and glass pitcher.

Wow, the 14th we went to the Astronaut Training Center and Hunt had a FUN time! It was really neat! All hands on for the kids. First we watched a mini movie of a rocket blast off. Then the kids tried out the gravity swings. One went slower and was suppose to be what it is like on Mercury and the other went fast like how it would feel on moon. The kids layed on these swing type things and pushed off from these boards to make them go.
Then we moved on to a flight simulator and then these hover things(similar to being weightless and working on a space ship or satelite). Next the kids strapped on a space suit, moon boots(brought back memories of mine long ago), a space pack, helmet and gloves and played moon walkers on an awesome set up! Got great photos!!!
They also got to shoot air rockets and throw parachutes. We got to see space food all sealed up looking yummy!!!...NOT!!! It was cool to find out that they serve the food packages velcroed to a tray that is then strapped to their legs. Towards the end one of the workers got out some play space men and let a few of the kids play with them around a set up rocket. I like to never got the toy astronaut away from Hunt! I did buy us some astronaut goodies...an astronaut ice cream sandwich and another ice cream to try. I mean how can you pass up these delish goodies..HAHAHA!!!
It will be neat to see Hunt's reaction to them.

Thursday the 15th we went to the Cannon Park Splash Pad over in Roanoke. We arrived at 10:00 and the splash water area didn't even come on until 10:30 or so. Thank goodness there was a regular park with a playground right next to it or this mama might have loaded up the kids and came back home. But both kids enjoyed it so it turned out to be a fun time.

A week ago I got a new photo editing program. It's called Photo Explosion . It would be nice to have PhotoShop, but the good one can be around $600 and well that is way out of our budget! Photo explosion is suppose to be pretty good for the price though, so I'm excited to try it. The book that came with it is like an inch thick! So It may be a while before I learn enough to use it.HA!

Sunday the 18th we went to Grandma and Papa's house to play for a while and go to dinner to celebrate Papa's birthday. The kids had a fun time and dinner at The Catfish Company was ok...not as good as I have had there before.
{the card Hunt made for Papa}

{kiddos playing}

Tuesday we decided to go to the Gaylord Texan hotel and look at the Alice in Wonderland stuff that they had set up. There were sand statues, and large figures all over the place. Mushrooms, flowers and butterflies were larger than life. We didn't do any of the activities that cost money, just walked around and enjoyed the scenery. I have to say though...I'm glad it was free because the $12.00 parking fee that you pay is enough.

{I loved these umbrellas!}

{Hunt loved this little train set up! He kept wanting to go back to it.}

We had not been to story time at the library in over 3 weeks, so last Wednesday we went to that. Hunt liked it, it was all about snakes! Later on after lunch, since both kids had way too much energy and didn't want to nap, I decided to wear them out and drag them around with me to some party supply stores. Em's birthday is in October and I need to start now on getting stuff together. We picked out some neat goodies and cute favors. I'm so excited! After the stores I wanted to go over to the Botanic Gardens and scope out some photo locations to shoot some pictures of Em for her birthday invites. And of course BG has many awesome places for photos! While we were there Hunt meet a little boy his age and they became quick friends! He lives in Alvorado, not very close to us at all. We exchanged numbers and email addresses so that maybe in the future we can make plans to meet up again and have a play date.

After all our running around and walking at the gardens, as you can imagine, we were all beat. I still have lots to do. Like I need to make a few things and gather up a few more goodies, order the cakes, decided where we will have the party and do invitations...oh my...still lots to do!

I found out about 2 or 3 weeks ago that I register Hunt for Kindergarten(sniff, sniff...how can it be) on August 9th. So we'll be making a trip to Foster Village Elementary armed with our "what to bring" paperwork of sorts. It seems kind of crazy to be registering kids on the 9th of August when the first day is the ...23rd! But good ole Birdville knows what they're doing I guess...right...Birdville?!
Am I the only one who actually liked going school supply shopping? I remember it as a kid and remember loving to go! Hunt already picked out a backpack..camo(what a shock huh?..hahaha)! So I wrote down the list from the school's web site and last Thursday ran over to Walmart to see what we can come up with. The crazy mama that I am, I took my camera and snapped a few photos. I know, like I said...CRAZY! We got the majority of what Hunt needs for school, but not everything! UGH!!! So we made a trip to Office Depot Saturday to get the few things that we needed. Now I just hope that everything we got is acceptable for the school/teachers.

Hubs had to work this past Sunday, so he only got Saturday off...which really stunk!!!
I did manage to run up to The Children's Place to get Hunt some school jeans. Their clothing is good quality and their jeans were $10.00!!! Can't beat that!!! They had a pair of nice shoes I wanted to get, but the Alliance store didn't carry them. Monday I made a trip to another Children's Place and picked up the shoes, a sweater, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Also a pair of knee socks for Em. I took the camera(as silly as I am), but didn't take any photos of the school clothes shopping. But we still have more to go, so I may still do some...ha!

Today we did a tour at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing(where they make money). It was a nice tour, but maybe not geared toward kids younger than 7 or 8. I couldn't bring a camera in, so no photos(sad...ho hum)! We learned some interesting things...Fort Worth and D.C. are the only 2 locations that money is printed at. It takes 3 days for each printing ink to dry, so the bills take about 3 weeks before they are complete. They try to change the look of bills every 7 to 10 years. If a bill is printed in Fort Worth, it will have a "FW" on the right side. And if the bill has a star on it after the serial number that means that it replaced a defective bill. We got to touch actual production plates. The paper that is used is actually a type of fabric and comes from one supplier only. After the money is completed it goes into the vault where it is scanned and then eventually put into cirrulation. We were told that no one there at the plant knows the location of the vault. This is just some of the poop we learned.
We got to see the new $100 bills. They will be out the first of next year. We also got to see the spider press. Used in the 1800s. I believe the man said that this one was used around 1910 to press bills(one at a time). Now they can do several on a large sheet and then cut them into the bills. He showed us a demonstration on the spider press to.
Just getting into the first building we(children to) had to be searched and scanned and poked and proded...ok, maybe not the poked and proded, but it's a pretty secure area! No bags were allowed in, but a woman could bring a purse, but it was scanned. Then we were lead around to the back where a bus took us over to the actual plant area where the money is made. This envolved a pass through some security gates. When we got to the plant building we were put together in our tour group and lead through a hall way to an enclosed elavated walkway suspended over the production floor. Our entire group had to stay together. The cat walk window areas were in the halls, with a few set out to the side. On the ones set out to the side, we had to stay in that area, not in the main hall.
At the end everyone had some hands on fun with a large $20 puzzle(backwards...due to the fact that the press prints it that way). A look at money up close through magnifiers, the showing of water marks and etc. There was even a lady there set up at a closed off glass area. She was going through some flood damaged money. You could hardly tell what some of it was. What a process!!! UGH!!! She must have tons of patients!

Hubs wanted to take a small family trip before Hunt starts school. So we're leaving in the morning. Since his work is leaving him on 2nd shift and now changed his days off to Friday and Saturday, he will only have all day Saturday to spend with Hunt. This is really bothering him. Normally he would get to see him a short time before he left for work and then on both weekend days. But when school starts that will change.

Kids are too funny...Not too long ago I bought a couple of dress up things and one was a dr scrub hat, mask and vest thing. I told Hunt that he looked like my Dr Luna who delivered him and Em. I asked him what Dr Luna did in the hospital. I wanted to see what he would say. I asked how the Dr got Em out of mama and he exclaimed..."she pulled her out of your hiney". I laughed and said..."well almost".

Ok...I guess that's about it. I have a couple other things, but will add them on the next post...keep you in suspense...HAHAHA...not really! Nothing that exciting!
If it seems like everything on here is just thrown together and sloppy, that's because it is! This is what happens when you don't get much time to post due to a busy 5 year old and a demanding 9 month old!HA!!!But I love them boogers!

::After uploading and looking over the photos it seems that I have a few spots on the lens of my camera or something. I 've cleaned the lens, but I guess I need to take it in to a camera shop::

Have a Good rest of the week and a Super weekend!!!

week ending, week beginning...

2010-06-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

~June 22, 2010~

Oh my...

Another week has begun and I have yet to post about the past two or so. Not too much going on really, but I better get started...

We headed to the Fort Worth Wildlife Refuge Sunday the 13th to do more geocaches. There were 2 there, but we only found one.
The first one we tried to find was way off any trails deep in the woods and brush. I wore shorts...bad idea! Hubs didn't mention that we would be trekking through half of the refuge, over rock, by cactus, through weeds waist high, under mesquite trees with thorns the size of dollar bills(maybe not that big, but still...). And when we got to the co-ordinate location, after all of that, we didn't even find it! So it had either been moved or was buried under the ground! Poor hubs had to make his way though all sorts of stuff just to get to the exact spot, amongst a huddle of trees! We searched high and low, as best we could, but no ammo box! And you would figure an ammo box should be sort of easy to spot. It wasn't all a bust though, we barely saw two fawn deer as we were hiking around. They were in some undergrowth and ran as soon as they heard us. The trek there and back really wasn't that bad. But pants/jeans would have been nice.
On our second search for a box there at the refuge we had to go up toward the visitors center. Hubs spotted the hidden coco container shortly after we got there. YAY! We stamped our stamp, left our name and the date and took a monkey's skeleton paw(Hunt insists it's not a monkey's paw, but I think it sounds more interesting saying that), and left a spider ring. After replacing everything and rehidding the box we took a quick stroll inside for a bit.
{touch and feel table}

{Hunt looking at a prairie dog}

{hey there Little Miss!}

{Em checking out the fish}

Our third and last geocache for the day was supposedly hidden along a road near Benbrook Lake. Well we searched up and down the road.

Driving forward, backing up, driving forward, backing up...back and forth, but never found the "bison tube"(whatever that is). We were grateful this road was not a busy one.
After our geocaches we drove over to Kelley's and had a nice swim. Her pool is so nice and was a welcome sight after being outside, sweating, hiking, hot and a little tired. Hunt and Em had a blast! It was Em's first pool to play in. She's played in the hot tub at Mrs. Black's house, Hunt's swim teacher, but not the pool.
Hubs and Ken tried to show Hunt how to dive from the diving board, but it's not as easy as it looks to teach a 5 year old how to go into the water hand and head first instead of your whole body or belly flopping. It was funny to watch. I know I've said it before...but Hunt LOVES the diving board!
Thanks so much Kelley for inviting us over for some pool fun!
Afterwards we all went for dinner, boy were we hungry!

{looks like he's walking on water}

{Em and mama}

{Em would rather you hold her and let her splash than sit in the crab}

{Em was getting tired and hot so we sat out for a while under the umbrella. See our "Knot E Celtic"(boat) there in the background? It has yet to make an appearance at the lake house this season. The lake came up so much that it flooded the yard there and a whole lot of cleaning still needs to be done!}

{teaching Hunt to dive...hahaha}

{here's what happens when you turn your back for just a minute.}

{Hunt we aren't at the lake house or deer lease...geez}

I tried the recipe I found for homemade fruit roll ups on the 12th. I didn't have the exact amount of strawberries ready and may have added too much applesauce. The roll ups were still a bit squishy in the middle of the pan and that was after cooking them 12 hours instead of the 8-10 the recipe recommended. And the outside was getting a bit hard. The taste was good though! And it cut and rolled up good, just a bit too soft. So I WILL give it another try with less applesauce. Or maybe use other directions. I searched online and found a couple more ways to do it. I'll be letting Hunt help me on the next version. I wasn't sure how it would end up since I had never made them before. But now since I know, he can easily help out...and will love using the blender!
I also tried some pies in a jar. I didn't do a homemade version of the dough or the filling just yet. Like above...since this was my first time making these to. I used refrigerated already made pie crusts and canned peach pie filling. I filled them and froze all but one...I had to give at least one a try! It baked up SO nice and the crust was flaky and crisp! Such a cute little pie when I took it out of the 4 oz jar and cut into it! UMMMMM!!! AND tasted good too! So I will be making more of these to! I have the strawberries and blackberries from the farm just begging for me to use them. And soon a trip to the peach orchard for peaches! I LOVE SUMMER!!!
Sadly I didn't take any photos of the pies or the fruit roll ups! But I will next round!

Hunt's swimming lessons ended Thursday. He did really well and I'm proud of him!!!They worked on the usual plus swimming the length of the pool a bit and taking breaths while doing it. Tuesday Hunt started jumping from the diving board and swimming the length of the pool(had to stop and get help a bit). But he did good! They have also been learning how to swim then turn over and float then turn back over and swim. It shows them that if they get tired, they can always stop and float and regain strength to swim on. Even with the weakness on the left side he has been doing good. Swimming is where you can see Hunt's left side weakness the most.
{Here are a few of the final swim lessons photos I took}

{splashing fun}

{Em was such a good girl the entire time Bubba swam}

{I was sure to bring toys and snacks}

{hey Bubba, you're doing so good!}

{look at that hiney in the air, he swims like this alot}

{more pool safety}

Last week was one of those weeks!!! With one little one not sleeping well(maybe more teeth coming soon)Wednesday thru Friday. She was running a temperature Thursday night and some Friday. My poor little girl!
And the other child trying his hardest to drive us crazy...and it may be working!
And just a lot on my mind and so much that I need to do, and the list keeps growing! UGH!
With us not attending any activities this week with the group, it has been kind of nice! We didn't make it to do the Forest Park Train on Thursday, which I was planning on doing. This week we may attempt, and I say attempt Roller World skating rink. It should be interesting! Hunt is clumsy anyway, so this is sure to be a mess! May be cute to watch though. And a Burger's Lake day on on Friday. Two kids by myself at Burger's Lake...not so sure. I like going there, and haven't been since Hunt was a lot smaller. We'll see.

Our past Saturday was spent just trying to keep mostly indoors and cool! It's so dang hot! Didn't do anything special. Still a nice family time.

For Father's Day we hung out around the house until close to 3pm and then left for grandma and grandpa's house. The kids played(and drove us all a little crazy)! And our Little Miss pottied on grandma's bed while I was changing her, so we had a wardrobe change. Sorry grandma! Then we left to have dinner at Texas Land and Cattle. It was good and not crowded at all!
We got daddy a wood and metal ice chest.

He has been eyeing them for a couple of years now and I've been thinking about getting him one for about that long to, but never have. Tractor Supply Company had some nice ones for a good price, so I ran up there and got one. I also picked up a bbq utensil set. Hubs didn't have one, so now he will be well equipped to cook outside on that big ole cooker of his!..hint, hint...the shrimps waiting in the freezer!..HAHA!!!
Hunt and Daddy made PaPa a leather tooled flashlight and leatherman case for hunting and a leather book mark for his gifts.

And Hunt made both hub's and papa's Father's Day cards!
{Daddy's Father's Day card...a drawn and cut out T-Rex, with cut out water and grass}

{glued on a card}

{Papa's card...he drew a truck and water colored it}

{then wrote inside}

{he's getting really good at writing}
Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there! And a special Happy Father's Day to the father of my heathens! Thanks for all that you do for us, We Love You!!!
{Daddy and Em}

{trying on Hunt's cap}

{even Grandma...}

{cousins...belly up at the bar...at Texas Land and Cattle}

{our little family}

{Grandma and Papa with the grandkids}

{Grandma and Papa with the "boys"]

Other weekend activities included a "make believe" hunting trip in daddy's deer blind and shrinky dinks!

Today the kiddos and I went to story time. We had not been in almost a month. I signed Hunt up for the Reading Express. It's a summer reading program that the libraries do. The kids read books and get prizes after reading so many hours. If your child is young and doesn't read yet then you read to them. Since we read books alot anyway, we might as well log the time down and get goodies.

School may be out, but I still work with Hunt on school type work a couple of times a week. I get asked by some moms in the group and other people, what I do with him. So here are some things we have been working on...sight word cards, reading/phonics, kindergarten and first grade work books and what ever else I throw in there. We've done sculpting this week as well as painting and the usual coloring with crayons, markers, colored pencils...etc. We work out of several different workbooks.
I've also started reading to Em, although she mostly wants to "taste" the books right now. And going through other small stuff with her.

I've been thinking about ideas for Em's first birthday. I have SO, SO many great ideas, but not sure on one for her first. I have roughly 3 months(OMG...really that's ALL!) to make my decision. Most of my thoughts for parties will have to be when she gets a bit older.

Have you ever been so sick of seeing swimming photos in your life? HA!

That's all I got for now...