Thanksgiving pictures

I never posted pictures from Thanksgiving! Unfortunately, Chris was forced to stay home in "retail Hell" again, but we were sure to bring home some tasty food home for him. The boys and I had a great time visiting with everyone!

Building trains with Aunt Sarah:

Cole enjoying the rocking chair at Nana & Pop's:

Most of the family at the Weldon house:

Cole and Nathan (my cousin Chrystal's son - aren't they too cute?):

Sarah eating one of Jason's YUMMY fried Twinkies:

Pop and the boys playing outside:

Christmas Decorating

Almost done with my Christmas decorating...just sharing a few. I still want to add some cordless lights to my skinny trees on the fireplace, but not sure that will happen. Now, if I can just get Cole to quit UNDECORATING, I might actually get it all done! I'm sure I'll come home Sunday from the Ingersoll's and want to re-do it all, though. Their house is bound to be FABULOUS!

Enjoy!

30 Years in 30 Weeks - edition 12

Alrighty...on to the least favorite stage of my life. You know - the 'tween years...that awkward time of life when you are trying to figure out who the heck you are and where exactly you fit in. And, if you are lucky enough to be a girl, you spend every day of your junior high life deciding who your new best friend is. Of course, she just might be your enemy tomorrow and then your BFF again on Friday so you can spend the night at her house.

This picture was taken in the summer of '89...just before I entered junior high and at the very beginnings of the "big bangs" days. Notice both my mom and I had on the ever-popular KEDS. And super-huge earrings for both of us! My personal favorite, though, are my acid-wash pleated knee-length shorts. Who thought that was a good idea???

We were on a family vacation to Central Texas that summer. We had been to Fredricksburg, Gruene and then on to San Marcos where this picture was taken. Once upon a time, Aquarena Springs was a mild attempt at a tourist attraction. The only thing they had to offer was a swimming pig named Ralph and a "submarine" that only partially went under the water's surface for you to view the "mermaids" that would swim around and drink Dr. Pepper underwater. Talk about hours of family fun! To the dismay of dozens of families worldwide, none of that happens at Aquarena Springs anymore - it's an educational facility owned by Southwest Texas...ahem...I mean Texas State University now. I think this vacation definitely had a hand in my college decision...I was going to be a mermaid to earn rent money. Sigh...

I've been "tagged" - 7 weird things about me

I was tagged by Andrea. So, here are 7 weird things about me...

1. I can't stand to eat "mixed up" foods (casseroles, etc.) unless I know EXACTLY what's in it. See, the textures of certain foods bother me and I really don't like it if I bite into something and I'm not sure what it is. I pretty much eat one thing at a time on my plate, as well. Thankfully, I've gotten over the whole "my foods can't touch" thing.

2. I like to sort things by color...although, I don't really think that's weird, just pretty.

3. My "everyday" dishes are a mix-n-match set from Pfaltzgraff - four different coordinating patterns in the same color scheme. Yes, it was designed that way. Anyway, it truly bothers me if the same two patterns are stacked together in my cabinets.

4. If I'm doing something "crafty", pretty much everything else gets ignored. Seriously, the house could fall down around me... This is why I can only "play" when Cole takes a nap.

5. This is getting hard.
I'm a "pile-er", not an organizer...but I know exactly where everything is.

6. I keep magazines a lot longer than I should. You know, just in case I ever want to use that idea on page 48 or try that cranberry-lemon trifle.

7. I collect cookbooks but rarely use them. I pretty much make the same stuff over and over.


Since Andrea and I clearly read the same blogs, I don't have many other options. Maybe Jan can blog about some of her "weirdness". Oh yeah, Misty too. Oh! or if you comment, you have to leave something "weird" about yourself.

Needed a change

I decided I was bored with the look of my blog. Do you like?

I have been looking for a picture to go with the next installment of 30 in 30, but I guess I'll have to find one while I'm visiting my mom this week.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Christmas Crafty

So I've been working on a lot of Christmas stuff lately - some decor and some for presents (sorry, can't show you those). The stuff in this post were all kits I got from Hobby Lobby for 90% off after Christmas last year. The colors photographed funny - that's really a deep red, not pink! I *think* I'll keep these, but they may show up at other homes, too...let me know what you think!

A few frames (including some close-up shots). The car didn't show up well, but it's coated with Crystal Effects to make it glossy (so are the holly leaves and berries):









"JOY" letters (with close-up shots of some details):

Can we fix it?

Okay, Bob the Builder fans, say it with me - "YES WE CAN!"

The other day, we were outside working on repairing our fence. Of course, Caleb NEEDED to help us, but quickly got bored of handing his daddy nails. He decided he needed to write us an "instruction book". Thought I would share it with you...just in case you ever need to build a fence...

Title page:


And here is the illustration to help you with nail placement on your pickets:

Happy building!

Seriously. Is this my kid???

If Caleb didn't look so stinkin' much like me and Chris, I would swear I've got the wrong kid. Every morning, he wants to make the beds. He loves to "Swiffer". Space Bags are on his Christmas wish list (and he can recite the entire commercial to you)! The past two days he has bugged me to let him clean the windows. As I type this, he's folding towels and blankets.

HUH?

Of course, all of this house-cleaning desire (that obviously skipped a generation) does not translate to picking up toys...he's "too busy for that, Mom." Oh yeah, and when I asked him why he wanted to clean the windows for the second day in a row, his response was, "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." LOL! Obviously there's a paternity question also...


PS - Santa, if you're reading this, please don't bring any more toys to our house this year. I'll even settle for Space Bags.

30 Years in 30 Weeks - edition 11

In 1988, we finally moved to the house we had been building for several years. Okay, Ben built it. Mom helped a lot and I swept a lot of sawdust. That move was a BIG change for me. Humble to Shepherd. A class full of Jessica's, Heather's and Tiffany's to a place that had names like Franny, Chancy and Tessie. (No offense, Tess, you know I love you!) It was a whole 'nother world in Shepherd! They wore Wranglers and big belt-buckles! Even the GIRLS! Some of those belt-buckles even had chickens or pigs on them! At the time, it was all very strange to me, but I grew to love it and am now so thankful that I basically "grew up" in a community where everyone knew and loved you...or at least looked out for you. I felt very out of place during those first days after our move. I wasn't used to changing teachers for different classes and was so embarrassed when I left my books in the wrong classroom. I felt like the kids looked at me differently. No one I talked to had divorced parents. I wore different clothes and talked with less of an accent (although I've gotten over THAT!). I remember one time I invited a friend to stay the night at my house and her mother was hesitant because we had a "bigger house". Little did she know that we didn't even have doors on our kitchen cabinets yet and probably still had ply-wood floors. Oh, and those "different" clothes I wore? Yeah, they were hand-me-downs from my cousin Jan.

The picture I included today is from the Fall of '88. By that time, I had time to acclimate myself to "the country". I had joined 4-H and even entered the San Jacinto County Fair in the foods division. I was in 4-H before we moved, but this was just on an entire different level. Speaking of...I wish I could find the picture of Jan and me at a 4-H event a year or two before this. We totally swept that competition!

30 Years in 30 Weeks - edition 10

This blog entry is probably one of the hardest ones I'll do. This picture was taken not too many months before my grandmother passed away. The baby brother I had been wishing for was born in July after I turned nine years old, and not too much longer, Grandma died. I can still remember the uncomfortable, awkward moment when my dad told me. She was such an amazing woman and it makes me sad to know that Sarah was too young to have any memories of her.

My earliest memory is at my Grandma's house. Mom told me that I couldn't have been more than two years old. I was sitting in a high chair at the dining room table with Grandma to my left and Mom to my right. I was eating an orange and got choked on some of the skin/membrane stuff around each segment. Grandma stuck her finger down my throat to retrieve the orange piece. She had very long fingers and fingernails. If you've seen my mom's hands, they are pretty much like Grandma's. I guess that's why I remember that moment so vividly. My cousin, Jan, mentioned in an earlier post that Grandma always had cookies at her house. She did and they were the best. My favorite were Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. Serious yum. My other favorite that Grandma made was Strawberry Jello Salad. If you've ever attended one of our family functions, you know there isn't an event that goes by without it! We always had Christmas Eve at the Kingwood house. Grandma would make lots of food (of course) and always took special care to get us the best presents she could find...Cabbage Patch Kids, my first "jam-box" (it was lavender), and my first TV. Mandy, Nikki and I had a blast playing in the "sunken" living room - playing on the old piano, performing skits - complete with costumes made from wrapping paper, etc. Grandma's house was the coolest...she had lots of old toys to play with, good food and cable. That was really a novelty back then! She even let us play in her good Estee Lauder make-up! I remember another time when a can of soup fell on my toe in her kitchen. She gave me the good old stand-by of "It will get well before you get married" and walked around in the backyard with me. When my cousin Kelli and I went to Girl Scout Camp one summer, she wrote me lots of letters and made sure to address each of them to "Sugar Bear" - her nickname for me. I loved it when she worked at Foley's at the purse counter and we got to go see her. She let me play with her "twist-a-bead" necklaces. She let us have candles in real candlestick holders - even at the children's table. She loved watching the hummingbirds at the feeders on her patio and the Houston Rockets. And she was a fighter. One particular day, I decided I needed to learn how to turn cartwheels. Grandma went out in the front yard and proceeded to practice with me. Nevermind that, due to her ALS, she was wearing leg braces to her knees on both legs. She never once let on that it was too hard for her to do. Even when she was in the hospital and couldn't talk, she still made sure to write out her thoughts on one of those wax write-and-peel pads - even to voice her opinion on my yet-to-be-born cousin Bodie's name. A truly amazing woman. I hope I can be like her one day. Love you Grandma.

Happy Birthday, Tessie!!!

Happy 30th, Tess! Just for fun, here's a picture of the whole gang from back in the day. (Tessie is in the blue shirt) LOL!

PS - Just say the word, Tess, and I'll take it down.

Christmas Ornaments

I sooo have the urge to start decorating for Christmas already (and Caleb seconds the idea)! However, I think I'll hold off a bit longer. We do, however, already have a Christmas paper chain that Caleb and I made with the help of Nana this weekend. He loves it and is overly-anxious to take off the strips each day. I also sat down and finally got these Christmas ornaments made for an exchange. I really like them and the pictures don't really do a good job of showing the dimension and texture. Oh well, you get the idea.

Calendar Accordion Book in a Box

I haven't had the time/energy/mojo to do much of anything in the "crafty" department lately, but I joined a swap with some other scrapbooking ladies and had to get this one done. LOL! I got this chipboard accordion album in a box from Oriental Trading a long time ago and finally figured out what to do with it! All the recipient has to do is add pictures! It was fun to make and had feelings of "why didn't I make one for myself?" after mailing it out. I especially loved the colors on the outside of the box!

The last picture is the altered tissue box I got from Christine! Isn't it the cutest?

Halloween Week Pictures

Even though we were all feeling a little under the weather, we did manage to get the token Halloween events taken care of. Please enjoy the following pictures of cupcake making, pumpkin carving (or eating in Cole's case) and trick-or-treating fun. Caleb's pumpkin has two big bottom teeth - just like he has now. ;)

30 Years in 30 Weeks - editions 8 & 9

The Christmas before I turned 7 years old, my mom and step-mom were both pregnant. Mrs. Kenyon, my first grade teacher whom everyone thought was a witch because she had a mole on her nose, had us write letters to Santa. I asked him for a baby brother. Well, guess what? Lindsey was born in January and Sarah was born in June. Yep, two sisters. Santa must have known what he was doing, though - they're pretty cool girls!

Fast forward to Halloween of '85. My mom made me a Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) costume that I absolutely LOVED. To date, it's probably the costume I remember the most. You can't see in the picture, but I had the red shoes and even carried a basket with "Toto" in it. And isn't Sarah the cutest little pumpkin you've ever seen? The scary gorilla-guy sitting next to us lived behind us in Porter. I think his name was Joseph. The Palermo's were pretty neat. Both of their kids were considerably older, but never did mind playing with me. They had a bird and a Boston Terrier. I always thought that was the ugliest dog ever. It's bug-eyes always seemed creepy to me. Naturally, Chris LOVES Boston Terriers and his parents have owned a few. I'm 99.984% shocked that we haven't owned one yet.




Since I'm playing "catch-up" this week, here's a lovely picture from 1986. I'm sure this was our Easter picture. This one always cracks me up. Notice the poofy-half-permed hair on my head. My hair never has liked to hold a curl! Sarah's hair (which isn't much) just won't lay down and I think she looks almost owl-like, but cuter. Kudos to Mom for the cute pink dresses...the only saving grace to this picture.