A vacation from reality

You know, it's funny how easy it is to get bogged down in the reality of life. This morning, I remembered that I forgot to take the clothes from the dryer last night and how they are probably nice and wrinkled now. Around lunchtime, I was griping about how an unattended sippy cup had leaked some milk on my couch. An hour ago, I was stressing out over how to update a resume after being a stay-at-home mom for the past two years...oh yeah, and figuring out which bills need to be paid tomorrow. A few short minutes ago, I was muttering under my breath as my kids continued to track back and forth from the backyard across my freshly cleaned floor. Then something happened. My freckled-face boy came running up asking me to help him button up his shirt and did I want to go to "Hou-waii" with him? I giggled and peeked into the living room. My milk-stained couch is loaded up with random (wrinkled) clothes and toys and pillows and blankets. I'm informed it's a boat and they need me to help them get to "Hou-waii". So, if you'll excuse me, I must go pick up my wooden spoon oar....it's a long way to row.

Vacation Recap

Well...Chris' vacation has come to a close. We didn't do any world travelling. We didn't ride any fantastic roller coasters. We didn't even get to take the bluebonnet pictures. BUT we did have a good time and got a lot of stuff crossed off the "to do" list! And, of course, we hung out at the little league ballpark a few days.

But here's something I bet a lot of you haven't done:

That's right, folks. We stayed at the TeePee Motel. Of course, Caleb thought it was great because it was "just like the Cozy Cone in Radiator Springs" (Cars). FYI, these are in Wharton. Chris' mom and her friend, Roger, came up to fish on the Colorado River (which, by the way, the Wharton-ites are pretty oblivious to) so we met them there. Chris met them Tuesday morning and spent half of the day "fishing for bait" - which he so eloquently described as looking for the boat ramp. Later that evening, I drove the boys down there after Caleb's t-ball game. Caleb stayed there to fish with them and Cole and I spent the next two days preparing for what was to come next...

Yep...we spent all of this past weekend repainting our living room and entryway. The picture above is in our entryway and I think I effectively used up all of my extra "honey-do" points on this one. We had finally finished painting everything and I decided I wanted a rectangle painted on the wall to help "transition" into the living room (which is now two-tone brown - the brown you see here is above our chair rail with a darker brown below). I heard lots of muttering under his breath as he measured, taped, re-measured, cut trim, re-measured, etc., but he got it done and I'm so happy with the results! Good job, honey!

So, no, we didn't have a vacation that others dream about, but it was GOOD. I'll leave you with my new all-time favorite "loves of my life" picture from last week...

Small Ball & the Big Leagues

T-ball is winding down for us...only three games to go. We have two this week (today and Thursday) and then one next weekend. Caleb has had tons of fun and is definitely getting better. He still throws the ball MUCH better at home to Daddy than at the games, but at this age, it really doesn't matter much.

On Sunday, we celebrated our friend Sabrina's birthday. Part of the festivities included the Astros game. It was Cole's first trip to Minute Maid (well, except for that time in the womb)! We sat way up, but we were in the shade and had a good view of the field. Plus, we had almost all of the kids in tow, so it was nice to be in a less crowded part of the seats. It *almost* felt like a field trip...complete with mini-lessons on how to read the scoreboard. Our little group of friends is definitely transitioning into a different stage of life. The number of children is quickly catching up to the number of adults and I'm fairly certain that the number of bathroom trips is directly proportional to the number of innings. I think next time, I'll take my "teacher flag" so we can all find each other a little easier.

Not much to talk about...

Well, things have been just left of monotonous around here. Caleb came down with a nasty cough last week (BIG thanks to the t-ball mom that continues to bring her hacking kids TO EVERY SINGLE PRACTICE, GAME and EVENT) - so much that we missed his game on Saturday. Now, Cole seems to have a touch of it. GREAT. Remind me to make that mom a thank you card.

Chris started vacation yesterday. We really don't have much planned. BUT, I thought I would let my loyal fan club know because that definitely means decreased computer access for me for the next week and a half. I'm hoping that we can convince Chris to take a drive out towards Brenham one day to check out the bluebonnets. Can you believe I don't have pics of my kids in the bluebonnets? Sheesh...and to think I'm a native Texan.

Foods of Savannah Mini-Book

...and when I say "mini", it really is! This book measures only 2.75x5.75 inches, but it's perfect for what I wanted to do! I'm so happy with how this turned out! As you may know, my mom, sister and I get pretty darn excited about food...reading menus seems to be a favorite hobby of mine. While in Savannah, we definitely satisfied the desire to check out as much of the local cuisine as we could pack into our short weekend. I'm still waiting to add one more part of a title on one page...can't remember if it was Grouper or Flounder Sarah had at the Cotton Exchange??? Anyway, enjoy.

Weirdest mail day ever

So, a few days ago my friend, Becky, emailed me asking for my address. She said she had something to mail to me. I was excited to see what would arrive...I just love "happy mail"!!! Well, it got here today. Let me just say that it was indeed a surprise! Look at what I got:



Yep. That's my braces - the top half. I honestly don't remember this, but back in 7th grade (when I first got my braces), Becky asked me if she could have my top braces once I got them off. Fast forward to 1993...I got them off and followed through with my promise. Becky said she was recently at her mom's house cleaning out her old room and came across the braces and decided to send them to me. Any ideas of what I should do with them??? What's the weirdest thing YOU have ever received in the mail?

New crafty

Below is a 6x6 scrapbook I did of the beautiful homes and churches in Savannah, Georgia. I kept it very simple since the buildings were so beautiful - I really wanted the pictures to take center stage. Although the title of the slide show reads "Savannah Churches", know that most of the pics are of homes...I just can't seem to change the title now that the slideshow is posted. Enjoy. I also plan on doing a mini-book strictly on the food we ate while in Savannah and another album with various other Savannah pics.

Savannah Churches

The cutest thing EVER...

Last night as I was putting the boys to bed, I witnessed what was probably the cutest thing ever. We had read our two books and turned off the light. Caleb had already fallen asleep and Cole was in the "I'm ready to give up, so I'm going to wiggle around a little more" mode. All of a sudden, Cole scoots over towards Caleb. I peeked over and watched him move Caleb's arm over and snuggle up next to him. Within SECONDS, Cole was asleep. I was *thisclose* to going back in to take a picture of them, but I was too afraid to wake them.

THAT is one of the many reasons I love being a mommy.

Recent Scrapbooking

Well, Chris is at work right now and I can't sleep...thanks to my dog ferociously barking at something in the back yard. She's very loud and I'm too scared to find out what it is. I'm sure it's a small animal or something, but I'm still not going out there. I'm finding that I'm not doing very well in the sleep department when Chris works overnight...which happens to be every four days for four days straight. Not so good. Anyway. I thought my insomnia *might* be cured by a wasting a little time in my well-lit office playing on the computer. Not so much. I figured my loyal fan base should benefit from my kid-free time as well, so I'm posting some of my favorite scrapbooking pages from the past week or so. Enjoy. And, yes...that's all Caleb. I'm VERY behind. Okay, off to try to sleep some...if not, I'm sure Murphy (as in the Law) will make sure that my children wake up unusually early.

Opening Day Parade & Carnival

This morning, we had the Little League Parade, Opening Day Ceremony and Carnival. Well actually, the carnival is still going on, but we came home. Cole was too demanding because he was so tired. I took the wagon with me, which worked well for the parade, but soon lost its glamour once we got to the ceremony and carnival. Trying to hold a toddler, keep up with Caleb and navigate a huge wagon around running kids, countless inflatable bouncy things and mud-filled fields is not my idea of fun. Plus, our 80-degree weather seemed to leave town for the day and we were a little cold. We *might* go back later if Cole will ever take a nap, but I'm trying to think of other ideas. I came to some interesting mommy conclusions while we were there, but I'll save that for a different post. For now, enjoy the pics...

Losing my fan base...

okay, okay...so I haven't blogged all week. Sorry. I know there are dozens of you hitting "refresh" over and over on your computer - thinking that you MUST have somehow missed an all-important update from me. Sadly, no. I just haven't beaten my husband to the computer errr...I mean had time to do so this week. See, Chris is now working a new schedule - four on, four off. While that is great, it also means less access to the computer for me. I guess I'll try to make up for it on his days off from now on. But anyway...not much new going on. I'm slowly adjusting to my new role as "Chauffeur/Baseball Mom". In addition to our Friday/Saturday games last weekend, we had a game Tuesday, one tonight, the all-day parade/carnival tomorrow and team pictures on Sunday. I haven't looked past then. I'm already tired. So, enough of my rambling...here are some pics from the week:

The roses Chris bought me.

You probably can't see, but they had a tone-on-tone stripe look to them.

Very cool. Especially since he's not a "flower guy."

Me and the hubs at Gringo's. YUM.

Cole and his new girlfriend.

Caleb playing catcher.

New favorite pic - Chris and Cole, with Caleb in the background at bat.