Wedded Bliss

I follow quite a few blogs, probably too many, and most of the widely-read ones feature carnivals. The blog author writes about a topic on her blog and then anyone is invited to feature the same topic on their blog and add a link on the original author's blog. One of my daily reads, Kelly's Korner, has featured a weekly carnival each Friday that has shown off every room of her house, birthday party themes, and now wedding aspects. My current life is less than exciting these days (thank goodness!), so I've decided to join this week's carnival because I have nothing current to share with you. 

Last week they featured wedding gowns, and today I am sharing my wedding, i.e. flowers, bridal party, church, etc. If I had it to do over again, I would have chosen an outdoor, natural setting. But, in 2001 we chose the church Daniel and I were raised in. 

It's a gorgeous church, but the overwhelming blood-red carpeting and accents makes it difficult to work with colors. I originally wanted black bridesmaids dresses, but so many people were doing black around that time, so I chose silver. All of my bridesmaids had different styles, so they chose different variations of a top and skirt.  

The bouquets may have been one of my favorite parts of the ceremony. The bridesmaids carried fresh-cut red tulips, my favorite flower. I carried two dozen tightly bound red roses. I dried the bouquet and have it framed in a shadow box in our bedroom. I also framed the wedding invitation and used a large framing mat as the sign-in book and have that framed and in our bedroom as well.

Fortunately, I am still close to all but one of these bridesmaids. Lyndsey and I have been friends since 7th grade, Hannah and I are cousins, Kelly Ann is my wonderful sister (in retrospect, I should have made her my Maid of Honor, but that was difficult since she was so young), and Michelle is my sister-in-law. They were all fantastic throughout the whole year of engagement and then the wedding.

The groomsmen wore the traditional black suit with a tie. They all looked stunning!

Aside from a special music piece sung by a longtime friend and accompanied on the piano by Hannah, the music was performed by a brass quartet from the local Symphony. 

The only thing I was disappointed in from that day was the photos, which is the one thing I focused on making sure it was perfect. We each picked an aspect of the wedding that was most important to us, and personally planned that part and spent the bulk of our money there.  Daniel picked the reception, and I picked the photography.) Grr.... I worked closely with the photographer telling him how I wanted all outdoor, natural photos. He did an engagement session with us that was perfect. Then, he did the wedding/reception and it stunk. Everything is in-doors and staged. Oh, well. The marriage is what we have now that it's all over, and that is working out wonderfully!

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Mr. Clean Was Here

I feel like I've greatly neglected my blog and my three readers lately, but really, there's nothing exciting going on. And, it feels awesome to be able to tell you that. Aside from the regular ins-and-outs of a full work day and taking care of the kids, the most exciting thing I did today was clean out the refrigerator and pantry. 

There is something I love about having sparkling refrigerator shelves and organized pantry shelves. I know, I'm weird, but cleanliness and organization relaxes me. I was wishing I had some chalkboard paint to make nameplates for each shelf of the pantry. I've decided that the other people I live with and our many guests must not be able to follow my (obvious) organization patterns in the pantry, so I'm sure it would be more helpful if each shelf were labeled. I'm sure I'll have time to add those nifty nameplates to the shelves this weekend. And, I'm itching to get a shoe-organizer to hang on the back of the pantry door to make my spices easier to see. 

If you're still reading this and haven't fallen asleep due to boredom, I'll share with you some images of my freshly cleaned and organized kitchen. I'm sure you'd much rather see photos of us somewhere exciting like Sea World or on an innertube behind a boat, but I'm happy that this is all I've got so far this week.

I hope the rest of the week stays as boring as it has been thus far!

Are the Leaves Changing Colors Yet?

I just can't clear my head enough to figure out what day it is. Don't tell me, I know it's Tuesday. I mean... Is it summer? Is it fall? What's going on?!

We have had so much going on this summer that it's worn me out! Many days at the pool, quite a few rounds of overnight visitors at home, entertaining those visitors around Central Texas, two family reunion weekends away, two week-long trips for the kids' to grandparents (which translates to trying and exhausted children returned to me not anything close to the way I sent them), and much more has consumed my time and energy this summer. I can look at the calendar and see that we're still in the middle of summer. Not to mention, I can walk outside into our 35th day of 100+ temps and KNOW that it is still summer. But, I don't think I can take any more summer.

We started paying the kids' tuition payments and I ordered new backpacks this month, and my mind immediately (and joyfully) went into school-is-about-to-start mode.  After adding important school calendar dates to my personal calendar today, I realized that we still have a month of summer left! Well, we all know summer lasts much longer in Texas, but we have a month of non-school summertime left. That's one-third of the summer! That means I'm only two-thirds through this exhausting time. Really, I don't think I can take any more. 

Over the last weekend, the kids came down with some sort of stomach bug that forced us to cancel all obligations and spend the weekend holed up at home puking, doing laundry, puking and doing a lot more laundry. Although the kids didn't fare the weekend so well, I was thrilled to be confined to the house and even more thrilled when our visiting company shortened their visit and we were left alone. What kind of Mom enjoys vomiting children?! This Mom. This tired mom does. 

Oh.... I can already see it coming. The kids are going to be disappointed with the last month of their summer vacation. After being home since Friday night, Abigail asked today where we were going. Nowhere, I said. She sighed and suggested that maybe we would think of somewhere to go later today. I don't think so, baby girl. I'm sure I'll pull out of this homebody funk eventually, but for now, we're sticking to our house - ALONE! 

Don't get me wrong, I've thoroughly enjoyed our eventful summer and everyone we have shared it with. But, I'm fully spent and looking forward to the confines of a school schedule that will hold us down to our homefront until the wave of holidays hits us at the end of the year. In the meantime, I'm hoping August is filled with lots of nights at home, weeding through the stack books I want to read and a whole lot of nothing else.

Here We Go Again

We've tried a few different dieting approaches this year, and most have worked to get that initial weight off, but I need to get serious now. I mean, as serious as a heart attack, because that's where I'm headed if I don't get my weight in check. 

I'd been looking into different options and searched for the best plan when a friend from church told me a few weeks ago how she lost her baby weight. I'd been wondering how she was so skinny with a 6-month old, so I'm going with her plan. 

I'm sure all diet plans work if you stick to them, but I need something easy  to follow, convenient, quick to prepare, and still allows me to eat normal food, with portion control, of course. The problem is finding that plan. Daniel and I have committed to this new plan for at least 1 month. Tonight I'm going to do a weigh-in, take all my measurements, and even take a pic of myself to encourage myself. 

I am throwing in some fun things, too. I ordered a Wii Active that will be here any day. Hopefully that will be a fun switch-up in my work-outs. 

Here we go...

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Too MANY Hours in the DAY?!

The kids are visiting their grandparents for the week, and I'm at a loss of what to do. They were gone for another visit just two weeks ago, but I was working 20-hour days that week, so I didn't have any free time to fill. This week, work is totally dead, and I have no idea what to do with my time. 

I have been able to find a few things. I shopped for upcoming birthdays and used my weekly coupons that needed to be put to use. I went into Austin today to take care of a traffic ticket for Daniel, dropped off some clothes at Goodwill, and got the inspection sticker for Daniel's truck. Over the weekend I hung some things on the wall in Abigail's room and picked up all the uniform clothes the kids will need for school.  

Now, I'm left to twiddle my thumbs and wonder what I did with all my free time before I became a mom. Aside from sitting at the computer for work, when the kids are here, I don't have time to sit still at all. Now that they aren't here, I think my butt is starting to wonder what happened and why I'm sitting on it so much. The rest was nice and it was great to get caught up and ahead on errands, but now I'm bored. The problem is that it's only Tuesday, and the kids won't be home until Sunday. Aack! 

What did I do before kids?! Hmmmm.... As best I can recall, we filled our free time with traveling and when Daniel was gone, I shopped. Since we're working all week, traveling is out of the question, and I've got my fill of shopping. 

Really, I should be hitting the gym. But, who wants to do that?! I can do that when the kids are here. 

I did think about going to see a movie in a theater, but didn't see anything on the playbill worth paying for. Why is it that the good releases are never available when the kids are gone? Unfortunately, I'm too cheap to pay for babysitting when there is something I want to see. I just wait until it's a rental. 

What else can I do? Ideas? 

A New Decade for KA

That's her, sleeping beauty. Ha! Actually, it's my sister, Kelly Ann, and she's 20 today. In honor of her special day, I wanted to share some of the best about her. Obviously, she's a pleasant sleeper, that is, if you get past the drooling and kicking. 

Her musical skills are endless.  Her cellphone-as-mic-for-singing-in-the-car skills are my favorite. (I must admit, she learned that from me. But, I prefer the old school phones with the antenna for a more realistic mic experience. Today's flip phones and PDAs don't give the same experience.) 

I promise, this impromptu concert at the Eggers home a few years ago was an absolute delight to the ears, at least for those with deaf ears.

And, the harmonica/kazoo band KA formed with Abigail is LEG-END-DARY!

More obvious than her musical skills, Kelly Ann is quite fashionable. I've always admired her make-up application skills.

She always know how to accessorize with just the right pieces.

And, she certainly knows how to accentuate just the right parts of her body.

Her cleanliness and hygiene are admired by all.

She's certainly not afraid of the wrinkles that will come with each of these special days. She's been practicing her yeah-I'm-wrinkled-but-I-don't-care face for years. It's lovely!

And, she's readying for those days when she'll need help seeing all those books she loves to read each day.

HA! HA! But, truly, Kelly Ann is the most delightful sister I could ever ask for. She's blessed us with a servant's heart, a soul that loves my babies as much as possible, and a loyalty you could never begin to ask for in someone. 

Happy birthday, Kelly Ann! We love you!!!

She Said WHAT?!

Last week we made our way through the metropolis of home shopping that is IKEA so that Maggie could get dishes, a lamp and various decor items for her new apartment. Daniel wasn't shopping but using the shopping cart as his personal wheeled toy. If you've ever been to an IKEA, you know that the carts are an anomaly. They look like regular four-wheeled metal grocery store carts, but they can be pushed in any direction, as the wheels don't only roll forward, but go any angle. And, the carts have a mind of their own. The carts are always frustrating to me, but Daniel found them amusing, as he pushed Abigail throughout the store in spins, weaves and various embarrassing paths that got in the way of many shoppers.

At one point, another shopper remarked that the cart was spinning so much that Abigail wouldn't be able to stand up and walk if she got out of the cart. Abigail replied, "One time my daddy came home  and couldn't walk straight and couldn't even stand up without holding onto the wall!" The lady replied, "Out of the mouths of babes!" and walked off as Daniel laughed hysterically. 

Instead of implying that her daddy is a drunkard, Abigail could have shared the rest of that story she has heard about the first time Daniel was out on a submarine for an extended period of time and had a serious balance problem when he came home and was feeling the effects of getting his sea legs. 

Oh, Abigail! 

Hardy Lakecation

A few weeks ago we had our first vacation of the summer, a long weekend at Lake LBJ with Daniel's extended family. Of course, there was great fellowshipping and yummy meals, homemade ice cream, fresh watermelon and all that fun stuff, but the real highlight was the watersports. Daniel's cousins Molly and Jamie and my sister Kelly Ann sported the wakeboard for a while, but we were mostly all about the innertube. Almost everyone had their shot on the tube, but a handful of us were out on the boat every time it went out on the water. And, the most fun was had by Abigail. 

The gracious boat owner, Daniel's uncle Jay, was so kind when Daniel was the first to get out on the tube. Abigail was riding in the boat, and Jay offered to go slowly so that Abigail wouldn't be scared Daniel would get hurt. But, the wake had hardly formed when Abigail was insisting that Jay go as fast as he could. She loved seeing people get slung around behind the boat and thrown off! 

When it was her turn, she couldn't get enough. Even when she would get thrown off the tube, we would come back around to pick her up, and she insisted on getting back onto the tube and going again. If anyone else wanted to ride, they had to jump on with Abigail because she wasn't getting back in the boat. She was awesome! She would even taunt Jay after a rough ride would throw her off, shouting, "Is that all you got, Jay?!" If I wasn't impressed, I would be worried that she's too much of a daredevil. There is no telling what she is willing to do!

If we left Abigail on the shore, the rest of us got a chance to ride. Soon after this photo was taken of me and Kelly Ann, we were thrown from the tube and knocked heads hard enough to give me a hugely swollen forehead the following morning, not to mention a ferocious headache. 

The ski boat didn't get all the action. Daniel's kayak was taken for a spin by almost everyone in the family. 

Well, that is, except Travis. Kelly Ann comforted him on the dock while everyone else had the fun. Ha! The life-size cardboard cut-out of Daniel's cousin, Travis, wasn't waterproof so we weren't able to take him with us on all the fun, but he was in the villas, at the pool and at the meals. It was Daniel's Aunt Sharon's homage to her son who is currently stationed in Iraq and couldn't join us at the lake this year. We'll see you next year, Trav!

Dad's Day

I know, I know, I'm way behind in blogging, but I'm going to catch up eventually. Today, I'm going all they way back to Father's Day. My generous dad made the trek to Austin for the weekend because our Vacation Bible School began that day and we weren't going to be able to get to Odessa. Fortunately, Austin is a much cooler place to be for a celebratory weekend than Odessa, anyways.

We ventured down to San Marcos for a relaxing glass bottom boat tour of Aquarena Springs. It was awesomely shady and cool out on the boat, and the view was interesting as well.

Abigail was especially entertaining for the tour guide as she told about the "huge, disgusting" catfish her daddy caught one time as soon as the young lady began telling us of the albino catfish in the river.  

The aquarium was a bit lame, but my favorite part of Aquarena Springs was the floating wetlands boardwalk. It was great to get out over the water and see the fish up close. The water is crystal clear, so it's a great view.

Cooper was eager to catch and eat this fish! He obviously spends quality time with Daniel.

After San Marcos, we went on to the Gruene Market Days, which was small but had some good deals on handmade items and plants. I've been itching to check out Gruene so I was excited about what we came to at the end of the main street... GRUENE HALL! 

If you are any kind of Texas music fan, you must have a reverence for Gruene Hall. I'll equate it to the Church of Willie (Nelson, that is). We happened upon a great swing-a-billy band in midst of a concert. I wasn't keen on taking the kids in, so Dad, KA and I only stayed for a few minutes while my mother graciously (probably thankfully, if I know her) waited outside with Abigail and Cooper.

I can't wait to make it back down for a complete show at Gruene Hall!Photobucket">

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

For the past week, Daniel and I have been on vacation from work, and it's been a whirlwind! I'll give you the Cliff's Notes version of our hectic time.

First, we traded in our Suburban for a 2007 Cadillac Escalade. We're very much enjoying all the bells and whistles this treats us to that our Chevy did not feature. We have never traded a car in, choosing to sell outright in the past, but we took the easy way out this time and do not regret it one bit. With all the research Daniel did on this and time spent working out the deal, it was exhausting, but a good deal!

On Thursday, our dear friends Maggie and Kevin had some troubles flying to Austin from South Carolina. At the last minute, we jumped in the car and booked it down to San Antonio because that was the closest American Airlines could get them to Austin without waiting another day (or more!). We decided to make a mini-vacay out of it and stayed over in a hotel and...

...put our SeaWorld season passes to work the next day. It was super hot so we mostly stuck to the water rides and splash zones at the shows. Needless to say, I don't have any pics of our fun because I didn't want to get my camera wet, but I can pass on a tip. We bought the Quick Queue passes to avoid any time spent waiting in lines, and it was well worth the money! Those things are manna from theme park heaven! I don't think I'll ever visit a theme park without getting a fast pass. Fun times!

After a day of IKEA shopping, eating, napping and being lazy, we were rested up enough to go south again, this time to San Marcos. Daniel, Abigail, Maggie and Kevin took a trip floating down the river. They said it was a great time of relaxation and staying cool in the spring-fed waters (read: super cool in our super hot weather). Meanwhile, Cooper and I stayed dry at the San Marcos outlet malls snatching up some good deals and avoiding any You're-A-Mean-Mom-For-Making-Your-Frightened-Child-Get-In-The-Water-When-He's-Scared-To-Death scenes at the river. 

On the way back into Austin, we enjoyed some yummy shrimp enchiladas at the Hula Hut on Lake Austin. But, that wasn't our only feasting for the week. Since it was a vacation, we went all out - great seafood at Pappadeax, yummy Mexican at Chuy's, tasty steak at Salt Grass, delicious pie at the Texan Cafe, Kevin's favorite Steak & Shake. Yeah, we were certainly well fed and will have to do some serious backing away from the table over the next month to make up for it.

On the last day of our staycation, we toured the State History Museum in an effort to get out of the house but escape the deadly heat outdoors. It was interesting but we were mostly bummed that we slept in too late to catch an IMAX flick at the museum. 

The only adventure I caught on film was our last sightseeing trek in Austin, which I'll share tomorrow...

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Step 1, We Can Have Lots of Fun

We continued our annual Father's Day tradition of making stepping stones for Daniel and both grandfathers. 

Each year, we solidify in concrete, each of Abigail and Cooper's hand or footprint, their name and the year, as a gift for each of the dad/grandads. 

In retrospect, when I had just one child, and made only three stepping stones, this was a better idea. But, now that we make six stepping stones each year, it has become a bit of an ordeal. To make matters worse, last year we were in the midst of a South Carolina-to-Texas move and unable to carry on the stepping stone tradition. That meant, this year we had to make up for it and create 12 stepping stones! (No, I didn't lie and put 2009 handprints in the 2008 stepping stones. Instead, the 2008 stones are decorated with a large imprint of the shape of Texas, their name and the year.) 

But, I know I already treasure the tiny feet and hands imprinted in stepping stones circling our crepe myrtles in the back yard. I can't imagine how sweet the memories will be in 20 years.