My Crackhead

A Wii bowling accident went terribly wrong at our house this morning. Cooper has a bowling routine of running as he releases the ball. It's worked out really well for him until today. He tripped mid-run and fell into the entertainment center. Well, the entertainment center won.

If you're a bit squeamish, you should probably click elsewhere.

Fortunately for my just cleaned carpets, there was very little blood. Unfortunately for Cooper, that was because he cut his head all the way to the skull. Fortunately, he's a tough kid and it didn't phase him very much. We threw some ice on it and jumped into the car to head to the ER.

The doctors numbed him up...


Then, he waited to be stitched up.


Yes, he's a tough guy!


Needless to say, we didn't make it to church as planned. But, we were all dressed up for the emergency room visit.

First Week of School

We made it through the first week of school! Fortunately, it was just three days. It's too bad every week is not just Wednesday through Friday. I think we could handle that.

This week, the most important issue was fashion. Abigail has a "new style" this year and she is taking great pains to make sure she shows her "new style" She isn't interested in anything I like. She isn't interested in looking her age. She is trying my patience.  Needless to say, shopping for school clothes was trying. We were able to compromise and come up with a few outfits, and she looked very cute. But getting to this point was not easy.
Day 1, Wednesday...


Day 2, Thursday...


Day 3, Friday...


I am already dreading the real shopping season: when it starts cooling off and she has to have a whole, new wardrobe. There are going to be lots of arguments. I just know it. It's not going to be pretty. Please pray for me.

I Had Good Intentions

I could kick myself! I stayed up late the night before school putting together first day of school gifts for the kids' teachers. I designed and printed three different sets of stationary cards.


I labeled a cute mug with my Silhouette.


I wrote sweet, endearing cards for each of the three ladies and then wrapped up the gifts so that they would be ready when we walked out the door.


Unfortunately, I slept so hard that I completely forgot the gifts. So, they were great second day of school gifts today. Oh, well.

Back to School

Today was the first day of school, and the kids were elated to get out the door. Also, they were too cute!




We weren't exactly punctual, so I don't have a photo of Abigail at her desk. The teacher was already teaching when we dropped her off, so I have nothing to show. She was mortified that we walked her to class, so she is probably happy that I couldn't come in and take photos.

Cooper's class starts 10 minutes later so I got to be the doting mom with a camera in his class. Yes!



And, with that, they're off! And, Daniel and I spent the next five hours in blissful quietness. It. Was. Awesome. Thanks, school. I owe you.

One Last Hurrah

We made one more trip to Odessa for a last hurrah of summer. The kids were in hog heaven playing with Gran and Grandad's neighbors, Paige and Noah.


I enjoyed a few visits with my grandparents. My dad's father especially cracks me up. He's a hoot!


We made several visits to the nursing home to see Mimi.




The highlight of the trip was the kids singing at the Sunday morning service at the nursing home. They each sang "Jesus Loves Me" at least once, and I'm certain my grandmother enjoyed every off-key note of it!

She's Still a Maniac

Abigail loved her run/swim event a few weeks ago and begged to compete in a full triathalon. Who am I to hold a girl back?!

This was a much bigger event than the run/swim, but she wasn't deterred.



She started off in the swim and was passing people like crazy! She was like lightening!


She lost some time in the first transition because her ponytail made it difficult to get her helmet on. She eventually got it.


She came out of the transition like a mad woman on her bike!


Not even the 5K bike portion was enough to deter her fierceness. She was still determined when she came back to the transition area.


Unfortunately, a collision going into the transition area caused her to lose some more time and come away with a knee injury. But once she got her bike untangled, she was off again!




I love to see her compete! She goes all out!



She is just awesome! She was 14th of the 26 girls in her age division. She was 86th of the 166 7-10 year olds. See, I told you she is awesome!




She is already campaigning to compete in another tri, and I'm sure I'll cave in soon. She's just too good to turn down.

Put a Name on It

I have this amazing cutting tool that I'm obsessed with. Daniel got the Silhouette SD for me for Christmas, but I only recently had time to begin using it. Now, I can't stop!

These water bottles were a hit with the swim team members who qualified for the state championship meet.


Of course, Abigail had to have her own personalized water bottle.

And, this vinyl is water proof so I can even put this bottle in the dishwasher and it is still in perfect condition. How could you not be jealous of that?!

I even made a back-to-school care package for my niece and nephew and labeled their pencil boxes.

I won't bore you with showing you every folder, gluestick, pair of scissors, pencil box, etc. that I labeled for Cooper and Abigail to take to school. I'm addicted to this stuff!

My favorite item I've personalized so far was a birthday gift for one of Abigail's friends. I found a Kaboodle for Elisan and couldn't wait to show Abigail. I know it wasn't nostalgic for her, but I'm a child of the 80s. This thing is awesome!


Now, I have some t-shirts to make. Seriouslly! This Silhouette can do anything!

She's a Maniac

Abigail just can't stand to be out of competition so today she competed in a kids' run/swim race in Cedar Park. I was so nervous for her to do something new, but she was pumped!


She wanted to compete in this event last year, but she was too young. So, she was one of the youngest in the race this year.


That didn't slow her down! She was a crazed runner when she came out of the transition area. I cringed when I saw that she didn't even take the time to tie her shoes. I just knew she would trip and face plant somewhere along the run. Not her! She ran steady the whole race!


She was fifth in her girls division, but friend Jaylen won his boys division.


And, Chick-fil-a is a great prize for any race.

We're Going to Grandma's House

We haven't made a family trip to Odessa since Christmas, so we were long overdue when my cousin, Casey, asked us to meet her there for a quick weekend. Why not?! We loaded up the car and trekked out to the desert, and I did a lot of nothing.

It was blissful.


The kids especially loved playing with their cousins at Uncle Curt's.


Trust me that there was a lot of yummy food, fun times with family and a lot of relaxing. I was so relaxed that I never even took my camera out of the car. These lone photos are courtesy of my phone. Enjoy them as much as I enjoyed being lazy.