She's 7! I know, I can't Believe it Either.

This year's annual celebration of my sweet, little girl started off in a cultural tradition. No, we didn't brand her or rope her. Although she's a Texan now, Abigail started her life off in Hawaii, so we presented her with a lei to wear to school.

I love this Christina lei that I ordered from a Honolulu florist. It arrived on dry ice, and she was able to wear it for three days! I hope I can keep up this tradition for her.

Keeping in the Hawaiian theme, we trekked it to the movie theater to see another Hawaiian girl.

It was a great movie! I can't wait to buy it on DVD because the whole family enjoyed it.

At Abigail's request, we strayed from the island adventures and ventured closer to home when we met KellyAnn and Taylor for a Mexican feast. Aunt KellyAnn made sure the restaurant recognized the birthday girl.



KA did make up for the embarassment by bringing the cake, so Abigail didn't hold it against her.



A few days later, after the weekend was over, we continued the celebration with lunch at school.


And, a birthday isn't complete without class treats. At Abigail's request, of course, I made cake pops for the kids.



With that, the birthday celebration came to an end. After almost a week of celebrating, I think we've had enough.

Easter

We had a lovely Easter weekend that kicked off with a first grade performance at Abigail's school. The kids were adorable in their Easter outfits complete with bonnets and top hats.


Abigail performed magnificently, of course, in her solo speaking part.


The best part of the show was seeing the kids tell the story of Easter! I'm so happy to see Abigail being educated academically and spiritually.


But, the best performance was the encore. After presenting the show at school to students and parents, the kids traveled to a nearby nursing home to perform for the residents.


The kids even passed out hugs and love to the sweet ladies after the performance.




I was so proud of these kids!


and especially Abigail's best girlfriends, Molly and Kyla!


Little brother was proud to see Sissy, too!

April Swim Meet

Abigail had a fantastic start to the long course season at UT this weekend.



She was amazing in the water and we were so proud to see her make some of her qualifying times. She even swam her first 100 fly, getting her first qualifying time for the 10& under age group. Keep in mind that she is 6. Yes, I know. She's amazing.


Gran and Grandad were here to see the awesomeness. Abigail is so excited when they come to watch her swim.


Aunt KellyAnn and cousin Carter even came to cheer her on.


The entire Lone Star team swam so great that I wanted to treat them. Today I baked up 13 pans of brownies to be able to take treat bags to practice.



Please excuse me while I fall into my chocolate coma.

It's Not Waterboarding, But It's Still Torture

I've told you before about all of my attempts at losing weight. Yeah, I'm just calling it weight. I can't even think about calling it baby weight since Cooper is almost 5, but it's been hanging around my middle since Cooper was a baby.

I've done Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, HerbaLife, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some of them. The only program that was successful for me was Atkins, but the zero carb diet was terribly unhealthy and had to be abandoned, resulting in eliminating most of my success.

Don't think I've run the gamut only with dieting. I've tried it all with exercising as well. I started out with spin classes, which was my favorite program so far. Even with sweating through hour-long spin classes three to five times a week, I never lost more than five pounds. I've grown to love the elliptical at the gym the past two years, but I've never been regular with my gym-going habits. When I get an hour to spend with the elliptical or treadmill at the gym, it's great. But my love handles are proof that one to three days a week in the gym just doesn't cut it. The only program I've been committed to was P90X, which I did in conjunction with the Atkins diet last year. As I said before, I definitely lost weight during that time, but I couldn't continue the 60-90 minute workouts six days a week after the initial three month program. So, the success I did have was short-lived. Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred didn't even make me break a sweat, and my Wii Active is impossible to workout with as the kids are always in the way once they know I'm playing the Wii.

I can give you an excuse for every pound I need to lose. I'm a super busy working mom. I never wanted or needed to learn healthy eating habits before having Cooper. Working around Daniel's ever-changing schedule is impossible. I could go on and on, but that doesn't get me sliding comfortably into my skinny jeans.

I can't think of anything else to do on my own that I haven't already done, so this week I took the plunge and brought someone else into the equation. On a whim, I had a conversation Monday night with Abigail's head swim coach about his personal training services. Just a few minutes into the conversation, it was no longer a whim, and Adam was making plans to be at my house the next morning. Tomorrow, Friday, he'll be at my house for my third session. The past three days have been a blur of running and jogging and sprinting and kettlebells and plank positions with a balance ball. My sessions with Adam have been puke-inducing, and I've made myself get out on my own to run. I'm financially committed for at least a month and Adam is planning to work with me for at least a month longer than that.

I still don't know what I've gotten myself into, but I do know that I will sue Adam for pain and misery if I don't end up skinny.

Spring Has Sprung

We didn't just play and travel over Spring Break. Once we returned home and ended the traveling fun (not because we wanted to but only because Daniel is a party pooper. Okay, he's not a party pooper. He had to go to work.), I took one look at our front yard, and knew I needed to get busy.

After snow and ice and freezes and draught, my fall/winter pansies were a sad, sad sight.


Well, these guys are not completely horrific. Maybe this group around the tree tells the better story.


Just sad. If only you could have seen them before their demise. They really were pretty at one point. Trust me. But, their pretty days were over.

I headed to Lowe's for the spring/summer replacements. It's not a tough job each season because I stick with what works for me. I'm not adventuresome with my planting. I wish I could be since there are so many beautiful plants calling my name at Lowe's but, I know what works for me. It's pansies and/or mums in fall/winter and petunias and/or marigolds in spring/summer. The few times I've strayed from those choices, I had to invoke the return clause at Lowe's. (It's a beautiful thing, that return clause, that lets you sack up the dead plants and return them to Lowe's. If you have your receipt, they will refund your money. That's why I only buy at Lowe's.) Okay, back to my front yard...


Ahhh.... Aren't they just gorgeous?! These are French Marigolds, but they look just like the African Trailing Marigolds I planted two years ago. Those were the most gorgeous and successful flowers I've ever planted. I hope these are just as great.

The yellow marigolds, paired with these purple and white petunias was the perfect combination I wanted.





Now, that's much better.

Random Rambling & Ranting

Have I ever mentioned that Cooper is all boy? Yeah, he is. And, have I ever mentioned that boys are an entirely different parenting excursion than girls are? Yeah, they are. The older this boy gets, the more he keeps me on my toes. Forget the exhaustion of teaching a toddler not to bite people. And, don't even think about the trials of potty training. Those days were nothing compared to our current parenting trials.

After Cooper's swim practice on Friday, he went to the boys' locker room and never came back. Well, I shouldn't say "never". He did come back in about 15 minutes, which is an eternity when you are a nervous mom considering everything he could be doing while unsupervised. As I was debating on which dad I would sucker into going into the locker room to find out what Cooper was up to, Cooper emerged from the locker room with his swim trucks around his ankles. Take a minute to take this mental scene in... We are at the local YMCA pool. The majority of Abigail's swim team is present. Plenty of other unknowing swimmers are enjoying the family splash pool. It's not a nudist camp.

Sitting in the bleachers with the other parents watching Abigail's practice, I sprang into action and tried to get to him as quickly as possible while he just stood by the pool in his complete nakedness. Abigail's head coach got to him before I could and quickly pulled his trunks up. I still have no clue what gave him the idea that I wouldn't want to tar and feather him for this stunt. He claimed that he couldn't pull his trunks up. Yeah, right. It was just Cooper being Cooper. 

A serious talk about modesty, the inappropriateness of being naked in public, threats of banishment from the pool, a lifetime ban on the men's locker room, and a lifetime ticket to the pool's family bathroom with a parental chaperone took over the remainder of the night. Sigh... See what I mean about exhaustion?

As if I needed proof to know that Cooper couldn't care less about our long talk after the pool stunt, he gave full proof of the idea that he doesn't listen to a word I say. On Saturday we were invited (for the first time) to a friend's house to swim in their pool. My friend greeted us in the entryway of her gorgeous home, and Abigail and I followed her into the living room to meet her grandfather who was visiting. Here is where I should not have assumed that Cooper was following us and demostrating approprate social skills. Nope. I should never assume that Cooper is demostrating appropriate social skills. As I was shaking the grandfather's hand, Cooper came into the living room stark naked. Yes, he did it again, but this time without the swim trunks around the ankles. He had stripped down to nothing in my friend's entry way and now wanted to know where his swim trunks were. I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. I'm not making up one bit of this tale. It's just a verbal snapshot of my weekend. And, I don't have actual pictures to share. This kid is going to wear me out before we get through the next 14 years of him living at home.

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My paying gig has slowed to a normal 40-hour week recently so I've had the time and energy for photography, which is certainly not a paying gig. Since my schedule forced me to discontinue the class I was talking at UT a bit more than a year ago, I've had no chance to get back to learning how to use my camera correctly. In essence, I've been using an expensive point and shoot. What a waste. But, the important thing is that I really do want to learn how to use it. I have a new instructional book and am going to start memorizing it tonight. And, I hope to get plugged in to a workshop very soon. Even more exciting, my awesome mother-in-law bought me a new portrait lens last week for my birthday. I can't wait to put it into action this week. Surely I can snag a few minutes to use it on my kiddos. (That is, if Cooper will keep his clothes on.) In the meantime, my sister's mother-in-law asked me to take a few pics of her youngest son for his senior photos. Again, I don't know what I'm doing with a camera so I hope she doesn't absolutely hate them. (At least she'll know she got her money's worth. Ha!) Here's a few pics of Colin to share with you.









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I've been working on filing our taxes for the past month. I just work on it as my schedule allows.  It gives me a headache of annoyance so I try not to let my schedule allow for very long periods of availability. It's just annoying because I am working terribly hard at trying not to give the government 8 of the 10 pennies we own, but they are incredibly insistent on prying them from my hands. And, every time I hear a news report about the deficit and lack of budget and all the yahoos (not) trying to balance Uncle Sam's checkbook, it makes me want to hold onto at least 6 or 7 of our 10 pennies. I just can't stand the idea of giving so much to someone who can't use it wisely. On that note, I have to share this video with you about our current federal budgeting woes. It speaks very wisely to those who think higher taxes are the answer to our country's problems. They can't continue to suck all of the money from people who have it or we'll end up with no one who has money to take. Check it out...


See what I mean?! Surely these yahoos can figure out that they are spending entirely too much money! Something, or a lot of somethings, have got to go. The value of programs should not be debated, they just need to be cut. Know what I mean? I love, love, love a Starbucks frappucino to start my morning. But, it's just unrealistic to spend that kind of money. I never made a list of pros and cons to figure out if $1456 of our annual budget should be allotted to my Starbucks habit. It just didn't happen. And, I love to listen to NPR at various times of the day. I especially enjoy the Texas music show on our local KUT every Saturday morning, but we don't have the money to fund it so it has to go. Stop taking all of my pennies and leave some for me!

Okay, that's enough random ranting and rambling for Monday. If you made it all the way to the end of this novel, you deserve a cookie...


What are still doing here?! Go get your cookie!

Spring Break 2011 - Part IV

After arriving home from Houston, we stayed just one night before hitting the road again. But, this time it was just a daytrip to Homestead Heritage, a community north of Waco and just less than two hours from us. We spent the day on a walking tour of the community's craft workshops and homestead. The homesteading community is made up of about 1,000 Christians who live together on 510 acres. We were able to tour the area open to the public and introduce the kids to a way of life very different than our own.

In the fiber crafts barn, this sweet lady so generously took time away from her work to teach us how to spin wool fibers into thread.


I wanted to take pictures of the girls working on three of the weaving looms, but I held back because they were in a class.  I didn't want to be a distraction or act as if they were on display in a museum. It just seemed awkward to gawk. You can trust me that they were weaving together cute vests. I was super impressed at the amount of time that they put into each project.

I also talked myself out of taking photos of the woodworkers in the furniture making barn as well as the super nice potter in the potter's house. It just seemed invasive to gawk with my camera as people worked on projects.

In the woodworkers' building, a class of men were working on gorgeous rocking chairs. Daniel spied on them for a while and was impressed with their craftsmanship and lack of power tools. All Heritage Furniture is crafted by hand and is absolutely gorgeous. The Homestead Heritage men are so talented that they were contracted to build President Bush's home in Crawford, and some of their furniture belongs to the permanent collection at the White House. If you are PBS fan, you can picture a whole group of Norm Abrams from new Yankee Workshop.

Only one woman was working on the wheel in the potter's house, but a large collection of pottery was on display for purchase. I definitely wanted to purchase at least two full sets of tableware. The pieces were gorgeous. I had to hold myself back.

From there, we walked to the gristmill which was originally built around 1760 in western New Jersey where it operated until 1918.


HH found the mill in 2000 when it was dismantled and moved to Texas. They fully restored the mill and handmade cypress overshot water wheel. 


I still don't understand how everything works to make whole wheat flour and cornmeal, but I do know that all of the different baking mixes looked absolutely delicious.  I had to hold myself back from going home with all kinds of yummy carbs. The sweet potato pancake/waffle mix as well as the cinnamon streussel muffin mix were calling my name. 



One more place that I didn't take photos was the forge. The blacksmith was making a wrought-iron table, and I could tell it was going to be gorgeous. We watched him work, but only briefly because it was stinkin' hot in there with the hot coals. It was interesting, but much more pleasant to be outside on the beautiful grounds.




The kids, as always, enjoyed the animals. I think the farm was their favorite stop.



I was jealous of all the home-grown produce. I tried to convince Daniel to get rid of our dogs so we could plant veggies in our backyard.  It didn't work.


But, don't be surprised if he installs this type of rainwater gathering system with a windmill on the land we plan to buy in the near future. He's quite certain we need to get "off the grid" as much as possible.


The one thing we were in total agreement on was the food. Man, oh, man! The cafe was our last stop at Homestead Heritage, and it was AMAZING! Everything from the handmade cheese to fresh, grassfed beef to organic ice cream was like nothing else we've ever had. We stuffed ourselves with our meals then left with carob ice cream and sorghum pecan ice cream that was so delicious we made ourselves miserable by overeating. I know, without a doubt, that we will be making more trips to the Homestead Heritage Cafe.

Food talk aside, we also plan to return to HH after Thanksgiving for the annual craft fair. We heard all about the handmade items they will be selling and demostrations/classes we can take to learn how to make everything they do from candles and brooms to boots and cheese. There will be live music, shopping, crafting and, our favorite, eating. We won't pass that up!

Now, I won't even get into the religious aspect of this community, but I do have a great respect for their sustainable living. I would love to be able to incorporate even just a small fraction of their way of life in our family. And, no matter what I think about their religion, I can't deny the tranquility and peacefulness that they are cultivating. It is admirable. And, it was a perfect spring break escape from our hectic lives.