Tie-dye "After" Photo

Renee made this shirt to wear to the 4th of July party this summer in New Mexico.

Memorial Day

Tie-dying "before" photo

Paintball

For our 21st anniversary, Matt and I went out to eat at a Mexican food restaurant then to see a movie.  The food was fantastic and the movie was mediocre.  Before all that, we got together with friends for paintball!

Our Youngest

The upstairs air conditioner is broken and their bedrooms are hot.  Both girls have chosen couches in different rooms on which to sleep tonight.  Emma usually sleeps in a loft bed.  Photos of the sleeping child are challenging to get.  Per Matt's suggestion, I took the opportunity to get one while I could.

Finally!

Cameron has not been able to drive his car for about five months now.  He had to save up the money to purchase a new engine.  Finally, today, it was moved over to Doyle's (Saint Doyle) to have the new engine installed.  It took six of us to get the car on the trailer...Matt, Cameron, Clay and I pushed the car, Dalynn sat in the driver's seat to hit the brake and steer, and Renee sat in the truck bed and told us how much more there was to push.

Indian Blankets

Today both Emma and Renee's Girl Scout troops went geocaching together at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve.  It was a beautiful day with plenty of wildflowers and pretty views. Unfortunately, most of us are now covered with chigger bites. 

Heartie

For Emma's 5th birthday, she received her first ever Webkinz from her friend Alec.  This dog has hearts all over her, so Emma thought Heartie was the perfect name.  Five years later, and over 60 additional Webkinz, she still loves this one the most.  Heartie is around for all of her sleepovers, play dates and family vacations.  Heartie even goes into our "safe room" when the tornado sirens go off.  Heartie has a very special place in my little girl's heart.

*Correction:  I was just informed (June 6th) that I am wrong.  Heartie is actually her second Webkinz.  The first was a chihuahua (named Chihuawee) given to her by her Grandma Kelly.  It should be noted that the first Webkinz was never logged on to the website because the dog ate the tag before she could register it.  Therefore, the attachment and interest in Webkinz did not begin with that pet.  I am correct in stating that Heartie was her first Webkinz love.

Tuesday

The Dallas area was hit with severe weather this afternoon/evening.  Matt and Cameron had arranged to rent a trailer to tow Cam's car out to Doyle's house to have the new engine installed.  They just kept running into problem after problem.  In the end, it was decided that a tow truck needed to be called to deliver it.  As they tried to push it up on the trailer, the bumper was almost knocked off, so they gave up.  When this photo was taken, a tornado siren was going off and the rain was pouring down on them.  Many thanks to our friendly neighbor who came out in all of that to try to help them.

Monday

Yes, I have a Topsy Turvy.  I wanted one but Matt said they were stupid and a waste of money.  HA!  I win because Matt's friend disagreed and gave me one!  Thanks Ted!

Actually, Matt set it up for me while I was out of town with friends.  He bought the tomato plants, assembled it all and hung it up to surprise me when I got home.  He also did tons of work in our vegetable garden.  We have many new plants and they are all doing well thanks to him.  Thanks Matt!  You really are an awesome husband!  Love ya!

Leaving

I love to get out of town with my friends. Sleeping in, eating well, reading books, watching movies, taking walks, and talking for hours are some of the weekend activities. I wish our weekends away were more frequent and a tad longer.

A Walk in the Country

We took a walk and said hi to the farm animals.

Rain

This was taken moments after our arrival at the bed and breakfast. After driving in a somewhat unnerving storm, Sonya (at my direction) got stuck in the mud. I was so happy to be there, I didn't mind unloading our stuff from the van and walking to the guest house during a downpour. I love all of the trees out there!

Weird Homeschoolers

Renee's Acquisition

Renee was very happy to receive a model airplane kit. She loves this sort of thing!

Tuesday, May 17th

Jason and Renee painted their swords today. She received her sword as a birthday gift from Jason and Auburn; she really wanted one. (Jason broke his wrist at her skating birthday party.)

Buddy's Favorite Things

Yes, my dog is spoiled. I've said it before, he is like my fourth kid. He has a basket filled with toys. He gets them out all the time and leaves them out all over the house. See the unstuffed dog in the background? Even after he has removed the stuffing from his toys, he still carries them everywhere. His favorite things are his blankets. He drags those all over the house. When we get home or a guest arrives, he runs and brings his blanket to us. I love how he uses his paws to manipulate whatever he is chewing on at the time. He is the smartest dog I have ever known!

The Morning After

Renee with a few of her friends; I believe the insane look on Renee's face is from not getting any sleep the entire night.

Renee's Party

Renee had her party on Saturday...finally! It was a Xanadu, late 70's/ early 80's themed skating party. The music was all from that time period and very much what I remember from my skating years. We had the whole rink to ourselves; it was very nice! Afterwards Matt and I took the girls to the mall...13 of them...for pizza and a photo scavenger hunt. Renee had such a good time at her sleepover that she didn't sleep the entire night. She woke up her guests (those who actually feel asleep) to Cheep Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" (blaring) at 7:00 am Sunday morning. Let the good times roll!

Sunset

OK I'm cheating a little with this photo. I took it yesterday (Thursday). I wanted to use this one and the puppy photo and decided to just post one of the two today. The occasional pretty sunset over a field of gold is one of the perks of living in the burbs (along with the Starbucks and Target just down the road from this field).

Thursday's Photo

"Daddy, can we please have this puppy? It's free!"

Wednesday's Photo

Wednesday was the final handbell performance for the school year for both of the girls. Thanks to St. Peter's Episcopal Church for the music lessons!

GWL- Day Two

Emma and a few of her friends at Great Wolf Lodge. Much fun was had by all!

Great Wolf Lodge

The beginning of an overnight staycation at Great Wolf Lodge started with this raft ride (Emma and Daddy followed this group). Our family went with Emma's Girl Scout troop and their families for an extended visit to the water park. The girls used the money they raised from their cookie sales to pay for all of the families to go. We all had a great time hanging out with all of our friends!

Mother's Day

Time with my family, a lovely handbell performance by both of my girls, a long nap, a yummy dinner made by my man and these coffee cups made my day!

No Internet for a few days; I'll post the pics for each day when it's working again.

Green and Pink Hair

My kids are entirely amused by some of the less obvious amusements. Renee has wanted to use colored hair spray for years. I never felt like participating in her endeavor (eg. taking her to the store , giving her money, and helping her do the actual coloring) so it just hasn't happened until today. The girls colored their hair at Viktoria's birthday party. Renee was thrilled!

Our Newest Odyssey

We are now on our 4th Odyssey. Our first was purchased new in 1997; the second in 2000; third in 2005, and now this one. Clearly we are very happy with this particular make and model!

My last van (2005) was a Touring, which meant it came with PAX (run flat) tires. Those tires could not be changed to regular tires and they needed to be replaced every year. It cost us almost $2,000 a year to change those damn tires! We were tired of dealing with them so it was time to change cars.

This van is our first pre-owned vehicle in almost two decades (all a part of our choice to live a no credit card, no incurring big debt lifestyle). It is a 2009 with amazingly low mileage and one step below the Touring. It has most of the same features plus some others that the 2005 Touring didn't have. We lost the back up sensors, seat memory and PAX tires (yay!) and we gained bluetooth, mp3 input (not sure what that's called) and an 8th seat (a small, removable seat in between the captain's seats in the middle row)...all things we wanted. Even though it's an EXL, it has factory installed navigation, DVD player and leather seats. I didn't lose my XM radio or my reverse camera. In addition to all of that, we got a sweet deal!

Matt surprised me with it! It was fun!

Emma's "Pare"

You must know what a big deal this is! Until this year, Emma refused to write. It was such a struggle for her to spell, even write the letters, correctly. She was so embarrassed to make mistakes. Oh how far she has come!! She wrote a note to the family to claim this "pare" without worrying about misspellings! There is a huge sigh of relief from this mama. Her fear of others knowing she has dyslexia has been her greatest roadblock, and now she is the one willingly moving it out of the way.

Another positive...I got my camera back and it's working better than before!

Good Things

These are good things: a beautiful day, a quilt made by my youngest, my illegal laundry line, my dog, green grass (where there was only dirt a few months ago), confirmation I get to go out of town for a weekend away with my friends, a repaired camera, my van, my home and best of all my awesome husband, children and family!

The Titanic

This is one of my treasures. Cameron drew it shortly after turning 9. He was fascinated with the Titanic and knew almost everything about it. I love how he used three sheets of copy paper and simply stapled and taped them together to make it long enough. It's fitting considering what happened to the ship.

From Monday

Monday was a cold day for May; it got down to 49. (I thought you should know.) I spent the afternoon getting stuff organized for Renee's birthday party. She turned 13 in March, but we just couldn't find the time to have a party in the middle of cookie sales. Her party was inspired by the movie Xanadu; she loves the skating and cheezy 80's stuff. Because we are having a skating party, she chose to play music from when skating was the thing to do (late 70's and early 80's). I have asked my friends to give suggestions, compiled a list of all these suggestions and pulled the songs off of iTunes. I stayed up until Tuesday morning (6:00 am) working on it, even watched the sun rise, and I still didn't finish. I love my daughter!!

The Dremmel

Today in the fab (robotics fabrication), Matt was one of the adult helpers. He knows how to use most tools pretty well, but he has had very little experience using a dremmel. When he was asked to assist the kid's who were working with the dremmel, he was forced to admit that he didn't know what to do. He then asked me to get Renee, who was inside working with the software team, to come out and help the kids (and Matt) . She was pretty proud of herself for knowing more than her dad!

Cheetos

Sorry, other than this photo, I didn't take any pictures today. Oh how I miss my good camera!! I want it to be repaired but it just ain't happening any time soon. I'm really, super-duper bummed about it. I took this picture with the camera on my phone. Matt brought me a bag of Cheetos because I craved them all day long. They were as good as I expected them to be! I love my hubbie!