Saturday, October 29, 2011

pink boa

These are a couple of photos I recently found.  Two of my favorite pics ever!
Abi was about 5 and my niece, Ellie, was 2 or 3.

A pink boa makes any girl feel happy, special and pretty.

































I have this pic of Ellie on my desk at work.  A client asked me recently if she is my granddaughter.
Really?! 
I realize I'm older than Amtrak but do I look like a grandma?
(Don't answer please.  It's a rhetorical question.)

happy, happy, happy!

I found this fabric at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago.
And it was on sale - score!!!
It made me so happy, happy, happy.
Don't you think it's just happy fabric?
So many bright and happy colors.  It just makes me smile:)
I knew I had to have some curtains for my living room.  But I haven't sewn for a very, very long time.
Matter of fact, we have lived in this house for 12 1/2 years and my sewing machine is still in the garage.
It gets used a lot.

Thank goodness my mommy keeps her sewing machine out all the time in her craft room.  And she has great sewing accessories!
I whipped these up real quick.  (Sewing must be like riding a bicyle.)
They make my living room a very happy place.














and that makes me a happy mommy!
Apparently, the dog is pretty happy with them too :)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

my little cowboy

I'm so excited!!!
I just found CDs with lots of my old, old pics.
I'm going to go back and do some "flashback" blog posts.
I've been jealous of my friends blogging their little ones.
Now I can do some posts of my little ones :)

We had a cowboy day at church when my kids were little.
Here's my favorite cowboy...















Nice, big purple guitar.
Like the t-shirt and athletic shorts with the chaps?  It's a look only Eli could sport.

I know this next photo is blurry but the look on Eli's face is so...Eli. 
I think he was trying to look mean and tough but instead he's just so stinkin adorable!















He was the real deal...
















































That's my little cowboy in the white hat and my baby cowgirl (with the curly pony tail) snuggled up next to him.
Can you see the little red boots sitting next to her?  Adorable!
The kids were listening to a cowboy kids' story and my cowgirl got super duper comfy with her cowboy brother.
They don't cuddle like that now.
They don't even sit next to each other, unless it's a mistake.
Sometimes I miss the good ol' days.

Friday, October 14, 2011

fish and a birthday wish

Abi's third grade class just finished their unit on guppies.
You know what that means - some lucky students get to take guppies home!
I remembered to sign the note saying Abi could have a guppy but I forgot to send a jar for the guppy to come home in.  Oops!
Thank goodness for a BFF like Sophie who offers to let Abi's guppy go home in her jar.
Roommates...or jar mates.














I think our kids have learned how we parent. 
I have several moms with whom I do life. 
That means when I need another mom for one of my kids, I call one of these girlfriends.
When I need to borrow something, I call one of these moms.
When I'm in an awkward situation and need help, I'm not too embarrassed to ask for help from one of these fantastic ladies.
If I know one of my girlfriends has a need, I do what I can to meet it.
We all have similar values, morals, standards and fuss over our kids the same way.  That means the kids are going to encounter the same rules and expectations when they're with their friends.  It means our kids will be happy, healthy and loved when they're with one of these other moms.

I guess that means when your friend needs a home for her guppy, you offer to share space in your jar.
This arrangement worked out very well because Sophie left town just 36 hours after getting her new guppy.
So...in the spirit of doing life together, Sophie took care of the fish for the first 2 nights and now they are in Abi's care.

Wow, I'm not sure I expected this post to go that direction.
Back to the fish at school.
Apparently, other parents forgot to send notes or jars because there were quite a few guppies left after the first round went home.
So, that means if you have a super, duper fun mommy, you get to take more guppies home.
Day 2, we get 2 more guppies.
And Sophie gets 2 more guppies who are sharing space in Abi's jar we remembered on day 2.




















Here's a funny story - the kids waited for several weeks at school for the guppies to have babies.  No babies during the entire unit.  On the way down the hall leaving the classroom, one little boy's guppy had a baby.  You should have heard the squealing from the kids!  I think those poor fish were under too much pressure in the classroom to deliver babies with all those kids watching all day long.  This lucky little guppy owner had 32 baby guppies by the time that mommy was finished.  That's not a typo - 32 BABIES!  Now I understand why mommy guppies eat their young.  I'm pretty sure I would be overwhelmed with 32 babies and would need to lighten the load a bit :)
Thank goodness that very pregnant mommy didn't make it into either of our jars.
We're not equipped for 32 baby guppies.

Moving on...
Miss Sophie has a birthday today, October 14th.
She is a great big 9 years old today.
We won't get to see Sophie on her birthday so we thought it would be fun for these little fish to send Sophie a birthday wish.














We sure do love you, Miss Sophie!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

eleven

Martina McBride released her newest album, "Eleven", today. 
She has eleven songs on the album.
This is her eleventh year to be the #1 female country artist.
This is her eleventh album.
Today is the 11th day of the month.
Do you see a theme here?

Martina is doing this very cool cross country tour on Amtrak this week. 
She started in Los Angeles yesterday and will end up in New York City at the end of the week where they will light the Empire State Building pink.
All of this to highlight her new album and raise breast cancer awareness.
If there is anything that gets me excited, it's breast cancer awareness.
I became a huge supporter of breast cancer research seven years ago when I had a lump removed and a major breast cancer scare.

News got out early today that Martina would be stopping in Newton this evening.
That's pretty big news for a little town like ours.
She's only making 11 stops on this tour, you know.
My girls and I walked down to meet Martina as she passed through Newton.
We were wearing our matching pink "Fight Like a Girl" t-shirts.
I don't think Hannah is very impressed with matching t-shirts.
Especially with mom.  :)
















We got to the train depot early and began the long process of waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
Lucky for me, my fun friend, Beki, was there to wait too.  (I might have been frustrated if I hadn't had someone with whom to make fun of all the crazy people.  Only crazy people go out for something like this.  Just sayin.)














Beki and I aren't tall people.  Hannah volunteered to stand on a park bench with my camera.  We got great pictures of the backs of lots of heads.














Martina came out and spoke for just a couple of minutes.
That's it.
That's all.
No singing.
(Abi's words - "that was SO not worth it!")

Well, we didn't walk from our house all the way to the train depot and stand in a crowd of sweaty, cranky people for nothin.
We got some great shots of Martina's fun pink train.
I do have to say, I LOVE this train.





























Well, we hung out at the train for quite a while hoping to catch a glimpse of Martina.
She was gracious enough to work her way through the crowd and sign a few autographs.
We may or may not have shoved worked our way through the crowd, trying to get close enough for a good photo or autograph.
At one point, I told Abi to stay close to Beki and follow her through the crowd since I wasn't getting anywhere.  It's a good thing I have friends I can trust.
We didn't get any autographs.
We really didn't get any great photos.

My two favorite shots from the evening were of Martina signing Michelle Janzen's survivor t-shirt.
Michelle is one of my breast cancer survivor heroes.
If I recall correctly, she was diagnosed before she was 40 years old.
She had a full masectomy and reconstructive surgery.
She's one of the most beautiful and funny ladies I know.
If I couldn't get pics of my girls with Martina, Michelle would definitely be my next choice.




























Well, I learned a few things tonight:
1.  I'm not very good at meeting famous people.  I need to be pushier or more creative to catch someone's attention. 
2.  I'm older than Amtrak.  It's celebrating it's 40th year this year.  Ugh.
3.  Apparently, 11 is NOT a lucky number for me.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

soggy football

So we just set records for the hottest and driest summer on record in Kansas.
It was so hot and so dry.
I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I loved the heat.
I really, really loved the heat.  Some may say it's because I don't work outside.  Probably true.

Well, our drought just came to a screaching halt this weekend.
It's been raining since late Saturday morning.
And it's cold.











We really, really need the rain and I'm so thankful for it.
But it would have been nice to have the rain after dark on Saturday.
We endured enjoyed Eli's football game in a downpour.
The boys loved it!  They played so good and won 38-0.  That's right, a shut out.
I realized this weekend I need a bigger umbrella. 
Even though I had an umbrella, I was soaked from head to toe when the game was over. 
Maybe I'm wider than the average umbrella :)  (Funny when I say it; hurtful when you say it.)
Something like this ought to cover me.
A serious football mom should have a REAL umbrella, don't you think?


















I'm pretty sure this football was floating when the game was over.













I know this rain is a wonderful blessing from God.  It truly is refreshing. 
More refreshing when I'm inside looking out than when I'm sitting outside in puddles, however.