Time flies!!!

I have no excuse for not blogging.... It's the usual- daily chaos. my kids, my husband, my work, my craft, the remaining existence of my social life all keep me busy.

here's what my blog has missed out on:

We had a beautiful fall & Halloween.











I went on my first quilt retreat-
1 of 3 quilts I worked on)





The Rangers went to the World Series & my brother popped the question to his girlfriend!






I had an awesome harvest out of my garden (picture shows about 1/3 of it- here you see Basil, arugula, carrots & Swiss chard)






Looked at lots of Christmas lights & come to find out maddox doesn't care for cold weather






Christmas cards were a big fat fail this year.






Found someone passed out in my closet...






Mason turned 4! and I made superhero capes for the kids. Maddox loves to swing at the park!





Mason & I had a date at Casa Mañana




Mason discovered milk @ Starbucks



We had a skinny tree this year & an awesome Christmas!


Had tea parties with dee dee @ nana's house over Christmas break



Had lots of fun with the cousins in town



Gavin discovered Angry Birds





We had playdates with my favorite niece!



Gavin flew the remote control helicopter into Mason's face


Maddox discovered his love for books



I made Rosie's baby bedding for my nephew :)


And we hosted a baby shower for mommy to be!



We had quite a few snow days & got super silly



My mind has already blocked out those snow days... Guess it's too traumatic for this southern California girl!


We watched the superbowl halftime show @ our neighbors


Celebrated my 29th Birthday AGAIN ;)







My baby turned 2!



Got lots of love from my 3 favorite kiddos



We've had some amazing spring weather...







Mason discovered frozen yogurt



Taught mason I'm not the only one who is going to clean up after him...


Jes & I went to the Dallas Quilt show & I guess we can say I outshopped her ;)



Hung out with papa Tony



Loved ON our sweet girl Shelby




And yesterday we welcome our newest family member- my nephew Ethan!!!














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60 Years!

Last weekend we had a great weekend with Gavin's family staying at the Gaylord Texan. It was a surprise celebration weekend for Gavin's grandparents & boy did we surprise them. Gavin's cousins, Aunt & Uncle came into town from Alabama & his other uncle from Connecticut. We then surprised Granma & Pop pop & whisked them away for the weekend. I think Mason had the most fun @ the Gaylord. He says he misses the hotel now. haha Our 2nd night there he was so worn out, he actually asked to go to bed! The boys had tons of fun running around with their 2nd cousins. Can't wait for them to come back at Christmas!




View from our room- a wedding!


Deedee & Mason checking out the trains


Laying out by the coldest pool in Texas!


Mason & Papaw enjoying the balcony.


L to R: Gavin, Maddox, Me, Chris, papaw Tony, Dee, uncle Ted, Uncle Bill, Libby & Kathryn.
Down front is Nana, Mason, Pop pop & Keira


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Going backwards

I've been so out of blogging the past 6 weeks. You could say we've been hibernating when the temps were 105*+ outside for the month if August. So what did we do? LOTS of indoor activities. I did lots of reading. How much you ask? Well I haven't picked up a book in 2 years, however in the past 6 weeks I've read 12 books. Yes 12 books. I got sucked into the Charlaine Harris vampire books. good quick reads. I am also attempting Eat Pray Love for the 2nd time .... I am getting bored with it again so that might be a fail.
Just as the temps drop out of the "screw Texas summers I'm moving the hell outta here" heat & down into the 90's (much more pleasant!) we got hit by TS Hermine yesterday. It was quite exciting.
Meet Hermine.


Hermine didn't bother me much. I only had to get out once because my niece's preschool was flooding. But that was okay because I got to wear these.


Until I found that 4/5 roads to my niece's school was closed due to flooding. It took me 35 minutes instead of 6 minutes to pick her up. Can't tell you how many cars I spotted that were stuck in flash floods. All I can say is people who think they can take on deep water with their car should not be driving... They have a reserved spot on the short bus.


More driving. More roads closed.


Bear creek turned mighty Mississippi. Promise no more paparazzi pix while driving.



Oh yes & our pool overflowed. House is fine... Garden, not so sure. Don't think my organic garden is organic anymore after chlorine water running thru it. :( hoping the amounts of rainwater seriously diluted it. We'll see soon I guess.


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Watermelon Salad Recipe

WHO doesn't love watermelon??? not to mention it's the season for it! here's a super quick, fresh, easy & TASTY salad that uses watermelon. not to mention it's healthy! oh how I LOVE watermelon season!!!

Ingredients:

2 cups of cubed (bite sized) watermelon

1 cup of chopped fresh spinach *you can also do a combo of spinach & baby arugula*

1/3 cup of cubed fresh mozarella cheese

1/4 cup of chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds

2 tbsp of olive oil

2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar glaze *(1 cup of Balsamic vinegar + 1 tbsp of sugar-> boil down to a reduction)

Directions:

toss the first 4 ingredients in a bowl & mix. drizzle the last 2 ingredients over the salad & toss. serve cold.

Baby Boy

My baby isn't looking so much like a baby anymore. I've realized since he's my last baby & on the verge of becoming a full on toddler I must really relish in this last bit of babyhood. Good thing he still has those rubber band wrists & sweet baby rolls. He's been super cuddly lately & I've actually been rocking him to sleep. I haven't done that with him since he was a newborn & I would never rock Mason to sleep
at 16 months old... But I figured he wont always be this cuddly or even want to be rocked to sleep- so why not? With Mason I was always ready for him to move onto the next milestone or stage- but with Maddox I just let him be & am really enjoying this precious time with my last baby boy.



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