I'm losing steam!

Playing duck, duck, goose

Call the Catholic church...we have a miracle...everyone is looking at the camera...no eyes closed, and mostly all smiles!

Elle meets Lucy

Ava meets and subsequently mauls Lucy

You lookin' at me?

Well April is just about over and I didn't do too good of a job keeping the world updated with my amazing and fabulous life this month. To say the least it's been busy. But, it annoys me when people start their post with "Sorry I haven't blog. I've been busy." There is time to do this, but sometimes I'd rather eat ice cream while watching Biggest Loser, than get on the blog and update about how I did laundry, or how Ava has a new tooth, or that someone spilled 7 Up in the kitchen and I kept stepping in it and it was really sticky but I didn't realize it was 7 Up for the whole day. Okey Dokey... onto this past weekend which was LOADS of fun.


Shawn's side of the family came in starting on Thursday to help celebrate Elle's 4th bday. Here's a rundown of the schedule.


Thurs: 3ish Joey, Emily and their 3 girls including brand new Lucy got here.


5ish Chad and Lesley arrived


We all hung out and got situated and caught up and had fun


Friday: went to park and played in the morning


6ish Barbara got here...everyone who's staying here is now here


9ish after all the kids went to bed, the adults snuck off to Shake's which is a frozen custard place here....D-LISH! I need more!


Saturday: 9ish left for the Red Poppy Festival/Parade


hung out the rest of the afternoon...the festival wore everyone out!


9ish made a run to Sonic for caffeine to help with staying awake while we played Phase 10. Had fun with that game but only made it to Phase 5 because we were tired!


Sunday: 9ish left for worship and bible class


11:45 home and guess what....there were 22 hungry months to feed! Besides the people listed above, we also had Shawn's grandma, Shawn's aunt and uncle, Shawn's 2 cousins and their spouses and their children come to our church that morning and then to my house for lunch...it was like a mini potluck!


I have never fed that many people...it was pretty wild. But, the women majorly stepped up and helped with getting everything ready and cleaning up afterwards...they were wonderful!


2ish The last person leaves. The house is quiet. Everyone goes down for a nap except me. I cleaned as if I was less than 24 hours away from delivering my first child! I don't know what got into me...but the house was sooooo dirty that there was no way I could have rested until it was clean. I cleaned like the president was on the way!


5ish The house is clean and it's time to get the kids up and dressed for pm worship.


Life is officially back to normal. I miss all of our family, but it's nice to pee with the bathroom door open again, and it's nice to not have so much noise especially during nap times! Elle had a great 3rd 4th birthday. (That's funny to say.)





So what are we up to know. Hmmm....I am throwing a pedicure party for the MASH girls this Friday night and I'm pretty excited about that. Saturday Shawn and I and the girls are helping lay 8 pallets of sod at a friend's house. Sunday is the first Sunday which is a potluck. Monday I have Bunco. I am also trying to work out VBS craft stuff because I'm in charge of that this year. So, life is crazy. We have Mother's Day to remember and our anniversary (#9) is in a few weeks. On top of that, I am slowly preparing to start a new quilt. I am beginning to gather fabrics I can't live without, but they are expensive so I can only buy small bits at a time. I have 18 different events to scrapbook in our family scrapbook which is the most I've ever been behind. I have 12 events to scrapbook in order to finish Ava's 1st year scrapbook and that' really far behind too. I go through dry spells with scrapbooking and then all the sudden I'll whip out 12 pages in a few weeks. I feel overwhelmed with it because I can't just throw a page together....it has to be just right or I can't deal with it...I can't just do a simple fast page....each one has to be a masterpiece and that takes time. I'm also dealing with the Click Chick thing. I am curious to see how my photos did this weekend. One store wants me to provide her with notecards for all year and not just the Poppy Festival so there's no telling where that will go. She wants more pictures of Central Texas "things" like the structures here in Georgetown and wildlife/nature scenes. I am really excited about that but not sure how to do it because I need time to go do that without the girls....and there lies the problem for a mom...how to balance work and being a mommy....without running the hubbie ragged.


In other news, if you know of a good jogging stroller and/or bike trailer that isn't horribly expensive, we are looking for one.


Lastly, in a bit of sound off....the first pediatrician I've ever liked, is going out of business as of May 15th because of the rising cost of....well, just about EVERYTHING! I am pretty upset because it's so hard to find a good pedi that you are really comfortable with and we loved this doctor. So now that stresser is on us too. Okay does everyone feel updated now...I think I pretty much just had diarrhea of the brain. I'm going to go take some Imodium now.

Pit Sweat

Can I just say that selling your "work" is REALLY nerve-racking! This past Friday, I decided to throw nerves to the wind, and try to sell some photographs I'd taken, to some of the stores downtown. This was a great idea until we started driving towards downtown. I became a true nervous wreck. I experienced physical and mental things that I was not expecting at all. As the title suggests, I began sweating like crazy! My heart started racing. I got all tongue-tied and my knees were wobbly. I was shaking like crazy. Mentally, I was not prepared for how I would feel either. As I got closer to downtown, I started really having some major self-doubt. I don't know if every "artist" feels like this, but I have never felt so put on display in all my life. Imagine standing naked at the entrance to Six Flags as it opens for Spring Break. I felt like I was baring an unseen, unknown side of me and asking perfect strangers to decide whether I was good enough or not. It is the worst feeling in the world. No matter how self confident you are, and I think I'm pretty confident, when someone other than a family member is about to see what you think is good, it's scary! What if they think it's horrible? What if they look at me like I'm crazy? What if they laugh at the price? What if they think I'm too "amateur"? I'll tell you just what I worried about....you know those people on American Idol who sing horribly and the judges say "Do you REALLY think that sounded good?", and in all honesty the person says with a solemn look on their face "Yes! And my family backs me up!"....that's what I worried about. I think my work is good, but am I totally unable to see the true ability?

Okay well, that was all the stuff going through my head. So, I boldly marched right into that first place. I stuck out my head and gave a firm handshake while stating who I was in as bold a voice as I could muster. I then, with feigned confidence, told the owner that they need my notecards to sell and that they were pictures anyone would love to buy. Then I waited for judgement day........and he looked at them and then up at me......and then said...."These are really great!" Fireworks went off inside of me and the chorus to Hallelujah played loudly inside my head!!!!! He said he was very interested, but his wife was the purchaser so I needed to come back in an hour when she returned. Long story short, they bought 6 packages. I also sold to four other stores. I only had a few stores turn me away without an explanation. The others either "didn't sell new things" or "the owner isn't here, but leave your name and if she's interested, she'll call you." This was just as well, because I was pretty much in over my head already. I had 20 sets of notecards to compile by today! Anyway, I just wanted to share how that was. I have decided that I need a salesperson to go in for me and pitch what I'm doing. I can't handle this going before the jury myself and waiting to see if I'm liked....I think that experience took a few years off my life....but it was worth it. Let's hope I sell well this coming weekend. Last year, the Red Poppy Festival saw around 30,000 people, so I know I'm going to get some good exposure. :)

Here's a picture of my business card, of course with the last name and phone # smudged out. I took this picture of myself in the mirror up in my bathroom with a white sheet over the window behind me....it was just what I was hoping it would be...that doesn't happen very often!

A few of the businesses wanted me to write up an artist bio to put next to the notecards. They said it made the notecards more "authentic"...whatever. I have to admit it is painfully hard when you have to write things about yourself. Hope you can read it. I thought it came out good. This is another picture I took of myself in the mirror, same as above. And mom, "obsessed with family photography" was meant in a good way....I am SO thankful that you loved taking our picture!

The Click Chick

It has always been Emma's dream (one of them anyways) to make money doing what see loves (photography, scrapbooking, painting, and things of the like). She has such a great eye and imagination when it comes to the arts. Well, the other day she took some awesome pictures of the red poppy flowers here in Georgetown (They can be seen if you scroll down). They are brilliant pictures and have not been touched up or enhanced in anyway. So to get to the point, she has made and packaged blank note cards with these red poppy pictures on the front and is now selling them in some of the stores downtown on the square, and just in time for the annual "Red Poppy Festival" coming up this weekend. I am so proud of her and I knew she would not brag on herself. Good job sweetheart!

PS. The "Click Chick" is the name of her new business. And I hope it turns into a million dollar business so she can support me.

Blood, Sweat and Tears

I just wanted to write a little post on 2 gifts that Elle got for her birthday. They both deserve recognition.
First, my sister spent COUNTLESS hours putting together this box for Elle. It is going to help Elle get ready for Kindergarten. It has activities for each letter of the alphabet, tracing, cutting, and gluing skills and lots of books to go along with the activities. I really appreciate what she did to put all of this together. By the way, it is SO cute! I think that it will not only prepare Elle for school, but will give us many opportunities to spend time together learning. That's invaluable.


The second gift Elle received was from my mom. Elle has always loved the movie Frosty the Snowman. It has kind of become a joke because every time, and I mean EVERY time we go to Nana and Poppies house, Elle asks to watch this movie and she's been doing that since she could utter anything resembling a word. She's addicted. So, my mom found this fabric that made a Frosty the Snowman cloth book. She decided to embellish it with buttons, beads and such. This project turned into a wee bit more than expected and by that I mean a monster project that took months. She said she sewed so many things on, that her fingers bled. It is such an amazing project. I LOVE sentimental gifts so this was so precious to me. It will be an heirloom and it means so much that my mom spent so many hours working on this.

Poppies

We have a Annual Red Poppy Festival here every year and I was so excited when I found out about it. I love poppies, mainly the red ones. There are quite a few poppies growing around here so I took the girls yesterday and let them run wild while I took about 50 pictures of poppies. I loved how they turned out! Enjoy a small speck of what God can do.

The second party...there's a 3rd coming!

Sorry in advance..these pictures are out of order and I don't have 45 extra minutes to put them in order! It took me an hour just to upload them all! Enjoy!
Suppose to be feeding the ducks...but as you know...
At the park

In her new pink chair and wearing her favorite gift...a ballerina tutu.
The ol' bday spankings...this picture reminds me of one my mom took of my dad spanking!

I think this pretty much captures the essence of Elle.

Ava and Hiney LOVED each other so much!....better not become kissin cousins

Ava wanted to help a lot with opening gifts...how nice.

Blowing out four candles and it took her 3 tries!

So sad....all that hard work and it's all over...but man did it look good!

Spent 2 hours decorating this cake...but I was so proud of it!
Went for a walk Friday nite. Sisters holding hands...so sweet
The cake


Our family :)

Here are some pics from this weekend. We had a great time with my mom and dad, sister, her hubbie and Hiney, and brother and his wife. I think my best memory was playing Phase 10 at 11:30 Friday night. It was hilarious!

1,460 Days

Papaw and Carolyn let Elle pick out a toy and she picked a pink computer....which she LOVES! They also left a gift to be opened on her bday. She got a picture dictionary and a cute necklace.

Elle proud of her decorated donuts.

The canopy

So excited!

D-Lish! Typical "emma-style" recipe: Take one can of donut, cut hole in middle of donut, put in a skillet filled with oil, fry donuts until golden brown. Then put them in a brown bag full of powdered sugar and shake. Voila!

The candle in her donut

We've had the pleasure of having Elle in our lives for 1,460 days as of yesterday. She stated yesterday morning that for her birthday she wanted to eat at CiCi's, go to the pet store, and have ice cream. We got to the first two, but the last one just didn't happen. We started her day with "homemade" chocolate donuts decorated by her. Then we gave her her new canopy. She loves it! We let her watch Cinderella in the canopy and she loved that. At lunch as mentioned before we gagged down CiCi's for her sake...that's true love. After naps, we headed to the pet store which both girls loved. Then we went to Chick Fil-A. Last we headed for a long walk/wagon ride down a part of the walking path here in Gtown and enjoyed some nature. We still had some daylight left so we partook of our favorite free past time which is driving in the neighborhoods and gawking at the herds of deer hanging out on people's front lawns. What a great day! And, we are excited because my parents, sister and fam, and brother and wife are headed here today to celebrate her bday tomorrow with a big party. We should have lots of fun and I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to post. Thanks to everyone who called, emailed, and sent Elle cards on her bday. You made her feel so special!

The ABC's: Allergies, Bonnets, and Coos

"Elle, how old are you about to be?"

Ava spotted a bug...big sis has taught her to fear bugs.

We've been dealing with allergies in my house for the last week, hence the lack of postings. Ava's allergies led to an ear infection which she's on antibiotics for. Elle is doing much better and sleeping well at night with no coughing anymore. I'm pretty good, though I cough as soon as the sun goes down and I've been singing bass when I can get a noise to actually come out of my mouth. I believe I've heard that Austin is the allergy capital of the US or maybe it's just Texas, but it ought to be the US. It's bad here...In other news, we went to a fun birthday party in Austin, for Shawn's cousin's son. He was turning 3 and the girls had a lot of fun. We went to a place called RadiJazz Playnasium. It was quite neat and something fun and different. Afterwards we went on a wild goose chase for a decent patch of bluebonnets. We ended up at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and were highly disappointed. Where there is usually a huge meadow of bluebonnets, there were a few measly patches. We headed home in defeat. Then, this morning after driving up our road over and over and seeing the bluebonnets near our house, I decided to see if they were photographable. They made the best pictures of the girls! It was overcast so the pictures turned out pretty good. Enjoy the pictures.

Lastly, I just have to say I'm so excited. I'm going to be an aunt again tomorrow to another girl! My sister in law is having baby girl #3 tomorrow sometime. They are headed here in a few weeks so I won't have to wait too long to meet Miss Lucy. Hope everyone is have a sneezeless day.