This was our weekend project

the upstairs bathroom =]

Aaron and I painted the walls turquoise blue!! :)
This is the shower curtain

This is the trash basket

The little rug :)

toothbrush and toothpaste holder

Penguins! too cute!

I wish these pictures did it justice.... but it is hard to get a good angle in that bathroom :)

just know it is adorable!

KITTENS!!!

so a couple months ago 5 little kittens were brought into our office.... HOMELESS :(

One was the cutest little white Siamese with blue eyes and one was a whacked out looking black cat with green eyes that were WAY too big for his head!

I fell in love with the Siamese... the black one fell in love with me....

They were both very sweet...

Frank was out of town....

The boys each wanted a pet of their own...

I figured they could live outside.....

So i took home these two babies that still needed to be fed from a bottle and hoped for the best. :)
(Roger took the other three home)

Even Frank fell in love with them...

the boys were doing a great job taking care of them.

We even got Frank to agree to let the kittens inside at night because it is cold...
as long as they stayed in a kennel...

Slash (the little black one) finally started to grow into his eyes and went from goofy little guy to beautiful cat

Meezer (the little white one) is such a sweetheart and loves to cuddle in your lap...

They are great killers too... bringing us mice, rats and bunnies... ick....

Those two babies became a great joy to the whole family!

The on November 15th while we were at Amy's cheer competition the kittens came up missing.

We had two very sad little boys...

we asked around and NOTHING =[

We thought they were gone forever....

Then Thursday November 20, Jason, the boys little friend, came over and said that some kid that lived down the street knew the little girl that took them home.

to make a long story not so long ;] we tracked down the little boy whose mom called me then called the parents of the little girl who had the kittens....

The little girls mom called me and said that yes they had our kittens and they would bring them back. =]

I felt bad because the little girl and her sister were so sad...
but they were our kittens and my boys had been so sad and now they were happy.

We were all very happy that the kittens were safe and coming home.

I brought them to work with me on Friday...

this is meezer....



this is slash...

you can see her big blue eyes here...

the other picture of Slash was just too dark....

THEY ARE SO MUCH FUN....

Meezer is Austin's

Slash is Aaron's

We are glad they are home....

they must be glad to be home...

Every day they bring us a gift.... of a DEAD RODENT!

we love our kitties!!!

NOVEMBER 24th =]

TODAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY!!!! =]

cake from my coworkers :)

silly kids

GOOD GRIEF! They put my age on there!!!!

a heart <3

The entire inside of my truck was filled with balloons...

when i opened the door... they all came rolling out! :) Amy decorating my truck... I had no idea they were even there!
Ashley Amy Peyton and Me... With the tiara and earring's from the girls :)
My little daredevil!

Robin got these pictures for me! :) thanks Robin!!

my girls surprised me at work.... It made me smile.
They wrote all over my car and brought me a tiara and earrings. Then we went to lunch :)

When I got back to the office, my coworkers had a cake waiting.
It was very nice!!!

Frank is having the carpets cleaned today. YAY

GOOD BIRTHDAY

WHICHWICH

Last night Amy went to open gym to work on some stunts for nationals.

We dropped her off and then the boys and I went out to eat at which wich.
GOOD GRIEF I LOVE THAT PLACE! It is DELICIOUS!

I have a 'usual' now... the 3 cheese melt on wheat (provolone, pepper jack and cheddar) with red onions, tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, salt, pepper, and horseradish mayonnaise!

Aaron got buffalo chicken with veggies on it and Austin got a pizza kidswich.

:)

family time

last night was fun.

I got off and went straight home since Amy texted me saying she had a ride home.

Ashley and Peyton brought Amy home from cheer practice. I was able to spend a few moments alone with the boys before they all got there.

I started making dinner while the kids were running around. It was quite the hodgepodge of a meal. We had pinwheel steaks (meat with spinach and cheese rolled up) a mozzarella, tomato, onion, black olive and capers salad, chicken soup, spanish rice and then there were some left over mashed potatoes for those who wanted them.

Austin had and in depth conversation with Peyton and Amy about mythology while dinner was being made. I had no idea Peyton knew about Greek Mythology, something that has been of interest to Austin for a while now. (Amy is studying it for her AP English class). It was really neat to hear them all hang out and interact.

We all had dinner together then sat around and talked for about 30 minutes.

Ashley & Peyton left.

The boys got in the tub then we watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith

I WAS IN BED BY 10!!! UNHEARD OF FOR ME!!!!

PIZZA DOUGH

PIZZA NIGHT!!!!!!!

This stuff is amazing and makes for a great family night project! :) Its super easy! It rises in the fridge overnight too!

Awesome Easy Pizza Dough
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 (1/4 oz.) envelope active dry yeast
2 tsp honey
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

1. Mix first 4 ingredients in mixer for 20-30 seconds or until yeast is dissolved and mixture is bubbly. Add flour and salt; mix 6 to 8 times or until dough forms a ball and leaves sides of bowl, adding more water if necessary.

2. Place dough in a large bowl coated with oil; lightly spray dough with cooking spray. Cover and chill at least 2 hours up to 24 hours.

Makes 2 medium crusts. I double the recipe, divide up the dough and and we all get to make our own pizza just the way we like it :) You can make garlic cheese bread with any leftovers.

To Bake: Roll out, add toppings and bake at 375 degrees till golden brown.


After I roll the crust out I rub it with butter and sprinkle with a little garlic salt and Parmesan cheese bake it for about 5 minutes then top it and return it to the oven to finish baking.... yummy!!!!

Bubu's ankle

About two weeks ago Aaron was jacking around playing football with some buddies and landed wrong on his foot. It happened at the high school football game so he opted to join me in the stands and watch Fossil Ridge play while icing his ankle.

I have never been one to rush my child to the doctor (unless of course it is a breathing issue .... Amy... or some weird-abnormal-unexplained-HUGE swelling... this has happened to both Aaron.. still don't know what happened to him... and Ashley.... who we found out is allergic to Vietnamese candy), and I'm sure that comes from my own parents laid back let the body heal itself attitude.

Needless to say I was not overly concerned and he was content to chill out and enjoy the game while icing it thinking he would be able to 'walk it off'. So while his friends continued to play football in a little area by the field we cheered for the panthers!! :)

Well after all this time he is still boobing about his ankle... Aaron not being my crybaby makes me think oh no... maybe there is something really wrong with his hoof! So we make an appointment and this morning he ditches school and we head over to the doctors office.

After waiting an hour (after all my time is not nearly as valuable as a doctors...) Dr. Kirby comes in looks at his foot, presses it a couple times and announces that she is pretty sure it is not broken just a 'good' sprain. HOW CAN A SPRAIN BE GOOD? ha! She has the nurse come in and wrap and ice it, makes an appointment for him to get it x-rayed just to make sure and guess what?!?!? Aaron can return to school! :) yay!

So this evening Daddy will be taking Aaron to get a picture taken of his foot. I'm confident that he will be fine... heck he has been walking on it for the last two weeks. If it turns out the foot is broken I will feel like a pond scum mom :)

just want to note... I love our doctor... and consider her worth the wait.... :)

Back 2 Back Cheer Comps

This past weekend was pretty exciting. Amy had back to back cheer competitions. Cheer Power Championship in Ft Worth on Saturday and the Spirit Celebration Fall Classic on Sunday in Denton.


Lightning did not have any competition in their division at either competition so we knew they would get 1st at both of them... but really what is first out of one?


In true Champion Cheer style Lightning went out and hit the routine like they were competing for that NCA jacket. Every stunt hit and it was BEAUTIFUL! Their pyramid is amazing and the dance is so fast paced that it shows the skills of the girls doing it... together... without missing a beat or making a mistake. Jumps were level and in sync. Just an incredible routine.


After all of the squads competed and everyone was on the mat for awards, there simply was not much excitement or anticipation for the Lightning parents. After all we knew what place our girls were in. They announced the senior L3 first place and Lightning stood up to applause from the crowd to collect their trophy and get their picture taken with the other squads that placed first in their divisions as well. We as their super supportive parents even managed some polite applause.


At the Cheer Power Championship on Saturday, after announcing all the division champs the MC started to announce the HIGH POINT CHAMPIONS of the ENTIRE COMPETITION!!!! He listed the top 10 but I did not pay attention until he got to the top 7 mostly because I was too busy packing up and gathering trash. The main reason it caught my attention is because several Champion Cheer teams were in the High Point category! YAY! Finally they got to 1st place in high point which was the grand champion of the competition. It was from Southlake Texas.... CHAMPION CHEER LIGHTNING!!!!!!! :)


At the Spirit Celebration on Sunday the order of events was pretty much the same. Get there.. watch a billion routines, see your own kid on the mat for 2 1/2 minutes, watch a billion more then the excitement of awards sets in. Again we knew Lightning would place first in their division but her HS coach and a couple of her HS team mates came to watch and that made it exciting for Amy. Finally HIGH POINT was announced. in 3rd place was express cheer, in 2nd place was Champion Cheer Burn (my friend that I was withs daughter is on Burn so this was super exciting!) and in 1st place...... from Southlake Texas..... CHAMPION CHEER LIGHTNING!!!!


HECK YES! back to back high point! :) (this means the high point achiever is the Grand Champion and scored better than everyone at the competition not just those in their division)


These were the last of the regional competitions for Amy's all-star squad this year. So far they are undefeated :) YAY! Nationals starts up the first weekend in January in Houston. Then there are two additional Nationals the biggest being NCA which is the first weekend in March.


She has high school Regionals in about 2 1/2 weeks here in Ft Worth then State in San Marcus in January. High School cheer competition will finish up in February at Disney World!


GAH I LOVE CHEERLEADING! :)

this is the routine from Saturday :)

hmmmmm

Every single day of your life should include learning something new. After all once you know it all what is the point? Also included in your daily adventures should be some time to appreciate the sweet moments.


Some days you learn something BIG that changes your life or the life of those around you. Some days it is something that may matter only in your little world that no one else would notice. Sometimes it is just your son picking a weed out of the yard for you and in doing so spreading the wispy little seeds all over the yard to ensure he has plenty of those weeds to pick next year.



this is what is important to me:)

Most days I am too busy to notice things that I learn unless they are HUGE SLAP YOU IN THE FACE kind of thing and sadly most days I would be annoyed that the dandelion seeds were blowing all over the yard instead of looking into my sons big blue eyes and seeing the love shining from them as his grubby hand hands me an empty seed head on a stem. That makes me pretty pathetic. I'm not going to have many more days where he will be handing me weeds as a show of his undying love. I'm pretty sure that the day will come when missing the little things will make me sad.

I am going to try to notice the little things. I think blogging about life will help me with that :)

Margaritaville....

ok here goes :)

Amy's high school team is going to nationals in February at Disney World. We decided that this would be a good time to haul everyone to Florida and make a trip of it. To make sure I completely understood what we were booking I consulted a really great friend of mine who goes to Disney, no joke, a couple times a year. To say she is a bit of a Disney fanatic is a complete understatement. Anyway she was explaining how to get the most bang for your buck and started reminiscing about her past Disney vacations.

The following story is a true one:

Recently Walt Disney World had a wine festival that centered around Epcot. My friend thought this was a wonderful reason to return YET AGAIN to Disney and booked her trip. She was very excited about making the rounds and tasting all of the different drinks offered. To ensure she did not get too tired to make it to every country in Epcot and in the interest of saving time she rented a motorized scooter. The first country she went to was MEXICO. Apparently my friend, who i have rarely ever seen drink in the 10+ years I have known her, really likes margaritas. Well during the wine festival Mexico was offering a zillion different flavored margaritas and she could not decide on just one flavor so they hooked her up with a rather large mug that was layered with about 15 different flavors of the frozen concoction. She was zipping around enjoying herself while sipping on her tub o alcoholic drink and almost ran over some other Disney guests trying to enjoy the wine festival themselves. [I think it is important to note here that people who do not often consume alcoholic beverages feel the effects of them quite a bit quicker than people who are regulars at the local watering hole.] The Disney POLICE had a stern "talking to" with her. Apparently you can be charged with a DUI while zipping around on a scooter and drinking a layered frozen margarita while almost taking out pedestrians in the state of Florida. Thankfully they let her off with just a warning.

Of course she tells the story so much better than I ever could... it was hysterical!

Which brings me to the big question. Do I get a motorized scooter so that I can get through Disney World or will being with 50 million cheerleaders drive me to drink and I will have to walk my drunken butt everywhere?

I think it is pretty safe to assume that I will not be drinking (I do love cheerleaders and cheerleading after all) and getting a scooter seems to be a bit silly to me. However I may change my tune after a couple days of keeping up with my boys :)

My friend, the Disney FANATIC, has decided that she just has to see Amy compete at HS nationals. I'm fairly certain that it is Disney not Nationals that is luring her in. After all if she really wants to see Amy compete she can haul her cookies to NCA in Dallas later in that same month! Whatever the reason I am excited she is going and I will get to share a day or two of Disney magic with her :)

Meet The Kiddos

Ashley Amy Aaron & Austin

They are the loves of my life :)