can you guess who is behind those scary masks??
what a precious treat ! look at those little cheeks...this year hannah is a little pumpkin and soon enough she'll want to be hannah montana or one of the high school musical girls or something even scarier...peace
just making a couple of these in my spare time today...haha...heres a little eye candy to enjoy today...no calories...where does martha come up with these great ideas? i'm off to target to pick up some halloween costumes for the boys...i used to hang out at the disney store in early september just waiting for them to put out their great costumes...we went thru winnie-the-pooh/tigger/eyeore when the boys were younger but unfortunately i could not even get colin to put on the tigger costume this year...'i'm too big for that'...so off to find a costume or two now...procrastinating has two possible outcomes today:(before you think i'm really bad, i do have a pirate outfit for colin - just in case!) hope your day is full of treats!
can you tell where my parents are spending halloween?? a little mickey mouse treat vacation at disney world...we had some classic costumes as kids growing up...i was a die (melissa was a die too and together we made a pair of dice!) ryan was ronald regan for his entire childhood...mike and lauren had a couple classic combos - bert and ernie/tweety and sylvester - to name a few...wonder where those great costumes are now?...heres to spooky memories - peace no matter what costume you wear...
aunt lauren survived here visit here...not sure she'll ever have kids after exposing herself to this crazy fun filled life...she was whisper awoken every morning by colin..."aunt laur wanna play a little game of fish? i'll set it up..."...she played hide-n-go-seek on the playground, football at the fields and soccer in the backyard...she made it thru teravista fall festival & a slice of pizza on wheels, two flag football games, shopping at ikea on a saturday, sunday morning church at 8:15am and some creative costumes on sixth street saturday night...she had her first martini...she actually slept on the trundle bed one night...she got up to speed on all the characters from high school musical two...she now knows all the features to look for when she purchases her first minivan...she knows now about nan's yellow purse story on her trip across the country...she shared a bathroom with the boys all weekend & lived...she ate every sample at oakville grocery at 10am and every sample at ikea (college food survival class)...she didn't loose her phone or camera...we had such a great time with lauren hanging out with us...already looking forward to her next visit with us...
exactly 2 years ago today was steves first day at dell...in austin...in texas...his last day at bank of america was friday and saturday morning we took him to the airport to head on down south while the boys and i stayed home to sell the house and finish up the semester at school...some days it seems like just yesterday and other days it seems like a lifetime ago...as steve started his first day at dell, i was putting up the for sale sign on our dream house...change became our new word...this coming from a couple who would ponder what color laundry basket to buy for days now would be making slightly bigger life altering changes left and right...new job/new house/new city/new school/new neighbors/new doctors/new everything...everyday. maybe it was time for us to shake things up a little. maybe it was time to look at life from a different perspective. maybe it was time for us to grow closer to each other. looking back over the last two years i have so many blessings to be thankful for but most of all for my rock, my strength, my best friend - happy anniversary! i'm so proud of you. of us. of change. of growing. of learning. of forgiving. of loving. of living. of moving forward. of playing. of enjoying. of exploring. of peace in the day to day thing called life.
kids christmas cookie decorating party at the jones last year....love the hats!! i think we left more frosting on the floor than the cookies....and heres us on christmas eve after dinner...before the dirty santa stuff started....
yikes! i just visited a web site called organizedchristmas.com and suddenly i'm having a panic attack...halloween isn't even over yet and everywhere i turned today it was hohoho...the mailbox was filled with holiday catalogs...lego/llbean/lands end/levenger/plow & hearth/magic cabin/hearth song all arrived today (and debbie said they hit her mailbox in buffalo too!)...i got an email message from kodak.com today telling me its not too early to order those holiday cards...real simple wants me to send holiday gift subscriptions to all my friends...hallmark is giving you a free roll of christmas wrapping paper next weekend when you buy one...the post office already has this years stamps ready for purchase as i saw on one of my morning errands today...heb was installing extra shelves in the main aisle today for all those must have last minute holiday gifts (warning - its hard to get from the champagne aisle to the milk aisle now!)...
kinda hard not to smile when you wake up to find colin coloring at the kitchen table...last night i was not allowed to put the crayons away at bedtime because colin is in the coloring mode these days and he wanted me to leave out the correct color blue he was using...he obviously is aware of my tendency to clean up everything in my vision at night...lately i find myself sitting and coloring with him when we are doing homework...just simple fun times...nothing like a box of fresh crayola crayons to get you in the creative mood...
my favorite combo used to be a number one at target...a small popcorn and soda for $1...nothing like sharing it with 3 boys as we spill popcorn all over the aisles at target...justin usually says its a trail to find our way out of the store (we can actually spend hours in there-scary) BUT my new favorite combo is the starbucks/itunes combo...everyday from now thru november 7th you can download a free new song when you visit any starbucks location...cool stuff...john mayer with a latte to go please...
as always, another family fun filled weekend here in austin...the weather was textbook perfect - high of 90 & low of 70...we picked up steve at the airport on friday night from charleston...the boys watched this dvd on the round trip to the airport & back (multitasking at a young age)...caught up on friday night lights...hit the fields early for our version of saturday morning lights with the boys and a couple of great games of flag football...off to college station for the big state festival with nikki & gregg...lots of fun/laughs/cowboy boots/country music/college football/race cars mixed with some great people watching...we enjoyed music from michelle branch, lyle lovett, eric church and lynyrd skynyrd just to name a few...made it home around midnight...thanks nikki for the great pics...sunday flew by...church/groceries/library/homework/school projects/football/dads world famous cheeseburgers on the grill/sippel stories/showers/desperate housewives with crazy new stories/brothers & sisters with sally fields/lunches/laundry...love those packed sundays together...the boys now have a journal filled with all the sippel stories that steve shares on sunday nights and love hearing a new one that is not on the list (the list is pretty long and i'm not embellishing that)...tonight they got to add a new one to the list...justins working on the sippel stories as a project at school so i'm sure there will be many more posts about this in the future...can't wait to see what grade these stories get...back to monday...back to office work...back to routines/homework/practices/chores...heres to friday...only 5 days away...peace in each day.
getting ready for some weekend football...colin is on the panthers team and he is loving every minute of it...he gives 100% even if he's not sure which way to run or what position he is playing...at this level they do not keep score so the kids totally focus on just having fun...coach is great with the boys and they even have their own little chant..."panthers are you ready?" slap..slap..clap...all good stuff...heres to teamwork on the field and off this weekend...peace.
quote of the day from riley to sarah:
nothing like a hannah smile to make you smile...its so cool to see my brother as a dad...when did this all happen? it was just yesterday i was driving him to soocer practice/piano recitials/harris hill elementary(yes, the very first day i got my drivers license mom let me pile my three siblings plus a neighbor kid into the audi in an ice storm and drive them to school...of course we slid right threw my first red light and almost hit a car...and hence the fear of driving started...) life is such a full circle...don't forget to stop...breathe...smile...enjoy!10 things i admire about my brother...
#1) you are organized. ie, do not put the date stamper thing in the spot reserved for the fax stamper thing...not a pretty scene.
#2) you only use 1 staple per packet. most people just keep on adding papers and adding staples to the packet, not ryan...he removes each staple BEFORE adding a new staple.
#3) you can write the best best-man speech ever.
#4) you do not have the procrastinating gene factor.
#5) you have patience...ie, you bought mom an ipod and a subscription to netflex IN THE SAME YEAR.
#6) you travel everywhere just to see your family and friends...from the capital of texas to the plains of indiana to the canadian shores to the pumpkin hill and everywhere in between.
#7) you never give up - you finally won at blokus and texas hold'em.
#8) you love to paint...seriously, you have painted more houses/rooms in 30 years than divinci.
#9) you are not afraid to walk into a vandalized house with curtains blowing in the breeze.
#10) you are a great brother/son/grandson/nephew/father/husband/friend to all. you touch everyones life with your support, encouragement, paint brush, computer knowledge and love.
happy birthday ryan ! 30 rocks....
happy birthday steve...today was just a plain good olde family day...lots of flag football/team photos/warm humid sunshine...super sonic cheeseburgers for lunch...afternoon ut football game on tv...tackled the front door project - a new coat of stain - looking good - amazing how strong that texas sun is & how quickly the door faded....fridays for birthday dinner...home for cake and candles...peace in special family time...
nathan is nathan...he is such a passionate, thoughtful, emotional, flexible guy - lately he has had some really deep life questions that i'm not sure how to answer them all...heres whats been going through his mind this week.some thought provoking words from a nine year olds world...of course, nathan can't yet tie his shoes but thats a whole different story....peace.
we have a whole lot of respect going on around here..nathan and colin both were awarded the characteristic of the month award today at school....RESPECT...we are so proud of them because we really try to instill a little of that in them...respect other peoples feelings/toys/lawns/emotions/opinions/thoughts...glad to see that the boys are remembering their respect manners when they are away from home...way to go guys...
