9.29.2010

loved this book.

i just finished it last week.

it combines cooking, blogging & journaling all

together on one beautiful, funny & realistic book.

i read my life in france last month and accidentally found

this book on a library shelf -

couldn't put it down.

next thing you know, i'll be watching

julia childs in black and white.

9.28.2010

{kitchen window - september 27th}

yesterday was the day.
the day when after a long hot summer,
i was finally able to open a window!
fall is here - at least for today.
high on monday was only 85.
high today was 88.
i opened all the windows and let the fresh air in.
the a/c is still on but it never kicked on until late afternoon.
we slept with the windows open last night finally.
fresh night time air filled the house.
cool, cricket filled sounds bouncing off the walls.
just enough cool to actually pull the duvet up around your shoulders.
just enough cool to make you hit the snooze button one extra time.
just enough cool to throw on a jacket with flip flops & shorts.
welcome fall.
we were waiting for you to arrive.



9.27.2010

i love mondays.

it's a hard day to love.

it comes after sunday night blues.

it arrives with piles of laundry &

an almost empty refridge.

it arrives with a week packed with meetings, appointments,

orthodontist visits & mile long to-do lists.

it greets me with an email box overflowing,

fund raisers to complete and bills to pay.

it starts with drives to teravista elementary

and hopewell middle school all while playing beat the clock,

find the missing sneaker, key, cleat, lunchbox, backpack or

important paper to be signed.

i love mondays because this is how they end.

on a field.

on a bleacher.

with a great blue sky background drop.

with friends cheering from the stands.

                                        with popcorn, hot dogs and nachos.

                                             with fall in the air and
                                            the lights turned on.

i love monday days.

i love monday nights.

9.23.2010

happy fall.

even though its 90 and sunny outside

the calendar says its officially autumn

and i can't think of a better way to start it than with

the smell of apple crisp!

its so easy.

in a greased pan add 4 cups of sliced apples.

in a small bowl combine 2/3 c. brown sugar, 1/2 c. flour,

1 c. oatmeal, 3/4 t. nutmeg, 3/4 t. cinnamon and 1/3c. melted margarine.

press oatmeal mixture on top of apples.

bake at 375 for approx. 40 minutes

enJoy.

9.22.2010

colin busy at work on his social studies project.

his business marketing project.

he has developed a business plan, a marketing strategy and

an advertising campaign.

he has competition.

he is working on ideas to beat the competition.

i love his honest dedication.

i love his motivation.

(this isn't due until october 15th)

i love watching him map out his time line.

i love watching him think.

i love hearing his third grader insight.

i love challenging him to think outside the box.

i love it that he knows who bill gates, steven jobs & michael dell are.

i love that this is our kitchen table.

we'll keep ya posted on how

'colins creative wallets' succeeds.
" its not only a wallet but it can hold
a cell phone, an itouch or an ipod.
everything is safe with a velco closure.
optional lanyard to wear around your neck.
available in three colors"
- part of his ad campaign
heres to a duct tape wallet stand opening near
you soon!

9.21.2010

i almost ran this guy over yesterday.

i thought it was a rock.

i had to bring him home to help him recover from my screeching wheels.

i carried him all the way down the street.

i prayed none of my neighbors were watching.

today we carried him back to the pond

in hopes that he could find his family despite the

pleas to keep him as a pet.
(remember what happened to our last pet turtle?)

colin took his role seriously.
he placed him right at the edge of the pond.

he said goodbye.
hopefully we'll see him at the pond and
not under my tire wheel next time!

9.20.2010

monday night under the lights & clouds.

home field advantage.

good game.

getting better - week by week.

i can actually see the plays take form.

heres to the 4 of us sitting in the stands

and cheering the hornets on !

heres to #46.

9.19.2010

sunday is football.

after church, we put on our football shirts, grab a football

& fill out our weekly nfl picks.

we each get our own tally sheet.

we each pick who we think is going to win.

nathan takes a statistically approach to his answers.

i pick based on the colors of the teams uniforms.

needless to say, i'm not doing too well.

after week one, steve is in the lead with 10 out of 16 correct teams.

nathan is 9/16.

colin is 8/16.

justin is 7/16.

i'm 6/16.

hopefully we'll do better today.

go bills. go boys. go manning brothers.

9.18.2010

saturdays to do list:

early football practice & motivating walks.

afternoon trips to the container store to

purchase the best shower caddy in the world.

evening surprise birthday party for jamie

on the best patio in texas.

happy ut football.

happy organized showers.

happy birthday.

happy day.

9.15.2010

today.

someone pictured above got braces.

someone pictured above downloaded free apps.

someone pictured above earned ducks for a fundraiser at school.

someone pictured above is reading 'where the red fern grows'.

someone pictured above lost his compression shirt at school.

someone pictured above overslept.

someone pictured above watched the season finale of master chef.

someone pictured above started his economic project early.

someone pictured above received sports illustrated in the mailbox.

today.

9.15.2010

{daniel & colin - august 2010}
evesdropping.
today.
i'm sitting at the kitchen island right now doing office work.
i'm listening to colin upstairs in the game room on the phone with daniel.
they are talking football & school stuff.
colin: "the bills and the boys lost this week. not a good week down here."
daniel must be talking now.
colin: "that was not cool on so many levels."
-
there was a time when the best buds would search for things to talk about.
there was a time when a minute conversation was long for them.
there was a time when they didn't know what to say.
no longer!
soon the conversations will be from cell to cell.
soon the conversations will be rapids coded texts.
soon the conversations will be about other topics.
too soon!

9.14.2010

an apple a day.

look what was waiting for nathan when

he sat down for his snack today.

after many trips to the apple store,

look what they had in stock finally.
heres to another itouch in the house.
sorry dell - we still love you.
heres to sharing apps.
(or should i say, heres to the boys talking me into
a new expensive app then magically it also
appears on theirs.)
heres to that nathan smile &
having something that justin doesn't!

9.13.2010

just a quiet monday night.

at a football field.

seats on the 50 yard line.

sunny and 90 at kickoff.
a picture perfect night.
a fully loaded concession stand.
a player wearing '46' on defense.
played the entire game.
no more flag football for this boy.
helmets and pads are his best friend now.

the clocked ticked on.

the lights came on.

the boys played well.

a tough loss 10 - 6.

a great start to the season.

i'm stocking up on my prilosec.

way to much excitement, right down to the last 50 seconds...

-

when i looked out onto the field, i could hardly believe that justin

was old enough to be wearing all that gear, running with a helmet in hand

and understanding all the sideline signals.

when did this happen?

he was just a nameless infant at the hospital.

he was just in the er at suburban getting stitches.

he was just getting on the big yellow bus for the first time.

he was just flying to texas.

he was just graduating from elementary school.

he was just passing me in height.

he was just growing his hair long.

he was just texting 1200 times per month.

he was just running out on the field.

-

i might not have recognized him if i didn't know his number.

i might have cried if i thought i could get away with it.

i might have thought that i was watching ryan run onto the field.

i might have forgot to breathe every time he was out there.

i might have prayed harder than ever before.

i might have gotten an ulcer tonight from all the extra excitement.

i might be crazy/hormonal/psycho.

i might just be a football mom?!

when did this happen??

-

heres to watching him run on the field.

heres to watching him jump in the front seat

of the van at 9:30pm tonight.

heres to hearing the excitement in his voice as

he discussed each and every play over.

heres to all those 6am practices.

heres to now. today. life.

9.7.2010

hermine hits us today in the form of rain.
lots of rain.
a really lot of rain.
all day rain.
a take nathan to the busstop rain.
a 40 minute pick up line to get colin after school.
a pick up justin and nathan at the busstop rain.
(i've never picked them up at the stop.)
a drive to the mailbox rain.
a double plastic bag newspaper rain.
even ups used a plastic bag today.
a constant rain.
a light rain then a heavy rain.
a never ending rain.
the yard, the pond, the streets will be flooded.
for days.

9.6.2010

labor day relaxn'

lunch at the downtown z'tejas treehouse

with a bunch of great guys,

a strong bloody & a glass of oj.on ward to explore south congress with the hudsons.

found: one big top candy store.

a store filled with nothing but candy.

the boys had a hard time picking out

with sugar treats to fill their bag with.

fireballs, necos, swedish fish & pixie stixs.a warm wonderful afternoon breeze, a good book,

a papa murphy pizza and chocolate frosted cake completed
our labor day holiday.

handmade cards.
a facebook full of wishes.
a bagful of anthropologie goodies.
new nikes with a mini ipod.
college football games.
"with all do respect sir" said nate.
a day with friends and family.
doesn't get any better.
thank y'all for making today special.

9.5.2010

sundays gratitude journal:

early morning golf.

early morning church.

afternoon trips to the apple store.

evening trips to dell diamond -

filled with hot sunny skies

true baseball fans,
giving way to a warm night under the lights,

fans desperately seeking a baseball and

a priceless memory.

fireworks filled the sky as we

ended our sunday evening and a well

earned baseball filled nathans mitt.

summer memories in full swing

continue on our labor day weekend.

9.4.2010

do you remember being a kid on christmas eve?

it was so hard to get asleep.

you could hardly wait for morning to come.

the excitement.

the anticipation.

now, imagine colin on the night before going

to the new lego store in austin.

he went to bed last night early.

he got up bright and early.

he made last minute changes on his contest entry.

we took pictures.

we printed them at cvs.

we got our chores done & the grass cut.

we headed out at 10:30am with the hudsons.

barton creek or bust.

he could barely breathe by the time we reached the

store front.

as if santa had delivered a ton of wrapped gifts.

he was in awe.

he was overwhelmed.

he didn't know where to look first.

we started here.

we looked. we explored.

we touched. we bought.

we survived the crowds.
we loved the "lego bar".

we loved the dell computers at
the lego store.

we played. we dreamed.

we entered the mini-make-n-take contest.
colin is dreaming of winning.

we were all kids for a morning.

lunch at the california grill.

shoe shopping at nordstrom.

colin thanked us a hundred times today.

he will remember this day.

it was christmas in september.

9.3.2010

finally.

caught up with blogging.

caught up with uploading.

caught up with printing.

caught up with punching.

caught up with vacationing blogging.

i can't believe august is here & gone.

vacation memories.

back to school memories.

all printed & ready to reminisce.

inches of paper.

a lifetime of memories.

9.2.2010

as requested by colin.

bedtime is 8:30pm.

master chef ends at 9:00pm.

hence the note at the breakfast table.

usually its a football winner & score.

this is a first.

-

rewind one week.

channel surfing last wednesday night with all 3 boys.

came across this master chef show.

never watched it before.

we were hooked.

"this is the worlds worst cupcake"

was our quote of the week.

who would imagine that i could get 3 boys to

watching a cooking show.

passionately.

cheering.

anticipating the hidden box ingredient.

naming unique foods.

rating techniques.

just a wednesday night memory.

simple. sweet. precious.

i'm savoring every moment with all three boys.

it's not often they all enjoy the same thing

at the same time at the same moment.

9.1.2010

{today. now. here. life.}

do you ever hear something & because you are so

preoccupied/overwhelm/distracted

that you file it away in a place

to be remembered later?

(hopefully)

-

perhaps it was the new lego catalog arriving

the other day.

perhaps it was colins routine of

creating with legos between

school & homework every afternoon.

perhaps it was the fact that my

to-do list is under control.

perhaps my amnesia has cleared.

but suddenly today, i remembered

sarah telling me MONTHS ago that

a lego store was opening in austin.

heard it.

filed it.

remembered it.

and of course with the instant

gratification of google, i was smiling & colin

was grinning from ear to ear.

A LEGO STORE OPENED IN AUGUST

RIGHT HERE IN AUSTIN.

honest.

not a coming soon store.

an open store.

and it didn't take long for us to memorize

the store hours, the workshop calendar &

the directions.

-

a weekend trip is in the planning stages.

a contest was noted & colin was quick to participate.

create a lego mini make-and-take.

25 - 40 legos.

representing september.

he was all about the contest.

100.00 lego gift card is the prize.

he is serious.

he created 5 lego masterpieces.

we voted on the best creation.

the school bus won.

he tweaked it.

he improved it.

he counted the pieces.

he added to it.

he changed it.

a stop sign was designed.

he is ready to submit.

he was so excited today, you would of

thought it was christmas around here.

fill up the gas tank.

clear the weekend schedule.

we have a mission to support.

we are lego store bound!