i made it...

i tackled some much overdue office projects (the old fashioned way, with a calculator and paper)i went exactly 24 hours and 13 minutes without the internet.

i actually watched a chick flick movie on tv.

i read two chapters of this book.

i cleaned out the kitchen junk drawer.

i made a birthday card with a hand written letter for grandma.

i organized some pictures.

i felt productive.

i enjoyed the test.

not sure when i'll repeat it but soon.

off to check my emails.

off to surf the net.

early birthday wishes

i'm taking a day off from the computer...too much internet time...too much checking the emails...too much wasted time...i have enough office work to sink a ship but yet i continue to jump from blog to blog...i just read this article (of course while blog hopping) and realized that i need to turn it off one day a week....reminds me of the days when steve and i were just married and we would set aside one night a week and NOT turn on the tv...only good stuff can possible happen in that quality time...so heres to all of you with your crackberries...an early happy birthday to aunt liz and mr. gregg tomorrow...see ya on the flip side.

what was i thinking?

{april 2005...before the BIG first cut}

what was i thinking?

did i think this looked good?

was this look in vogue?

{colin...after the haircut}

much better...

love finding old pictures that my brother sent to me

fills my day with smiles

everyday memories

go.take.pictures.now

someday your heart will laugh with wonderful memories

weekend recap...

{hula hut...lake austin...sunday afternoon}

• printed the oscar ballot & realized that the only movie i saw was ratatouille so i was unable to complete to ballot...i've got some dvds to catch up on
• made marthas chewy molasses cookies with good reviews from the kids (but just ok if you ask me) but felt good to actually make homemade cookies for a change
• made two pitchers of mojios - secret is not to muttle the mint with the lime - just drop them in the pitcher- tastes great + no one walks around with mint pieces between their teeth all party long....
• downloaded my new font but haven't had a chance to put it to good use
• printed graph paper for nathan since he lost his math paper...printed line paper to work on a scrapbook project, now i just need to work on the project
• neosporin to forehead stitches
• justins team lost in the basketball tournament on saturday...season over...lots of fun...great coaches & great team...already looking ahead to next season
• hula hut for soda/chips/cocktails on sunday afternoon...sunny & 80...shorts, sunglasses, flip-flops & palm trees
• shopping at whole foods on sunday...love love love that place
• cocktails on the path sunday afternoon at hensons...perfect weather...gotta love february in austin
• watched 'holes' on disney channel this weekend...nathans reading the book and talked us into all watching it with him
• new sneakers for colin this weekend
• finished anna karenina (finally) this weekend...i did it!...slightly disappointed in the ending but happy that i made it till the end
• sunday church & sunday school
• papa murphys pizza...buy now, cook later...whats not to love about that dinner

happy day. happy record breaking 92 warm sunny degrees. happy air conditioning. happy sleeping with the windows open tonight.

saturday losses

the team came so close to advancing to the final game of the tournament

final score 12 - 10

great team 'bulls' and super husband/wife coaching team

heres to an exciting winter season & entertaining saturday afternoons

nice teamwork justin

those wrist things look great

maybe you can throw them in the wash now that the season is over

happy birthday lisa!

{matt.lisa.mahaney.oliver.charlotte.jayne - crescent beach - july 2007}

happy birthday lisa

wishing you a memorable weekend

filled with lots of presents. hugs & champagne

enjoy

followup...

question to colin...show your brothers how big the needle was when you got your stitches...(see above picture)...ummm...never let the truth get in the way of a good story...it was almost that big...brave guy wearing his battle scar well...

friday five

Five fun things today:

1. Print out your Oscar ballot here for Sunday night
   
2. Make your own lined paper here
   
3. I'm making a pitcher of these this weekend
   
4. Drooling over a batch of these now
   
5. Download this font free here
   

   Happy Friday.

i didn't know what to blog about today until...

this happened...colin & recess & an outdoor basketball court & a large rock all came together at the same time...one brave boy...one hospital visit...two blue stitches...three dollars in vending machine treats...four injections of lidocaine...five little fingers squeezing my hand tightly...six minutes in the waiting room (can you believe it?)...seven minutes for mom to get from home to the school...eight pictures for the scrapbook taken...nine well-wisher phone calls...ten dollar bribe paid to colin for being so brave (i needed him to lay still & money talks)...go.live.play & don't fall on concrete courts.

happy happy happy

sending out birthday wishes to uncle tom...we celebrated your birthday with lots of cakes, lots of candles and lots of birthday smiles! happy birthday uncle tom...enjoy!

austin time...

'i think togetherness is a very important ingredient to family life'

barbara bush

it seems like we just picked mom & dad up at the airport..now they are back in the air heading home...we packed a lot into a small period of time...enjoyed every minute...making memories...laughing...connecting & reconnecting...remembering & reminicing...sharing & listening...watching & growing...all good stuff...its already a little quiet around here...happy birthday to mr. mike today - whatever city you may be celebrating in...go.live.love.now.today.

monday fun

{steve.dad.nathan & colin @ justins bball game saturday}

monday fun continues...carrie & bill drove in from houston to have lunch with us in georgetown...walked through an antique store with steve & dad - probably a first for both of them...after lunch, us girls headed over to the domain for our daily dose of vitamin domain...we hit all the usual - stuart, neiman, tiffany, juicy and victoria...finished with a champagne toast at kona in the sun while drooling over the newest neiman fashion catalog...the guys headed over to the depot for bonding time among the ceiling fans...mom & dad managed a quick tour of the model homes...crazy eights & grilled chicken for dinner...busy day for all...can't believe vcation is almost over...

birthday? more like birthweek...

colins birthday dinner tonight

after a full day

church & sunday school

brunch at z'tejas

a round of golf with steve & granddad

sunny warm walks to the clubhouse with nan

cheeseburgers on the grill

sunday night sippel & zang stories

sponge bob harvey wallbanger cake

frosted by nan

lego infatuation continues

lego racers & lego garbage trucks

& lego cars too all wrapped in

sponge bob paper

happy day

happy times

happy six years old

saturday fun

{justins basketball game}

rudys breakfast tacos

new weber for grilling

home depot does not accept lowes credit cards

outlet mall in the rain

tall skinnys at starbucks

champagne & girl scout cookies at cvs

basketball games

joe dimaggios for cocktails

piano man & valentine

daily grill for salmon
one filled day

outside its friday, inside its texas hold'em

{whos hand is trying to grab nans chips?}

its not a complete friday nite without a little texas hold'em...colin has been patiently waiting all day to play...the last time we played with nan & granddad was at pumpkin hill last july at mike & sandras party...he loved the unique rules that apply...borrowing chips/sharing chips/showing your cards to all/stealing chips?!....we wont tell you who won last night...


happy day...happy friday...happy weekend...

girls just wanna have fun

{mom.tiffanys.palm tree @ the domain today}

spent the day with tiffany & juicy

neiman & marcus

ralph & jimmy

tory & lilly

clutched with prada

danced in manolo

spritzed with creed

saw through channel

drank with waterford

dinned with kate

dreamed about dolche

just another day at the domain

lots of fun

lots of laughs

lots of shopping still left to do

happy day

happy dreaming

happy valentines day

look who arrived in austin today

just in time for valentines day

everyone wearing red

watsons chocolate hearts for all

fridays for heart day dinner

sunny patio lunch at north

champagne and calamari

shopping at the domain

classic valentine dvds for all

breakfast at tiffanys

love actually

american president

busy day

fun visit ahead

xxooxxoo

{valentines day card - 1992}

remember when the freezer door didn't fall off....
happy valentines day...
love you always!

six wishes...

he wished....

'it was my birthday everyday'

six big candles for colin

{priceless}

bedroom filled with balloons

candle in cinnamon roll for breakfast

present before school

mcdonalds at school for lunch

cupcakes for classmates

violin birthday wishes

homemade birthday cards

hand delivered birthday gifts

remote controlled cars

smart money bank jars

birthday songs on phone

cellular birthday wishes

ups delivering birthday gifts

birthday cards filled with treats

glow in the dark lego racers

sponge bob legos

football cards & bunny straws

hot wheel triple stunt racers

one excited six year old

happy birthday colin!

weekend recap

friday night lights. saturday basketball games. walmart valentine shopping. sunny saturday relaxing. wrapped stuffed jalapenos. meeting new neighbors. texas hold'em poker. sunday morning church. guys afternoon golfing. target gift cards. spent gift cards. playground picnic lunches. homework filled backpacks. building lego presents. grammy music awards. great winter weather. super weekend memories.
only five more days till another weekend arrives.

spiderman sunday

{teravista playground...today}

'limitations live only in our minds. but if we use our imaginations our

possibilities become limitless.'

jamie paolinetti

i saw a playground.

you guys saw a spiderweb.

i saw a playground.

you guys saw a pirate ship

i saw a playground.

you guys saw an island in the sea.

i saw a playground.

you guys saw roller coaster.

i saw a playground.

you guys saw a million things.

saturday

"mom, i'm bored - what should i do?"
"ummm..maybe you could clean out your desk."
"any other ideas?"
"build your lego ferrari from nan & granddad"
"ok"
and 6 hours later with the help of 2 brothers and 3 friends...mission accomplished...love your determination...love your smile...love your never-give-up attitude always...live like this always!

tgif...

that is a friday at 3pm smile on nathans face...
no homework today...
no schedule today...
no to-do list today...
lots of footballs to throw today...
lots of bikes to ride today...
lots of friends to play with today...
we are heading outside today...
we are having fun today...
we are making memories today...
go.
live.
now.

ordinary day in a wonderful life...

@7am i wave goodbye at the bus stop with coffee in hand

@3pm i stand at the bus stop & wait for the boys to run off the bus

@home we have a snack...popcorn today

@3:30pm we start homework...read books...memorize spelling words

finish book reports...review thursday folders...sign papers

review sight words...check math problems

@5:30pm we head to the library to return a stack of 28 books

@6pm we check out 28 new books...thats all i must be able to carry

@6:15pm we head to sonic for dinner...cheeseburgers for all

wonder why they don't have sonics in buffalo

@7pm we head home...take out the garbage...make lunches & pack backbacks

@8pm we say our prayers & one special thing we are each thankful for

@9pm i finish up a couple loads of wash...print a couple emails from the office

read the paper...read some blogs...watch lipstick jungle..had to, i read the book

@9:30pm blog about my ordinary day in a wonderful life

live. now. today. in each ordinary wonderful moment

thursday craftiness

{photo from martha stewarts website}

just love this idea

just might actually try it

just need to find a roll of wax paper/a heart punch/the iron

just need to whip up a batch of homemade banana bread to put in it

just need to buy some bananas and let them turn brown

just need to find those cute mini loaf pans

just need to find the recipe

just need to buy that cute twine & matching tags

just need to stop blogging & start cooking

happy day.

oneHUNDREDdays...

today was a special day at school...100th day...to celebrate colin had to make a shirt with 100 'things' on it...nathan thought it would be cool to glue 100 dollar bills on but colin is way to economical to do that and settled on sticking 100 foam stars to his shirt...50 on the front & 50 on the back for those of you counting...when we started this project the other day, i handed colin the bag of 120 stars and asked him to count out 100 stars & then we would start sticking them on the shirt to which colin replied, "mom, i'll just count out 20 and then we can use the rest in the bag!"...good answer, now why didn't i think of that?!...happy hundred, happy day.

finished....

i just finished reading the atonement and i believe this was one of the best books i've read in along time...i loved the words...i loved the theme...i loved the story...i'm not sure i want to see the movie because i fear that it will ruin it for me...i have started this book twice before without success but this time it got me...i knew i only had 40 pages left and i knew that i was going to finish it tonight but i put it off as long as possible...i waited till all the boys were tucked in for the night...i waited till all the days taskes were completed...i waited till the lunches were made & the coffee was ready to brew in the am...i waited till i had my favorite jcrew pajamas on...i waited till i had a full glass of champange next to me...and off i went...to the world of fiction...to the world of wonderfully strung together words...to the world of thinking...and thought...night.

why i blog...

• because its easier than writing in a journal
• because i love all the little daily everyday memories
• because i never made a baby book for each of the boys
• because it reminds me to watch/listen/observe/record life
• because it keeps me connected with friends & family daily
• because i love a great story
• because i enjoy it
• because i keep my pictures in boxes where no one sees them
• because i found a box of old journals last week and reading thru them was priceless...

live. enjoy. remember.

live now...

{lake travis - february 2, 2008}

"life wastes itself while we are preparing to live"
ralph waldo emerson

one super weekend, shaken not stirred

basketball practice & pacifier movie

friday night lights & cheese sticks

lake travis & sandy beaches

super target & football needles

basketball games & overtime periods

winning shot & justins smile

birthday parties & reptile man

real snakes & swimming turtles

joe dimaggio & outdoor firepits

warm nights & great friends

daily grill & tasty appetizers

sunday school & wearing shorts

playing golf & sprinkle donuts

super bowl & henson parties

hurricane cocktails & chicken wings

england patriots & ny giants

late bedtimes & exciting wins

super weekend & super memories

super friends & super pictures

super life.

super sunday

super writing ideas here x 29 days.
super cream cheese cupcakes here.
super commuter mugs here.
super dell (red) products here.
super simple harvest oatmeal free sample here.
super month of classic movies here.
super day. enjoy.

saturday & saturday

2 birthday boys + 20 breathing reptiles = 1 great party.

happy birthday guys.

these are the birthdays you will always remember.

thanks for sharing with us.

friends. family. fun.

gratitude journal for today

{colin...11 months old...january 2003...living room on patton}

i FINALLY found this picture today.

i am wearing sunglasses today.

i loved walking to the bus stop today.

i took the long way home from errands today.

i enjoyed taking the boys to practice today.

i read a chapter in the atonement today.

i packed away colins fisher price little people today :(

i love today.

birthday wishes

{photo from faiths birthday celebration - march 2006 - austin, texas}

happy birthday faith!

wishing u joy

wishing u laughs

wishing u sunny skies

wishing u cherished memories

enjoy!