Trick or Treat

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Wait!! I'm missing one! At least this time I noticed. I'm becoming a better parent all the time ;)

(If you haven't read my Neighborhood Party post that will make no sense. But oh well.)

Ah!! Here she is...

Now we're ready to go trick or treating!

American Girl Fashion Show

Saturday morning Sarah and I went to McKinney to watch Rachel (my niece) in an American Girl Fashion show put on by the Junior League.

Sarah got dressed up and brought Lanie, her American Girl doll.

We had desserts and finger sandwiches and pink lemonade. And then Rachel strutted her stuff...

Which was easier to capture on video. She walks fast!! :)

Thanks for a fun morning, Aunt Hilary and Rachel.

Neighborhood party

Saturday night we had our annual Oktoberfest/ Costume party in the 'hood. I love our neighborhood. I love it even more now that I'm not on the HOA board. :)

So the kids got dressed up...

My ladybug

Alice from "Alice in Wonderland"

And Spongebob

The whole crew...

We walked one street over and the party was set up.

A bounce house and a slide. Food and crafts.

The girls got their faces painted.

There was a costume parade

And my kids really had fun bouncing the night away.

Until this happened...

The bounce house started to deflate and the ceiling started to close in. You can tell what I did.... I stepped back to take a picture. I saw Sarah. I saw Caroline. Now-- why I thought it was good enough to have 2 of the 3 kids accounted for, I'll never know. But I was like, "Ha, this is kinda funny." And snapped a pic.

In my defense--- and I know I need a defense--- it was collapsing slowly. Like.... do you see the girl in the foreground just casually walking by it? It wasn't some huge tragedy. It really was kinda funny.

But then a good mom-- not me-- climbed into the bounce house as it was collapsing to the ground to see if there were any kids stuck inside. Guess who was the only one stuck inside.

Yep. When Jack was pulled out, he was shaken. And he said, "Mom, that was terrible. I was so scared." I felt horrible. Jason wasn't there because he wasn't feeling well. I was solely responsible for the kids. And I took a picture of this collapsing bounce house instead of trying to locate all of my kids.

Thank goodness for the good mom!!!

Other than that one incident, it was a really fun night. :)

More pics from the weekend to come....

Warning: This team will self-destruct in 5, 4, 3, 2...

Well, Rangers, you beat yourselves tonight. And you need to find some better relieving pitchers in the off season.

I'm still heartbroken over last night's game... It's like one looooong punch in the stomach to have been one strike away--twice-- from winning it all.

A friend compared last night to Game 5 Mavs vs Heat in 2006 as one of the worst moments in sports ever. But we know the Mavs came back (5 years later) and won it all. And I know Texas will too. One day they'll be World Series Champs.

I'm so proud of how far they've come. I'm so proud of the character a lot of our guys have. We're a good team. We made it as far as we did for a reason.

It just wasn't our year. :(

.......................................................

But tonight I went to the gym and I'm in a much better mood than I was last night.

1. I think lifting weights (although I'm not strong enough to lift a lot of weight) was a good exercise to relieve frustration.

2. I had my music on and the TVs were on mute. Anytime I'm watching a crucial game that's not played at home, I don't want to hear the other fans cheering or the commentators talk good about the opposing team. Do you know what I mean? I can't be the only one who feels that way.

3. It was kinda clear early-ish on that this wasn't gonna end well. When we started walking runs in, it was like.. Ok, this isn't good. But last night was so intense that it made the loss that much more painful. It's easier when you can kinda see the writing on the wall.

And so now I'm tired. There's resolution to this series. Not the outcome I was hoping for. But still-- it was a great World Series matchup.

An obnoxious Yankee fan friend of mine (and aren't all Yankees fans obnoxious? ;) ) said that people were thinking this would be a boring series. Two midwestern teams... (although I don't know I'd consider TX part of the midwest... Southwest, maybe... but midwest?? not really)... but then my friend went on to say that this has been one of the most fun battles to watch.

And I agree. It was fun.

Congrats to the Cardinals! What a season! And congrats to the Rangers! You'll get the title someday!! Keep hope alive!! :)

Stop talking

I just had blood drawn. I told the lady that my veins roll. She hit the vein the first time,

but then she said, "Oh, no. Don't do this to me. [pause] The blood has stopped flowing. [pause] I've never had to manipulate a vein like this and tell it what to do. [pause] Don't look. You won't want to see this. [pause] Have you ever seen a vein that inflates like a little balloon and then pops? [pause] You're gonna have a big bruise. Sorry."

Oh my gosh!! Shut up!!!!!!!!!! I'm not a squeamish person about having my own blood drawn. But when you give me a play-by-play with the needle in my arm, I want to punch you in the face.

Get in. Get what you need. Get out. And for the love of all that is good in this world, STOP TALKING.

**gross**

**and my arm hurts**

A few more things...

Remember when I told you I don't like the intense, hardcore man-woman that cusses and argues like one of the guys when she watches a game???

Well, I confess, I broke that rule last night. I was pacing. May have let a few words slip. ;) Bit my nails. And may have argued with the umpire a few times... I wonder if he heard me. :)

OH, OH, OH... And Jason fell asleep in the 9th. FELL ASLEEP!!! Can you believe that?! That's un-American, I tell ya! Maybe he's a turrist. (Is that how George W would spell it?)

Tonight I'm gonna have to watch from the gym. I had WAY too much adrenaline and nervous energy to be at home last night and sit still. I will not make that same mistake for Game 7.

Recap

At the risk of alienating any Cardinals fans out there in cyber world, I've gotta be true to my team. And I am a RANGERS fan....

Keeping that in mind. Here's my general overview/recap... (I can't go inning by inning because it's just too soon to relive it.) ;)

Last night sucked.

That's it. Thanks for reading.

:) Haha. Just kidding. Well, it did suck, but I will take you through the game in case you didn't watch.

It was a comedy of errors last night. Like the Twilight Zone or something. An uncanny and-- I think I heard-- unprecedented number of mistakes in a World Series game. And each time a team would mess up, the other team would take advantage and at least get a run from it. But just as I was watching St Louis make an error and thinking, "Wow, what just happened?", at the bottom of the same inning, we'd make a horrible defensive move.

I don't understand all the pitching changes we made. I know the theory is that a new pitcher would be fresh, but I think we proved last night that sometimes it takes a new pitcher a few batters to calm down and get in his groove. So why make changes when the bases are loaded? And change to Ogando?? We put new in at odd times. We pulled old out at odd times, in my opinion.

As for the pick-off by Napoli at third base, I know some people were booing like Beltre did something wrong by blocking the bag. That's a clean defensive move. You can block the bag if the runner is sliding hands first. That wasn't dirty. That was smart.

Napoli getting injured on second made me nervous. And I'm equally concerned that he'll be swollen today and unable to play. I hope, if he's hurting, he powers through.

I hate that National League baseball make pitchers bat. That's the dumbest thing in the world. And when you're coming from a league that doesn't do that, I think it sucks to make a pitcher bat. Just sayin'.

Last night we were one strike away from winning it in the 9th and couldn't seal the deal. On to the 10th. We were one strike away from winning it in the 10th. Couldn't pull it off. Lost in the 11th.

It was a crazy tense game. Stressful and back and forth. And when a game like that ends in a win, it's a euphoric feeling. Especially when you win it at home. But tap the brakes on the celebration, Cardinals. You forced a game 7. That's what happened last night. It ain't over til it's over. And I have faith! I'm not giving up on my Rangers. We can still do this.

And everyone keeps talking about the Cardinals Cinderella story this season. That they had such a rough start and clinched the wild card spot and then got hot. And wouldn't it be great if they won it all. Hey-- I've said it before and I'll say it again-- I don't dislike them and I'll be fine with losing to them, BUT do you want to talk about a team who's fought their way back from sucking? We've only been good enough to go the the World Series the last 2 years. And last year when we went, we didn't do nearly this well. And I think it's OUR time. We don't have a World Series Championship title in our franchise history. And-- like I said--until last year, we'd never even BEEN to the World Series.

I know Pujols is about to be a free agent and it'd be great to get him a win with the Cardinals at home. And Freese grew up in St Louis so he was the local guy hero last night. And the momentum is in St Louis's favor. But I want to see my Texas boys take it home. I want to see us standing at the end. Just once. I want them to be able to say that they won it ALL.

So-- if there are any Cardinals fans out there-- good luck tonight! No disrespect intended! You have a great team. It's just that, in order for MY team to win, the Cardinals have to lose. AND I'm rooting for the RANGERS.

Game 7 tonight!! I hope it ends before 11:45. I'll be drinking coffee all day today, I'm sure. :)

Are you kidding me???

I am gonna be so tired in the morning. And for what?? To watch that? Ugh. Kills me.

Recap later.

Right now I need Excedrin and a bed.

Goodnight. Game 7, here we come!

GO RANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew it was a good idea...

...to make Jack and Caroline split a kid's meal when we ate Tex Mex for lunch yesterday.

I also knew that neither of them would finish half of a quesadilla because they fill up on chips.

But what I didn't know is that the only thing Caroline would end up eating (besides chips and guacamole) was the lime.

She didn't just suck the juice. She ate it.

Jason honestly worries that she has no taste buds. I'm just glad she's not a picky eater. :)

Random picture post

Game 6 is delayed. So it's time for a random picture post. And believe me-- this will, indeed, be random.

**Note: All pics are taken with my phone, so they're not of the highest quality. I'm not the greatest photographer, especially with a phone.


#1. Took the kids to Chuck E Cheese's to kill some time on Monday.

(I did tell you that Sarah had Friday AND Monday off of school AND only had a half day on Thursday, right?? I love having all 3 kids home, but it makes for a LOOOOONG weekend--especially since Jason was gone.)

Anyway, as we were getting more tokens, I read this...

4 tokens for $1 or 20 tokens for $5. My question is this: Are they trying to trick us into thinking we're getting a good deal, or are they just doing the math for us? Because 4 for $1 or 20 for $5 is THE SAME THING.

#2. Here's my pumpkin glowing...

What'd I tell you? It's cuter when it glows, huh?


#3. Caroline takes baths in the tub, but that's only when I feel like going all the way upstairs. (I know I make it sound like "upstairs" is in another time zone but it really does seem far away.)

The big kids shower in my bathroom, so it's a hassle to draw a big bath just for Caroline. And she prefers the sink actually. So as long as she'll fit, I'll bathe her in the sink. Fine by me. This weekend, we did a bubble bath in there...

I've also been known to stick her in there so I can finish cooking dinner. It helps to know she's out of the way when I'm opening and closing the oven. :)

#4. Pic of me and Jason at Tyler's wedding on Friday...

Three things for me to remember, I see...
1. Jason needs to stand on the other side of me. I think I look better with him on my right. Compare this pic to the one at the top of my blog page. Yes, he needs to stand on my right side.

2. I need to be sure and not lock my knees in full length pics. I tend to look bow-legged.

3. I need to stand up straight.

But--yay!-- love that we're making a bigger effort to take pictures in general.

I told you these would be random.

I'm ready for Game 6 tomorrow night. Go Rangers!! :)

Talkin' about the weather

The highs are in the 80s today and tomorrow. Thursday it's supposed to rain and the highs will be in the 50s. Then I think it should be in the 70s for the weekend.

And THAT is what makes Halloween costume shopping so tricky.

You have to have a short sleeved version and a warm version of the same costume. Because who the heck knows what the weather's gonna be like in Texas in October.

The kids could never do those cute wooly costumes with the hats as infants/toddlers. They were irritable and cranky because it's too dang hot down here.

C'mon, Fall, I'm ready to see you.

Games 4 and 5... It's a combo post

Game 4...

Whew. This was much more like it. I'm glad we won, but just-- in general-- this was a much more evenly matched game. The Rangers won 4 -1, I think. That was few days ago so it's hard to recall. But what I DO remember is it was just the difference in one good hit... a 3 run homer. Otherwise it would have been tied at 1. Proving, in my opinion, that the Rangers and Cardinals are a great match up.

Game 5...

I'll take the win. Wins are good. But I felt a little bad for Cardinals fans. Tons of missed opportunities last night. Runners left on bases. Of course, the same was true for us. Runners picked off of bases. Which is kinda the way the game goes sometimes. But then there was some apparent confusion in the bullpen. I've heard Tony LaRussa was quoted as saying that he called for one pitcher but another one was sent. ?? It wasn't a good night for them. Just kinda messy and unlucky. Not as messy as Game 3 was for the Rangers. But still. I know that the Cardinals probably feel that they lost that game for themselves. And that's a crappy way to feel. And even with all of that working against St Louis, they still only lost 4 - 2.

But again... That's what's great about this series. You don't ever know who's gonna end up on top. With the exception of the ridiculous third game, these wins have been determined by one good hit. Last night was Napoli. He was great offensively. He was great defensively. He got one good hit in and that's what put the Rangers on top. And that's why you have to watch all the way to the end. Either team could have one game-changing hit at any time.

Soooo... now St Louis has home field advantage in a must-win situation. Something tells me that this series will go all the way to Game 7. And the mistakes that were made in Game 5 will NOT happen again to the Cardinals. They're gonna come back strong.

Game 6 on Wednesday!!

Since Halloween is almost here...

let's talk about candy really quickly.

How good is an Almond Joy? And Mounds too, for that matter. Almost like candy corn, Almond Joy and Mounds remind me of Halloween because I really don't eat them any other time of the year.

Until a few weeks ago. When I bought this...

It's not quite as good as an actual Almond Joy, but you get the coconut-y, almond goodness. It satisfies that craving for me.

I've also had these...

And these are GREAT as minis. The regular sized peanut butter cups are too heavy on the peanut butter for me. (This is a semi-recent thing. Growing up I loved the big cups.) The miniature is better. But these minis are P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

Still... got put a plug in for the Almond Joy pieces. Chocolate and peanut butter candies? A dime, a dozen. Coconut, almond and chocolate? Come on. Mmmmm..

FYI... and as an aside...

I blog about the postseason in baseball... and basketball last year... because that's what's going on right now in north Texas. Post season play is exciting, and the metroplex is different. People have flags on their cars. And everyone's optimistic and cheerful.. except last night. ;)

But, truth be told, I don't like for girls to talk about sports excessively. Is that sexist? Probably. I just don't like it for some reason. Maybe it's because I was never an athlete, and so I don't understand being soooo into a sport that, as a woman, you're one of the guys. Cussing and arguing and wearing an oversized jersey with your whole face painted. There's something about hardcore women like that that I don't know what to do with them.

On the flip side, I don't like girls who are ignorant about sports. I know nothing about some sports, but I know enough about baseball, basketball, and football to enjoy watching and not need to ask a lot of questions. I don't like to be watching a game that I enjoy and be sitting with girls who just want to chit-chat and talk about what's new on Bravo if I happen to actually care about the game.

I like a happy medium. Not hardcore man-woman who argues and is aggressive and one of the guys. But not prissy dummy who has no idea about anything and talks my ear off during the game.

Does that make sense?

Pumpkin carving

Jason was out of town this weekend again, visiting his dad, and so to kill time over a long weekend with the kids because I'm such a fun mom :) (haha) I got a pumpkin to carve.

The kids bailed on me as soon as they smelled the pumpkin and I was left to finish on my own.

Slackers.

So here it is.... It looks cuter when it's glowing.

I always do happy faces. Jason likes to do scary faces.

He can't wait for the kids to be old enough to pull some psychologically scarring pranks on them. He wants to be the house that has the cemetery in the front yard. Or jump out from behind something and scare the little trick or treaters. Creepy fog machines and candy bowls with a hand inside that grabs at kids' hands when they try to get candy. I HATE houses like that. Something's wrong with him I swear. Maybe he wasn't hugged enough as a child. ;)

Game 3

I don't even want to write this post.

Disaster.

From the very beginning-- when they were announcing the lineup, I was like, "Who's on first? What's going on? This is weird."

There was a TERRIBLE call at first base in the 4th inning which ultimately resulted in a run. I wish baseball had instant replay sometimes, and it seemed to make Napoli lose his head because he made a stupid throw to home later in the inning that cost us 2 additional runs.. and well, anyway, it was a terrible top of the 4th. The bottom of the 4th we rallied. And then it was just downhill. Ridiculousness.

Can't really blame it on any one thing. There were some bad calls, but that's not why we lost. We were outplayed but not to the extent that the score reflects. We were beaten that badly because of less than stellar pitching and dumb fielding mistakes.

Tonight is a new game though. We're down, but we're not out. Hopefully we'll be back to ourselves. Napoli will be where he belongs-- behind the plate; please don't put him at first base again-- and we can play well. We certainly can't play much worse.

I really don't mind losing it all to the Cardinals... I'd like it to go seven games if that's the case. But I don't dislike St Louis. I really do think it's fun that their season started out kinda rough, and here they are in the World Series. If we lose, I just want to feel good about the way we played. Ya know?

Do you like how I say "we" as though I'm on the team? LOL. Whew, I'm beat from all of this baseball I've been playing, sitting on my butt on the couch. ;)

Go Rangers!!

Tyler's getting married

Sweet Tyler Toney.

So I told you I'd post about this later in the week. Well, now is later. (Or something like that.) WARNING: This will be VERY long and I will totally understand if you don't have the patience to read it. :) I'm just sentimental over him and I feel like a proud mom/big sister this weekend. So here's the story......

When I was 16, my family moved here to Plano and left me behind in Corsicana to finish up high school. But the deal was this... I had to do my senior year in one semester and then make the permanent move to Plano. So I found myself as a senior, 17 years old, without a lot to do. My friends were all still having their senior year and I was living in Plano. That's when I became the most called babysitter around, I think.

I could drive. I didn't have school the next day so I could do week days. I could do week nights. I was all over the place, which is how I earned enough money to open my first mutual fund at 17. Because I'm a dork. And I do things like start mutual funds at 17. :)

Without question, one of my very favorite families to babysit was the Toneys. Jeff and Pam were probably my age now... That's weird. But they were, I guess. Maybe 33 or 34. Tyler was 8. Paige was 5.

Love them!! So well behaved. So fun to be with. Loved each other a ton, so I wasn't breaking up fights or anything ridiculous while I was there.

I remember when I went to A&M I'd call to talk to them on their birthdays. And then when I'd come back in town on Christmas break or something, I'd take them to Toys R Us and let them pick out a toy to make up for not being here on their actual birthday.

At some point, I stopped accepting any payment when I babysat them. I just wanted to hang out at the Toneys. It almost felt wrong to get paid to be there.

I was with them for probably 3 years and then I got busy and Tyler was 11, which isn't too young to stay home alone depending on how long his parents would be gone. And so we lost touch for a while.

But Pam would still call if Paige had a big gymnastics meet. And I asked Jeff to be the soloist at my wedding. I saw Tyler before he headed off to A&M and ate lunch with Paige just last year before she went to college.

It's unbelievable to me how much these kids have grown.

While at Texas A&M, Tyler and his buddies started shooting hoops for fun. Avoiding studying, I'm sure. And they started placing bets, like "You have to buy my dinner if I make this shot." And then someone grabbed a video camera and started recording. They took the best of the best shots and compiled them into a video and put it on YouTube. It was a web sensation.

Thus, Dude Perfect was born.

Here's the first video...




They've done videos at Tyler's grandparent's ranch, playgrounds, a shot from the top of Kyle Field, in Cowboy Stadium. They've been on Good Morning America. They've done commercials for Chevy. They've been on ESPN. Walked the red carpet at the ESPY awards and were interviewed by Erin Andrews.



They did commercials with Tyreke Evans for the 2010 Rookie of the Year campaign. They just recently were put back on Yahoo's main page in an article about their latest video with Brodie, a frisbee throwing star. And they've created an app for the iPhone where you can play a Dude Perfect game. Most recently they published a book. I mean, it's taken over.

They've had a lot of opportunites but they've always been very good about sharing their faith in Christ when given the chance. I feel like they're doing a good job of using the attention they're getting to put more attention on what they believe.

It's all really cool. (And it's also cool that his Dude Perfect buddy, Cody Jones, is now our youth minister at church. He's got great energy and the kids are excited that he's somewhat of a web celebrity.)

So tonight, Tyler's marrying Bethany.

The daughter of Prestonwood North's music minister. I think there may be something like 1200 people at the wedding. I've already sent him a message on facebook congratulating him because there's no way I'll talk to him tonight, I'm sure.

But I know I'll be emotional. I know I'll love seeing him (even if I need binoculars to see his face because who knows how far back I'll have to sit at the church. LOL.) This is a big day for me somehow. He's family, to me, and I'm so so happy for him and wish him all the best with EVERYTHING.

Love you, Tyler!!

Game 2

Another great game. Some unbelivable plays and some great calls. That second base ump was really paying attention. I had to see a lot of those plays on instant replay to see if I agreed with the calls, and he was always right. A really fun win! If you're not watching all the way to the end, then you're missing out!

Game 3 on Saturday.

Clearly it helped that I did not wear my Rangers shirt or make hot dogs or eat cheez balls or drink spiked Gatorade. ;)

Hand-me-down

Today I put one of Sarah's old sweatshirts on Caroline. C loves it because it has a little girl with a bow and-- for whatever other reason-- she loves it.

I should have paid more attention before putting it on her though..

The pic's blurry, but can you read what it says?

"I'm the big sister"

People have been looking at my stomach all morning long. Back off. I had a few hot dogs last night, we're NOT making an announcement. Good grief. :)

BTW, It scares me and makes me want to cry with anxiety all over again that a sweatshirt that my oldest child wore when I got pregnant with Caroline fits a 2 yr old. A reminder that Sarah was 3 and Jack was 2 when Caroline was born. Yikes. Those were trying days. :)

Game 1

This post is peppered with slightly out of focus pictures. I didn't realize it until now. Oh well.

So last night was Game 1 of the World Series.

I wore my shirt... (and obviously am incapable of taking a picture of both my head and the word "Rangers".)

I made hot dogs. (Of course, when I say "made", I mean "heated up".)
Normally I would grill them (or microwave them, let's be honest) but I thought nothing says "ballgame hot dog" like disgusting weenie water. So I had to go with boiling...

Instead of nachos, we had cheez balls.

And I had a spiked Gatorade. (I don't like beer.) Spiked Gatorade may sound gross, but you know I think vodka goes with everything. ;)

Then we sat to watch the game. What's wrong with this picture?
On the small TV...

the game??

And on the big HD flat screen...

"Olivia"??

Listen, I'm all about sacrifices for the kids. And dying to yourself when you're a parent. Etc etc. But sometimes you have to remind kids that they're kids and they don't get the best seat in the house. So we kicked 'em out. ;) And switched TVs.

It wasn't long, though, before they came in to watch with us.

But the Rangers lost, so I'll be doing NONE of the above tonight. I'm superstitious and I want Texas to win. :)

It was a great game. We did better than I thought we would with CJ Wilson as starting pitcher. I was proud that Andrus could have (either accidentally or purposely) stepped on Carpenter and ended his season, but didn't. That was the right thing to do. I felt like both teams were evenly matched. Neither team seemed to be crazy jerks. It was a fun close game that moved along quickly. Lots of 3 up/3 down. No rain delays. Just the way I like it. Over by 10:30. :)

I think this is going to be a fun World Series.

It's time (almost)

Go Rangers!!

Interesting factoid... Did you know that the Rangers and the Cardinals have not played since 2004?

In fact, when interviewed by Fox 4 News, Cardinals fans couldn't tell you much about the Rangers. And Rangers fans couldn't tell you much about the Cardinals. And even Josh Hamilton could only name a few players and all he really knew was that their "bats have been hot this postseason".

Should be an interesting match-up. Seems like we're both in the dark, here.

Also... and totally unrelated... if you play Words with Friends, will you add me?

jmcg1979

I wanna play!! :)

WORLD SERIES

Duh. How could I have forgotten to blog about that?!!

The Texas Rangers are back in the World Series this year after a ridiculous win against the Tigers Saturday night. I kinda felt bad for Detroit. A win is fun. 15 -5 against anyone other than the Yankees just seems a little bit like running up the score in an unnecessary way.

Anyway, I will be making hot dogs for dinner tomorrow night and wearing my Rangers tshirt tomorrow to cheer on the guys.

We're playing the St Louis Cardinals. And although baseball is one of the few sports that I completely understand the rules and terminology and things, I don't follow who's being traded and which teams are really good. I don't keep up with stats. I'm not that kind of a fan. So when it was coming down to the Brewers or the Cardinals in the National League, I asked my friends who understand baseball better, "Who are you hoping that we play?"

Overwhelmingly the answer was the Cardinals. Not because St Louis will be any easier to beat, but because they're sort of an unlikely team to be in the World Series-- just like us, according to my friends. Also some think that they're a likeable team, nicer guys than Milwaukee. I have no idea if there's any truth to that. But I know that lots of the people I know are super excited that it's come down to the Cardinals and the Rangers, mostly because a lot of folks didn't think that it would be those 2 teams in the end.

Will you be watching??

I still have NO idea what antlers and claws have to do with the Rangers. (Someone please explain.) But I know I'm supposed to say, "Antlers up." So there ya go.

Nothing going on

There's seriously been nothing blog-worthy going on. I have no opinions. No stories. Nada.

And to prove that, here's my post for today...

1. The kids are wearing jeans for the first time this year. It was 88 here yesterday. Blech. I like Fall weather. Not a huge fan of super cold or super hot. And even though 88 is pleasant, I'm so tired of wearing the same clothes I've worn since May.

2. Jack's wearing jeans for the first time in-- maybe-- years. I think jeans are a hard fit for kids. I know that lots of them have adjustable waists but I have to cinch them so much that it looks dumb. So I usually put Jack in either sweats or athletic pants. And I usually put Sarah in leggings.

3. Jack's going to the Pumpkin Patch with his class on Thursday. I intended to do that as a family outing and get some cute pictures. But I don't feel up to it this year. Doesn't sound fun. Maybe because it's still 88 degrees here.

4. Last night we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Jack said, "Mmm. I like meat. I like balls. This should be good."
(I'm sure there's a joke somewhere in there, but I'm not gonna touch it.)

5. Jack had his Pump It Up party on Saturday. I have some pics from that. Guess I could post that.

6. Sarah gets out of school at noon on Thursday and then doesn't have school on Friday or Monday. Can you believe that? Half day, then 2 days off. And I'm not sure why.

Plano ISD is a little weird with their half days once a month for elementary school kids. Which means, once a month, working parents have to pay for extra child care or find someone to pick up their kids for them. Hassle. But I know it's great for the teachers because that's when they work in their continuing education hours. Then they don't have to do as much over the summer.

7. I have a wedding to go to Friday night. I'll do a post about that later in the week. It's for a kid who I first started babysitting when he was 8 years old and I just fell in love with that family. We've been close ever since. Now he's getting married.... And I'm old. ;)

Do you see what I mean? Nothing's going on. That's why I'm MIA on the blog. But I just wanted to check in. Hope your week is good!

A birthday recap

When Jack got up this morning, he had donuts and opened his present from Aunt Abby and Uncle B. It was the only pre-going-to-school gift we allowed him to open, and boy-- was it a hit! It was a Nerf double barrelled gun, and he has shot darts all over the house. I've found them in the blinds, everywhere. It does my heart good to see him playing with such masculine toys. :)

Then we measured him on our door frame.

He's still shorter than Sarah but he's about an inch taller than she was on her 5th birthday.

He went to school, got a birthday crown, and picked a toy out of the treasure box in Mrs. Jerry's office. I brought cookies up there and he came home with a balloon.

We picked Sarah up and the kids had just enough time to play this Spongebob/Jellyfish version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey before we had to go to Tae Kwon Do.

And, of course, as mentioned on facebook and in the post below, Jack got to break a board. Such a cool souvenir too...

Before...

After...

We had cake and opened presents. And he was almost an hour late going to bed. But that's what birthdays are all about! :)

You only turn 5 once. Gotta do it right. ;)

Jack got to break a board at Tae Kwon Do today

Because it was his birthday... :)

There are no words for how cool he thought he was. ;)

YUM

This has been my poison of choice for the last several months. It's tasty. And only 100 calories per full 4 oz serving. So I only drink 300 calories a night. ;) kidding... usually.

It's the real thing without guilt. And no blending and junk. Just chill and pour.

Bethenny from RHONY came up with it. And I love her. That's honestly what got me interested in it.


OH-- and they have a white sangria too. It was good, but my fave is still the margarita.
You can buy it any liquor store in the area. Not that I'm encouraging you to drink. But should you choose to, you might as well drink something healthy....

Yes, I think of it as healthy.

:)

Sarah's prayer at dinner

We let the kids pray before dinner sometimes. It doesn't always have to be Jason or me.

Tonight Sarah wanted to pray because she's so excited about Jack's birthday. As verbatim as I can remember, here's what she said...

Dear God,

Thank you for Jack and that it's his birthday tomorrow. Please help him have a great birthday even though I'll be at school. And thanks for the cake the way Mom made it. Because... well.... God, she tried. So we know You think that it looks great. Because she did her best.

Amen

--------------------------------------

It was the most sincere prayer of pity over my cake. I almost died laughing. I can't tell you how typical that is of Sarah. She's not one to lie to me, but she is the one that will take my hand-- even back when she was little bitty-- and take pity on me when my performance is lacking.

"Well, God, she tried. So we know You think that it looks great."

:)

Jack's cake

Tomorrow is Jack's 5th birthday. And because I love birthdays we're stretching this event out.

Tomorrow I'm bringing cookies to school. We are going to TaeKwonDo so that he can break a board. (That's a birthday treat. Everyone gets to break a board on his birthday.) Then we'll have his favorite dinner, cheese quesadillas. And cake.

I make the cake for the actual birthday and order the cake for the party on Saturday.

He wanted a Spongebob theme to his birthday this year. So I did my best to draw Spongebob on his cake for tomorrow.

Yes this is my best...

I think we can all agree on the following points:

~ If I hadn't told you that I did this cake, you'd have never thought that an adult decorated it.

~ I'm not a great artist, but with what little skill I have, icing is not my best medium.

~ There's a certain Bart Simpson-esque quality to this cake, but I assure you it is Spongebob.

Every year I make the cake, and some years I'm a hormonal mess of tears afterwards because I'm so bad at this. This year, I just laughed at myself. I'm trying, dang it. I'm just not good. But I'll keep making them.

Jack loves it, and I got Mom Points today from him. I could tell. :)

And that's all that matters.

Yellow Belts

Tae Kwon Do testing was tonight.

Both kids passed and got their yellow stripes... which to the Tiger Cubs (the youngest TKD group) is just like a yellow belt.

More than anything, I was so excited to watch Jack. He was so proud of himself. Even Mr. Dallas (the instructor) said he could tell how excited Jack was.

Bless his sweet heart. Today was his moment. His time to shine. He FINALLY did something at the same rate as Sarah, as well as Sarah. No more of being in her shadow.

She's had dance recitals. He's never had anything. She can ride a bike. He still sticks to a scooter. She's in 1st grade. He's in preschool. BUT TONIGHT-- darn it all-- he did everything she did and stood standing next to her at the end of class with a yellow belt. It was huge for him. I honestly knew I was watching a big moment in his life when he stood up to receive his belt.

He grew up a little before my very eyes. :)