"Look, Mom. It's Cup- Fu Panda."

Like mother, like daughter

Jason got this pic of us today as I was trying to literally soak up this sunny day.  It's a great summary of our afternoon.

I must be laughing and commenting on something on facebook.

And-- for those of you non-local folks-- you can see my red hair.  :)

Love that Sarah is busy working as well.

The crossword puzzles I had been working on are lying on the patio.

And that tee and batting helmet are courtesy of Caroline.

Thought of two more

21. Zip lining

22. Climbing a rock wall.

Both of which will push me out of my comfort zone because I'm terrified of heights.

To even it out

20. Print my blog in case something happens to blogger and I lose the last four years of memories and rambling.

A few more bucket list items

14. Watch every movie that's ever won "Best Picture"

15. Audition for "Wheel of Fortune"
("Price is Right" would be on the list if Bob Barker was still hosting. )

16. Reread every Laura Wilder book and Nancy Drew book (my fave chapter books in elementary school)

17. Brush up on my sign language. (I took classes and used to know quite a bit)  I want to be good enough that I could speak to a parent or student who is deaf.  Rare situation I know. But still.

18. Learn enough Spanish to understand at least part of what parents and students are saying. I'm thinking Rosetta Stone is a good way to go.

19. Own a 2 door car again, preferably a 1996 Toyota Celica. It was a cool car in high school.

I'll keep thinking of more....

Starting my bucket list...

I will add to it little by little...

To start (and in no particular order)--

1. Make it down just one slope on skis.  In other words, graduate from ski school.

2.  Learn to drive a car with a stick shift.

3. Rent a VW Beetle.

4. Publish a book.  I don't care how long or how short.  And I'm not against self-publishing and calling it a day. ;)

5. Go to every European country.

6.  Set foot in every state in the US.

7. Get my Master's. (which will happen soon, but still. It was on my bucket list in my head.  And I'm writing it down so I can cross it off.)  :)

8. Straighten my teeth... again.

9. Run a marathon. (Check that one off, baby!)

10.  Learn how to use Excel.  Efficiently.  So I don't have to ask coworkers basic questions.

11. Learn calligraphy.

12.  Take a ballroom dancing class.

13.  Go on a cruise.


To be continued....

Abby's Plano baby shower

Monday night we had a baby shower for my sister-in-law.  Abby and Brian are in town from Virginia. 

They took a trip to New Orleans, came into Plano, and will head down to San Antonio before heading back.

We threw a Peter Rabbit-themed shower in honor of Abby's nursery that she's setting up for the boys.  At least 30 of our friends came and loved on Abby and B.  We prayed over the babies, opened presents, and had a great time.

Rachel and Sarah were included in the fun, and Sarah said that she loved being at the grown up party.  In fact, since we were some of the last to leave, she told my Dad that she got to stay for the "after party". 

After party.  Where does she hear about these things?


My little brother (who turns THIRTY tomorrow-- what?!!)  and me

Family shots...
Let me point out who Abby is SINCE SHE DOESN'T EVEN LOOK PREGNANT from the front.  It's ridiculous she's so cute.

So it's Sarah, me, Brian, Abby, Hilary, Karen (my cousin), Rachel

 

The hostesses and Abby

The loot! :)

We can't wait to meet the boys!! Hurry up, May!!

Caroline's wedding

Not my Caroline of course.

My cousin, Caroline. 

Not my cousin' s daughter, Caroline.

My mom's cousin's daughter, Caroline.

 

You follow?

 

I love family, am close with extended family, and-- clearly-- we all tend to use the same names for our kids.

 

Anyway, Caroline got married and what a beautiful ceremony it was!

 

And the reception??
Get a good band who will sing current hits and throw in some college kids and you've got a party!

 

 

 

My sister was out of town so my BIL brought my niece Rachel as his date.

 

We ate... and we hit the dance floor.

 

 

 

I must've burned a gazillion calories out there. Even the bride needed a water break.

 

 

 

My sweaty mess of a face and my awesome dance partner.  No one can accuse us of not having a good time!  ; )

  

 

Congratulations, Sweet Caroline :) 

 

Seattle

 

So to finish my Seattle trip....

 

Hitting the highlights...

 

While Jason was giving his presentation, I wandered around Redmond.  There I had some of THE BEST fish tacos I've ever had.

 

The Styrofoam takes away from their appeal.  But trust me, they were good!

 

 

 

 

Then we headed to the Inn at the Market in Seattle. Our hotel is the third building in this pic. It's Beecher's (more on that later), Sur la Table, then our hotel.

We were so close to Pike's Market this pic of the famous sign was taken from our hotel.

From the hotel deck right outside our room.

Then we explored the market for a while.  It was amazing.  And beautiful.  And so much to take in.

Then we walked to the monorail and took the monorail to the Space Needle.

From the top of the Space Needle.

That night we had a great seafood dinner at a local restaurant.

Again, the view from the restaurant's window. Just proving we never left the market area, other than our trek to the Space Needle. There was no need to be anywhere else.

One of the only pics with me in it. From our hotel deck again.
I forgot to pack a brush. You'd have thought I'd have bought one, but no. I just figured I'd wear ponytails or not be in any pictures. But somehow I got in a couple.

The next morning we woke up early because we knew we had to catch a plane at 11:00. We started the day at the Daily Dozen Donut shop in -- where else?-- the market.
These donuts came right off the conveyor belt and were dusted with cinnamon sugar and thrown in this paper sack. Oh. My. Word. YUM.

Then, with limited time, we went straight from donuts to Beecher's. Beecher's makes cheese. Not just any cheese. Their Flagship cheese is ridiculously good. We were advised by my friend Stefani to eat a grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was a must do!

Um... she wasn't kidding!!! As weird as it is to eat donuts then grilled cheese, it was sooooo worth it!!

We walked by the original Starbucks. You can't tell from this pic but the original logo was a topless mermaid. No wonder they made some changes...

We packed up and headed to the airport. It was a quick trip but a great one. We had a lot of fun together and enjoyed exploring a new town. We're definitely coming back one day!
Bye, Washington!

Landing in Seattle

I took pics from the plane. It's been a long time since I have flown over mountains. Beautiful!

Having fun so far. :)

We're actually staying in Redmond tonight because Jason's presentation is here at Microsoft. 

We've walked around downtown and are enjoying happy hour sans kids.

Later we'll walk to some local restaurant for dinner. It's fun to explore a new place. :)

Tomorrow we head to Seattle!

Tagalong

Today I'm heading to Seattle with Jason. He has a presentation, and I'm tagging along (I mean, the company is covering hotel, Jason's flight, and car. Why not?)

Neither of us has been. I'm excited!

Quick trip but should be a fun trip. :)

Dude! Perfect :)

So a few months ago, I thought the guys from Dude Perfect were filming at our neighborhood park.  I saw the trucks all lined up with the big "Dude Perfect" stickers on the back. BUT I didn't see if they were around or not.

I regret that because a few weeks later they released a video that was shot at our park.  I should've taken the kids to watch them.

Well... today was REDEMPTION DAY.

Jason came home early and said, "Your boys are at the park again." 

Who are "my boys"? What?

Then he told me he saw the Dude Perfect guys setting up a trampoline and a mat by our park's basketball goal.  THIS TIME I rounded up the kids so we could say hi.

When we got close enough for them to hear, I yelled, "Tyler Toney! What are you doing?"

Then he smiled and gave me a big hug.  He said, "I didn't recognize you at first.  Guys," he said introducing me to the ones I didn't know, "this was my babysitter."

Ouch.

Ix-nay on the abysitter-bay. It makes me sound old. 

Of course, I'll brag that I babysat Tyler from the time he was in second grade til he was in the fifth grade.  But when HE tells it, it's different.  I'm not a friend.  I'm not cool.  I'm the babysitter.

And we all know I'm cool.  After all, I used pig latin.  Nothing's ooler-cay than that!


Sarah said hi to Mr. Cody.  I told Cody that Sarah asked why he wasn't our youth minister anymore.  And I told him that my answer was: "Because this is just as fun and it makes a lot more money."  :) 

He laughed.

The kids loved watching the trick shots.  The whole thing was very cool to watch.  After about 15 minutes, I thanked them for letting us crash their shoot, and we walked away.

Tyler yelled, "Hey, Julie! Did you want a picture?"

"Um yeah I do!!"

So we got Cody to take one of us. 

Me, the  17 yr old babysitter-- now 34. 
8 year old Tyler-- now 25.
And my kids.

Life's crazy.

Quick side story-- Tuesday was Career Day at school.  The kids dressed up as teachers.  After watching the guys do trick shots this afternoon, they were like, "THIS is what they do for a living??!"

I have a feeling they won't be dressed as teachers next year.  ;)

Cookies

The kids were eating Dosido Girl Scout cookies.  They said, "Mmmm.  These peanut butter cookies are WAY better than those Austin peanut butter cookies we have."

Maybe that's because those "cookies" are crackers.

Seriously?  Did they think I just liked to buy really dry peanut butter cookies?

Caroline's half birthday

Last night Sarah told Caroline that today would be her half birthday.

The first thing Caroline said when she woke up this morning was, "Today I'm 4 and 1/2. It's my birthday."

Jason and I told her it was very exciting that she's 4 1/2 today, but it's not really her birthday. Her half birthday maybe, but no one celebrates that.

Correction: No one celebrates except Caroline.


I had to go to the dentist today and needed to bring Caroline with me. She wanted to pick out the perfect birthday outfit. I reminded her, "Caroline, it's not your birthday."

In the dentist's office, she told anyone who would listen that it was her birthday because she is 4 1/2 today. Everyone wished her a happy birthday and told her how grown up she is now. At the end of my appointment, my dental hygienist gave Caroline a kid toothbrush. Caroline said, "I bet she's giving me this because she knows it's my birthday."

Sweetie, it's NOT your birthday.

"Mom, do you think I'll get a birthday crown at preschool tomorrow?"

"Probably not. They give those crowns to people with actual birthdays."

She picked to have lunch at Wendy's as her birthday lunch and somehow talked me into getting her a birthday Frosty. I bought the Frosty and said, "Remember it's not your birthday."

Then she said she wanted to go to the grocery store to pick out character Band Aids. And for some reason I indulged her. She bought a box of Hello Kitty, one of Dora, another Disney princess box, Strawberry Shortcake, and Barbie Band Aids.

Five boxes of birthday Band Aids. (No telling how many fake boo-boos she'll have now.) And on the way to the register, she tried to talk me into buying her a cake. I refused.

As we got home, she had her grocery sack of Band Aids in one hand and her leftover Frosty in the other. "Excuse me," she said. "The birthday girl's hands are full."

As I watched her carry in all her loot, all I could do was laugh. I realized she had won. I lost. She had a day of birthday fun, just like she wanted.

I gave up and said, "Glad you had a great day. Happy Birthday."

:)

Love this! (Even though I had to read it a couple of times to put the pauses in the correct places. I'm fairly certain there's a period-- or a the very least a dash-- missing somewhere in here.)

Nevertheless, the thought is good. :)

Post by Training Children With Grace and Truth.

Never too soon to plan for the future

Caroline's busy circling all of the things she'll need for her classroom when she's a teacher someday. 

My last project of the winter break

Back to work/back to school tomorrow.  It's gonna be a shock to the system. 

I wrapped up my last project of the break last night.  I painted Jack's bathroom (which will soon be the playroom bathroom because we're moving Jack downstairs) the same gray color and painted his cabinets black.

Again, you'd be more impressed with me if I had taken "before" pics.

And again, I know this doesn't ooze masculinity but it's going to be the "extra" bathroom soon so I did it the way I wanted to do it.  So there.


The view from the door--
I rehung the cabinet doors by myself this time.  They wouldn't pass inspection if you pulled out a level but I think they're good enough.
I was pretty proud of myself.

Please look at how dumb this counter top is.  I don't understand counters that go over the toilet.  It makes me nuts.  And it makes it REALLY hard to paint back there. 

We have a counter in the downstairs bathroom that does this and the people who used to live here put in such a tall toilet that the lid to the tank won't fit under the countertop.  It's SO loud whenever anyone flushes it.  Dumb.

Ok, enough venting.

**Please excuse the drink.  I should've moved it before I documented my work.

 

This is looking at his closet door.

And there you have it!  I'm so glad to have the updating process started.  New counter tops.  New light fixtures and we'll be set.

Update on the girls' bathroom....

Jason changed the switches and switch plates to white for me.  BIG improvement.

And Sarah chose a few accessories for the room.  One was this picture frame.  We'll put a pic of the girls in it obviously. (And we'll take the plastic wrapping off.)

The other was this mannequin.  Speaking from experience, if you come around the corner too quickly and forget that we now have a dress form sitting on the counter, it'll scare the fire out of you.

 

It certainly was a busy week. I'm looking forward to going back to work so I can take a break and be less productive. 
;) 
just kidding!

Our dirty little secret

When we got back to the house after our Disney World trip, it smelled kinda funny inside.

We teetered back and forth between: Is it a small gas leak?  Is this the smell of a house that hasn't been lived in for 10 days?  Is there some type of sewer issue?

I realize that none of those smells are similar, but we couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.  It was faint, not overwhelming, so it took a few days to identify. 

We had a plumber come out, and it turns out there's something dead in our wall.  We guess it's likely a mouse.  It's in the wall between our bedroom and Jack's bathroom. 

We were informed that we had a couple options.  Cut it out or wait it out. 

Cutting it out would involve cutting dry wall and that sounded like a hassle and a project and a bunch of junk I didn't want to deal with right after Disney with Christmas closing in.

So we chose to wait it out.  I mean, eventually whatever it is will dry up and stop smelling.

**Again, let me reiterate that the smell is not overwhelming.  Many people have been over here and likely had no idea that we have a decaying carcass in our wall.**

What we did NOT consider is that at some point maggots will likely form and then will turn into some of the biggest flies this girl has ever seen.  Oh and did I mention that any fly that could make it's way out of the wall and into our attic can come through our vents?

Let the fun begin!!

The kids have been flipping out over these suckers. 

As far as quantity, it's not plague-like masses, but we've definitely killed at least 15.  Jason killed 4 at once.

The good news is that these things are SO big that they fly really slowly and are easy to kill. 

But there you have it, friends.  We've got disgustingly huge flies coming out of our vents.  And those flies incubated in the dead rodent in our wall. 

And the part of me that wants you to like me is embarrassed.  But the part of me that can't keep a secret is relieved to finally blab about this.

Alex's 8th birthday

Saturday is my nephew's 8th birthday.  Today was his party.

He had a Game Truck come to the park. 

 

 

I had never seen one of these, and in case you haven't either, let me explain.

 

This is a huge trailer pulled by a huge pickup truck. It can hold up to 20 kids, I think. Inside is a Wii, Wii-U, Xbox 360, Xbox 1, PS3, PS4, and maybe something else.  I'm not sure.

 

Your gaming selections are on a magnetic strip by the door.  Before the party, the man who works the Game Truck took down all the rated "M" and "T" games.  But any other game was up for grabs.

 

Then you sat on the couch, grabbed a controller, and played your games.

 

The birthday boy....



It was a pretty cool set up.  These pics don't really do it justice. 

What was truly incredible is how kids can pick up a controller to a gaming device they're unfamiliar with to play a game that they've never seen and can instinctively figure it out.

Jack came home convinced we need an Xbox.  He's never played an Xbox til today and picked it up in 2 seconds.  But all the kids were like that.

It was also amazing because this was the quietest party I've ever been too.  Give kids video games for an  hour and a half and --voila!-- you have the easiest, least talkative party you've ever been to.

After gaming, they went to the pavilion at the park and had cookie cake.  Then everyone went home.

No muss, no fuss.  Genius!

Happy birthday, Alex!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year (early) at our neighbor's home.  I think the kids really had a great time.  And the food was great!  That's all I need to think that NYE was a success. :)

 

 

After we rang in the New Year at 8:00, we popped poppers in the front yard.

Then we came home and had popcorn, hot chocolate, and watched movies until Big D NYE came on.  They wanted to catch the guys from Dude Perfect on the show.

Everyone made it til midnight... except Caroline and me.  Oops.

But arguably, falling asleep before midnight is a sign of a great night! :)

I don't know about you, but I'm ok with saying goodbye to 2013. We had great things happen, but we had some hard things too.  That's why I love January 1.  I love new beginnings and am looking forward to 2014.