Christmas Idea #3

Gift Idea #3

For Matt- anything that comes with a remote control.

I may not have married a man who watches sports central 24/7 (and for that I am forever grateful) but I did apparently commit my life to a man who isn't becoming more mature in his toy preferences.

Cars, helicopters, airplanes... any item that can be controlled by remote and used to torment both our cat and our child is the perfect present for Matt.

Arts and Crafts

Abby and I just finished carving the "perfect punkin". I haven't scooped out or carved a pumpkin in about 20 years. In fact, the last time I remember doing it was with Dean in the garage a long, long time ago. So, is it any wonder that I feel a sense of accomplishment?

Is the pumpkin truly perfect? Nope. Did it take me trying out 4 different knives before I figured out how to carve it? Yep. Could Matt, the artist of the family, have made a much better face? Definitely. But I've got to tell you- when I put the candle in the pumpkin and Abby began singing "Happy Birthday to Punkin"- I've never felt prouder.

Christmas Idea #2

Gift Idea #2

For Abby- Scarlet Macaw Cereal.

What might that be, you ask? Oh, that's just what my child insists on calling Fruit Loops.

Yep- Scarlet Macaw Cereal.

She loves it. For breakfast, for snack, with milk, without milk.

Perhaps we could stuff her stocking with the little snack size boxes? That, or we could use Scarlet Macaw Cereal instead of popcorn to thread onto string and hang on the Christmas Tree.

No Squeaking Allowed

I brought home a mouse costume for Abby. It was the wrong size... apparently 2T-3T does not apply to my kid... so I took her with me to the store to exchange it. I see now that was my mistake.

Once in the store, Abby spotted a different costume and proceeded to inform me that she did not want to be a mouse, she wanted to be a horse. I finally gave in when she started saying very seriously and very loudly, "I do not want to squeak. I want to neigh!"

Alright then, Abby's going to be wearing a horse costume on Friday... and any other time she can convince me to help her put it on!

She seems to be a pretty good rider for someone who has never been on a horse before :)

Two Seasons In One

This morning it was autumn, so our little family headed to the Flower Mound pumpkin patch. It was a busy morning and Abby split her time between running through the pumpkins, jumping in a bounce house, going on a hay ride, and meeting all her favorite animated friends in the form of cutout shapes!

But this afternoon, it felt more like spring. So Abby, baby Triceratops (the favorite toy of the week), and I spent some time playing outside.

A person for every pumpkin

We went to the Dallas Arboretum yesterday with a bunch of friends... all I'm saying is that there are a lot of stay at home moms in the metroplex, and apparently all of us are willing to sacrifice our sanity to let our children look at pumpkins.

I didn't take many pictures... the 80+ degree weather kind of ruined my fall mood. But, here are a few to hold us over until it's cool enough for an outdoor photo shoot.

Abby tried picking up most of the pumpkins... I feel sorry for whoever has to restack them each night!

Abby and Miller were both thrilled by the water fountains. Aren't those little blonde heads cute?

Let me just say that trying to get three 2 year olds to pose for a picture is impossible. Unless you want photos of their little bottoms.

Clarity

I realized today that it has been nearly 3 years since I've attended a funeral. (No, I have no idea why or how I ended up on this train of thought.) Three years doesn't seem like a long time until I started thinking backwards and it appears that this may be the longest stretch I've gone without a funeral since junior high school. Sure, travesty and natural disasters and terrorism have happened in those three years, but nothing so close to home that I sat in a church grieving. I should count my blessings, I know, but that isn't what I was doing.

Where, you are probably thinking, is this going? Oddly enough I'm not headed down some teary lane. Actually I was thinking about how I always leave funerals with a complete clarity of mind and senses. Do you know what I mean? Where you have cried until there are no tears left, and when you take that first step out of the church or away from the graveside, everything just seems brighter and clearer? You notice the amazing colors of the trees and sky. You actually hear the birds singing. The air smells fresher. You feel a little taller, a little lighter, a little more in touch with every thing and every person around you. God seems a little closer, a little more of a physical presence than a distant idea.

I was thinking today about how I wish I could live every day of my life with the appreciation and understanding I feel after funerals. Not so much a "stop and smell the roses" lifestyle, but more an overall awareness of the bigger picture. I don't want to live my life being afraid that each day could be the last, but rather live it humbled by the fact that there is a day at all. That miracle of miracles, I'm alive. And just like the day after a funeral, nothing else really matters.

Christmas Idea #1

Some of you out there like to get a head start on Christmas shopping... I understand the desire, I've tried to do it, I just can't. I've actually been successful before- I had all my shopping done before Thanksgiving. Do you know what happened? I just ended up buying more things after Thanksgiving. I can't not shop or make gifts or wrap presents in the month of December.

So instead of trying to do my shopping now I'm just going to start posting ideas for gifts when they come to me. I'm hoping by December 1st I'll have a great list of presents and I won't spend countless hours wandering helplessly through the stores.

Gift Idea #1

For Abby- boxes and boxes of band aids. The kid loves band aids. All sizes, colors, shapes. She sticks them on bruises, scrapes, perfectly healthy skin, and on every stuffed animal that has a loose thread. Perfect stocking stuffer. Immediately useful for any paper cuts that come from opening presents.

Whirlwind Weekend

Why has it taken me nearly a week to make a single post? Because the past few days have been entirely too hectic. Here is a recap.

Thursday was Matt's birthday. Unfortunately I had to teach class in Dallas and then I picked up my friend Anna from DFW around 10pm. Not much birthday celebration time.

Friday morning I said goodbye to Matt and Abby so that Anna and I could begin the roadtrip to Bandera. We got to San Antonio around 2, checked into the hotel, changed clothes and left for the start of reunion weekend. Nerves were so rampant that I actually burned my arm on the top of an iron. It's a pretty big burn... not the memento I would have chosen, but it's apparently going to stick around.

Friday night consisted of happy hour at the 11th street bar- found directly behind, across from, and diagonal from churches. Then several of us went to dinner where I almost punched a Frenchman. No really, a guy from France was there (what is he doing in Bandera, anyway?) and he was incredibly rude (talk about living up to stereotypes) and it took everything to hold me down. Then we headed to the homecoming football game where the high school students look much younger than I ever remember being. So we ditched after halftime and went to Bandera's new wine and cheese bar. Sounds fancy, doesn't it? Let me say it like this then: we went to Bandera's new wine and cheese bar that is next door to the Family Dollar. There... that should clear up any misconceptions. Actually it was a pretty nice place. It'd make it somewhere like Denton, but I don't hold much hope for Bandera.

Saturday started with a great breakfast and wonderful friends. You know how movies always show the outcast kids being super smart and cool 10 years later? Well, art imitates life. Among the 6 of us that went to school together, and a few significant others, we have some amazing professions, fancy job titles, and hilarious stories to tell.

Saturday ended with the official "high school reunion" which completely eradicated any remaining "funk" I had lingering. All I'm going to say is that Matt and I don't have matching drink koozies and that makes me proud.

Sunday was a quick drive up I-35 and a stop at DFW to send Anna back home to Illinois.

Overall it was a good weekend. I caught up with some very cool people that I've always thought of fondly. And I became ever more appreciative of my husband and my life.

Only 10 more years till the next reunion... I should start getting in shape now!

For Matt...

from your little girl.

Box of Love

Tomorrow will be Matt's 32nd birthday. We don't have a whole lot of birthday traditions around here... every year's celebration is different from the one before... but there is one thing I love. Matt's first birthday after we were married- his 26th- I decided to write what I loved about him on a piece of paper. I wrote 1 reason I loved him for each of his 26 years, and then I stuffed them all into this little red box. Well, we still have the box, and as of tonight it now holds 32 things that I love about Matt.

To tell the truth, Matt probably thinks much less of this tradition than I do, but I take comfort in knowing that I've put into words how I feel about him. I love that each year I get to sit down and write out one new thing that makes my heart grow fonder. And I've got to tell you- any time I'm mad at him all it takes is a glance in the box to remember the good stuff.

I hope to continue this tradition every year for the rest of our lives... I hope I have to find a bigger box one day. Each year I pull all of the notes out and reread them... some are eternal things, some are more specific to that year of our lives, but all of them are examples of what a great man Matt is.

So if you're in the market for a new tradition then consider creating a box of love for someone else.

Doubled

I spent last Saturday morning having brunch with the dorm girls. Six of us lived either as roommates, suitemates, or across the hall from each other my first year at college. We still manage to get together at least once a year and for nearly every major occasion- and this past weekend marked our 10 year anniversary together! Except instead of there being 6 people in attendance- there were 12... 4 tough little boys and 2 sweet baby girls joined us this year. I don't think any of us imagined the day we'd be introducing our children to each other.

It was a good day. Never do I laugh so much as I do when I'm with these 5 women.

I swear we didn't tell the kids they could only play with rocks... that's just what they did.
And Cate made me overwhelmingly happy by flashing this face... a true copy of her daddy.

Slideshow

How is it possible that kids can look so different so quickly? I remember looking at Abby when she turned 1 and thinking how big she was... now I look at those pictures and think that she was so tiny. I guess it's all a matter of perspective, huh?

This one is mainly meant for the grandparents but if you want to spend your 10 minutes of free time watching pictures of my kid-- then enjoy!

(Make sure you have your speakers turned on, and pause the music at the bottom of the blog.)