Ordinary things.........

I'm afraid I have approached blogging in the same way I approach dusting, I get embarrassed when I realize how much time has gone by since I last did it.

We have been enjoying our time of being finished with school for the year.  The children lived through completed their testing and packed up(figuratively since I actually have get to do this) their school books and ran outside.  I find it amusing that they think I enjoy torturing them with school work while in reality, I am more anxious than they are to finish up.

I am trying to think of any major happenings in the past couple of weeks, and unfortunately I have determined that my life is very ordinary.  I should say that the unfortunate bit is for you since I'm typing anyway.....

We had our Lion, Witch and Wardrobe cast party.  That was lots of fun, we watched the DVD and I was overwhelmed with pride in those kids.

Allye went to a sleepover with some of her very best besties and I had flashbacks to my young teenage summers and realized that I was a happy kid.

I used a tiller and turned a pile a earth for the sole purpose of walking barefoot in it.  Then after dinner I went out and finished the job and planted some flowers.  They'll probably die, I say this not because I am an Eeyore type but because I accidentally kill plants all the time.

I had 10 children to feed for lunch today.  We had chicken nuggets and tater tots.  The chicken was a big hit the tater tots, less.  I threw Landry's lunch away before he was done, lesson here....don't eat and watch TV at my house.

The Boverie children slept over last night, apparently they are aloud to talk to the grown ups before coffee.

God has been working on me.  This can be a painful process, I lean towards being judgmental(this is bad), I do not capture every thought, I even allow these unleashed thoughts to become words(this is bad).  I am easily susceptible to gossip(this is really bad).  I hate knowing all of these things are wrong with me, I am beyond grateful to God for sticking with me while I sort through and hope to overcome.

I have been really wanting the motivation and discipline to lose some weight and exercise.  I want to be healthy, energetic and obviously a smaller size.  I found just the thing!  The other day I was snuggled up with Allye and one of the boys, said boy climbed over Allye, over me and off the bed.  He then commented "Mom, your buttocks (pronounced "boo-tocks") are so soft.  Uhhh, clearly some lunges are in my future.....

I did some sewing.  I made sundress and a skirt and top.  They turned out pretty cute.  I made them for no reason other than a desire to sew.  I am so glad I found someone to give them to....

Sundress...

Brookie twirling in her birthday skirt I made.

more twirling....

The skirt started it's life as a men's shirt...Cute redo?

I made a To-Do list and nearly completed it all.  No big deal you think?  If you knew me well then you'd realize how remarkable it is that I made a list and then referred back to it.  I love to write lists, I never seem to know what to do with them after I write them out. Hmm....

We have a fire in our fir pit nearly every night.  My kids think marshmallows are  required in order to sleep at night....


I painted four superheroes and honestly one was dressed like a bimbo so I "altered" her costume!


We celebrated Memorial Day with a cookout.  We all brought our own meat to grill and yummy sides and desserts to share.  Since I am associated with great cooks this worked out very well for me.  We started around 11:00 and wound down around 7:30.  I loved the day and hope to have many more with my wonderful family and friends!!!

So there you go....a summary of an ordinary couple of weeks here.

Life. Is. Good.

Party Time!!!

It's May and that means we celebrate half of our dear friends the Boverie's birthdays.  Barry, Jenny and Anna all have a birthday this month and tonight was Anna's night!  She invited her pals and their parents to have burgers, cake and some floor hockey fun!  Sound familiar?  It should it was the party of choice for Allye and Zane too.

It was great fun, all the kiddos as usual were so happy to be together.  I love how precious they are together, how much joy they get in being with one another.  It was as if they had been weeks apart not just the time it took to sleep last night and complete their school work....  My children love the Boverie's more than most anything.  The relationship between our families has been deep and lasting and I pray that as our children grow older their love for one another grows ever stronger.

Anna Kate Boverie is a delightful child and if you do not have the pleasure of knowing her, I am sorry for you.  She has a smile that brightens a room and precious dimples to accent it just right.   I always tell her that if she had red hair she'd look just like  Strawberry Shortcake.  Someday Anna is going to grow into a lovely young woman with a heart full of Godly purpose.  She will be the one who includes the lonely, encourages the weary, charms the angry and soothes the disgruntled.  She will be the lady all the children run to because she makes everyone seem like her best friend.  She will be the one you long to serve because she brings out the best in you.  I love the way she must find me if I am nearby to give me a hug she's been saving, I love the way she giggles at my silly jokes, the way way she makes my children happy and I love that she thinks I am her family.  I wish her many happy birthdays and I hope I will always be able to celebrate with her.

Anna is also a girl who knows what she wants back in February she gave me this.....

The List

 

My effort.....

She said it looked just like she imagined...

Probably shouldn't wear these in the rain....

Just big enough for some lip gloss and some candy.....

It's done.....

We did it!  The P.A.T.H. drama class did it!  They did an outstanding job of performing The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe!  Those kids were amazing!  We have spent the entire school year, working on this production and under the direction of Dawn Jones.  She organized and motivated us all into action and we got it done and done well(if I may say so myself).....

Been awhile....

It has been rather crazy busy for me lately.  This seems to be a chronic complaint so perhaps I should either stop whining or say "No" sometime....

The last couple of weeks have been spent on sewing and preparing costumes for two productions that Allye is part of. (Okay so I know I shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition but its late and nothing else was working...)  She is in the ensemble cast of Annie Jr., which will be a darling show.  The kids have worked really hard, getting into character, learning dance steps and pitching in as stage hands.  My portion of this production has seemed minor compared to the overall picture but man have I been stressed!

The second show is a stage performance of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Allye is playing the role of Lucy, one of the leads.  I am very proud of her, she didn't really want this particular part but she stepped up and took the role to be a team player.  She is nervous and alternates between dramatic anxiety and dramatic glee.  She is such a fun kid.  I will probably get kinda nervous performance night.  Of course it will be an excited kind of nervous.

Allye ran her first track season this year and I learned that I love Cross Country more than track.  It was a good experience for her and I pray that she develops a love of running that I do not have.

My boys seem to get sweeter and sweeter each year.  That's not to say we don't have moments that make me wonder if they should be out among the people or not, but generally speaking their hearts are so full of love.  Now should you catch them annoyed with each other you may challenge this statement.  For Easter they all got some dollars in eggs.  When we got home from church Tucker collected all of his and told me to give it to the children's home.  At church the kid's classes were collecting change for a church in Japan.  Ash had brought all his change(he'd been collecting for 2 weeks) and the jar was gone.   A few days later I found out it had probably been stolen so I told him and he was so upset he cried because the kids there really needed the money.  They have been planning how they will be the "big" kids at camp this year and what they can do to make younger kids have fun.  I love watching them grow into Godly young men and am so blessed by the examples God has placed in our lives.

Rainbows and Birthdays!!!!

My nieces Autumn and Brooklyn are having birthdays this month.  We had a party to celebrate and let me tell you those girls are sweeettt!  I didn't have much time to put something together, just a days to work on it but I think it went pretty well.


We used the cafeteria at the campus school, and since the girls wanted a rainbow party I used as much color as I could.  We made a dance floor out of bubble wrap and danced until we popped as much as we could.  We played pass the present until we got to the treasure inside, and then we went outside for the pinata and relay games.  Then it was back in for cupcakes and presents!

Here are some pics!!!!!

Goody bag decoration table

Rainbow Entrance

Cake and presents table

Guest's seats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance floor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Texas We Go......

It's spring break week at the Huston house so we took the opportunity to visit family.  We generally only make the trip once a year because of the distance and well of course Scott has to keep his job.  We decided to begin our trip on Saturday after a function at the church for the boys' grade.  We were to "set sail" at 12:30.  Scott had the idea that he could get in a round of golf in before we departed.  I thought that'd be okay too but reminded him it was a loonnggg trip so make sure he'd get back close to 12:30, no problem....

Uneventful is good!

So at 2:15 we took off and had a relatively uneventful trip.  We drove to Little Rock and slept over in a hotel there, very nice and clean, thank you Comfort Suites.  We hit the road again around 8am and once again covered lots of miles with little adventure.  I like it when the actual driving portion of my trips are adventurless, its safer that way.  We got to Grandpa's early evening and had a lovely visit on the porch, until dark that is and then we moved the party inside the house. 

Monday was spent just relaxing around the house while Scott, his dad and brother hit the links.  I think Scott shot a pretty decent round but he is still trying to develop a relationship with his new clubs so we won't judge him yet...  Allye spent the day doing with her cousins Halie and Sydney girlie things like taking pictures of themselves and doing nails.  The boys caroused about with cousins Scott and Sawyer.

Tuesday we took the boys(all 5) to Mr. Gatti's for a few hours of all you can eat pizza and arcade games to blow some money on enjoy.  We followed up with purchasing new air soft BB guns and yes even of initially I didn't remind them to wear them I did get safety goggles.  So once they we well armed and full stocked with ammo we came home to send them out to attack one another.  For the evening entertainment the cousin's Luke and Ben came over and joined one or both of the armies.  We finally got  to meet our most recent niece, Nikki.  So precious.  We had yummy, burnt on the grill roasted hot dogs for dinner and cake and brownies for dessert.





Ready to roll!!!



Wednesday my boys, Scott, Sawyer, Dad and Grandpa headed out to the Ponderosa.  What is the Ponderosa you ask?  Well most of you probably didn't but humor me.  It's a piece of property owned by Scott's dad and he has developed it into a family retreat area.  Over the past 10 years he (Grandpa) has created a replica of a one room cabin that his great grandfather built in order to settle here, G'pa's grandfather was born in it and lived there into adulthood when he built a house on the same land. This he did because as he always says, "It's important to remember."   He put in RV pads, built a pavilion with a kitchen, laundry facilities, full bathroom with stone tiled shower stall.  He installed an air conditioned bunk house that sleeps 8, added a frisbee golf course, archery area, volleyball, go cart track and built a bridge across the creek for fishing.  It's awesome and is a true declaration of love to all of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  So yep that's what the guys did on Wednesday and Thursday.

Girls just having fun!!!!

While the boys we off being manly the ladies did what ladies do, we lunched and shopped.  We shopped in San Angelo on Wednesday and tackled Abilene today.  We got back home around 7 and we are pooped.  The men beat us home by about 5 minutes so we decided to just find something to eat on our own.  Grand pa decided on summer sausage, cheese and crackers.  I walked over and was awed by the beauty before me.  these crackers we a thing of beauty.  I love my crackers very, some may say overdone, but I love them very golden.  They have such a great crunch and perfect flavor, I almost died.  I too a picture so you too could see this perfection.  I do not however think that, even if you were here, I would share them.



It's okay to feel jealous these were perfect!



This and that

Is anyone getting the impression that this blog is not  a huge priority?  In case you were wondering, I have left a trail a undone, partially finished excellent ideas in my wake.  I hope to save blogging from that same fate.  I have just been busy, I always think that I will get this or that done when I am not so busy, I am thinking I'd be better off accepting the reality that this is my life and it isnt in danger of getting less busy.

Okay enough with the true confessions of a distractable housewife.  Let me tell you what I've been up to.....

I made a cool wand for the White Witch in our Narnia play.  I finished her dress, and passed on the crown creation duty to a talented helper friend.

I only forgot to fix dinner a couple of times and honestly I will remember my promise to make Tucker french toast tomorrow.

I made a Naiad costume, a cool Father Christmas, a pretty groovy Maugrim and unicorn costume.

I bought a new laptop(not because I wanted one)  and it has a groovy cool fingerprint scanner.  I realize that I am a technical simpleton but wow, how cool is it that I don't have to type in my user names and passwords ?  I just rub my finger over the little light thingie.

I am recently addicted to playing dominoes, its the ipod's fault.  I play whenever I am waiting for things, you know on the way to church, co-op to be over, pumping gas, Dr.'s visit.  It's harmless really and I win nearly everytime, apparently my ipod is a moron.

We finally made the time to play cards with the Z's,  we played Euchre.  The girls won handily the first game and lost the same way the last 2.  Not our best work.

I was having trouble with my laundry not smeling so good, it was problematic since I've been hoping to have a pleasant family smell.  A pleasant family smell isn't as easy as you may think with 3 boys who consider bathing to be a consequence for poor behavior.  Gain is the smell I was hoping for not sour laundry.  Turns out my machine was set on small load when I only ever fill it to a super load size.  I'm hoping we have only been running around in dirty clothes for a short time.

 

Tonight we went to Jack's first birthday party.  He is such a sweet baby.  We love him so much.  I love the way he thinks Scott's bald head is a toy, the way he says "ehh uhhhh ehhh!!!"  when he sees his family across the room.  I love the way he snuggles when he gets sleepy and the way he makes me appreciate God's handiwork. 

His silly momma said we shouldn't bring gifts and we all ignored her.  I made him some T-shirts and we got him a book to chew on read.  The first shirt I made in blue and gray and then appliqued a "J" for Jack on it.  The second I went golf guy on because his daddy and Uncle Scotty are golf buddies. The last is just an UNO shirt for the big one year old!

He likes shiny, smooth round things ......

....like balls and heads.





He really wanted to love the cake, I think we were too pushy.