Okey Dokey, Artichokey!

Thomas has a new rhyming phrase that he picked up while eating artichokes last night. Man, I love those things!

Yesterday was a gift of a day. The first normal feeling day all summer. The kids got along great, we only had a few errands to run, ME took a long nap, and I actually got to read and finish Monte Cristo. For the record, I am shocked that the movie Monte Cristo could use that name. The book was incredibly different from the movie!

I am going to take my camera to swim lessons today to get a few shots. Thomas is doing hand stands in the pool! It has been a great experience this year and I am glad that T isn't terrified of the water like M was at his age.

Busy day today, weekend, and week ahead of us! This is the fun part. I think I will still have a computer until the end of next week, so I will update the blog.

I leave you now with one of my favorite summertime recipes. I got this from Barefoot Contessa last year and it graces our dinnertable at least once a week in the summer. Chaio!

Corn Salad
5 ears corn
1 med. onion
3 T cider vinegar
3 T EVOO
S and P
Basil leaves

Shuck corn and boil for 3 minutes or until starchiness is just gone. Put ears into an ice bath.
Cut kernels off of cob and place in a bowl.
Dice onion and put in bowl.
Add next three ingredients.
Chiffonade basil leaves (However much you want. I like tons.) and add to bowl.
Chill and serve!

This week...

It has been an eventful but less stressful week.

Monday started swimming lessons for the boys. This has been the first year that I have been able to watch them (the other places I have gone have a no parent observation policy). It has been so much fun to watch! Thomas looks hilarious in his goggles with a huge smile on his face sitting on the steps waiting his turn! He is completely enjoying himself and has learned to do some swimming without floaties! I am hoping that by the end of lessons next week, he will be able to swim to the side of the pool. That will make my days at the pool much less stressful! Matthew, who has been swimming for several years, is learning pretty strokes.

I spent the majority of yesterday on the phone switching my utilities. Anyone who has done this recently knows the pain this was. I had to call TXU energy several times yesterday. Each time, I talked to someone who obviously had English as a second language. I wanted to ask, but didn't have the heart to, which country TXU was outsourcing to. I found it a little funny that each time they put me on hold, they played country music. Do people in India think that all Texans love George Strait?

I breathed a sigh of relief when all inspections came back OK. We had a few things to repair here but nothing major. I am looking forward to meeting the people who own our new home and giving them a big hug. They have been so helpful and gracious throughout the experience. It is how this process should be. We get our key tomorrow night and get to start moving our things in! Now starts the fun part!

A lot of this week has been dedicated to fixing the little things that need fixing. I forgot to blog about this, but when I came home from errands on Friday afternoon, I noticed that one of my windows was shattered. It turns out that my lawn boy kicked up a rock while he was mowing and broke the glass. I didn't have the heart to make him pay for it, so we get to shell out $150.00 for a new window. Now, how did we escape having a broken window for 7 1/2 years and get one the week before we move out? Oh, how I am tired of spending money on this place!

I am trying to finish Monte Cristo before this weekend. It has been a wonderful book. Unfortunately, it is 600 pages which has been hard for me to read quickly as I have been distracted these past few weeks! I recommend it to anyone looking for a great classic to read.

That's all for now! Have a great Thursday!

Thomas at 4 (AND A HALF!)

Here's whats going on with my little Tomboy:

*He just had his half birthday which I believe he was more excited about than his actual birthday. He keeps telling everyone about how he is 4 1/2 now.

*He loves to rhyme everything: "Winner winner, chicken dinner!" "You lost you lost you ate tomato sauce." "That's awesome as a dawsome!" "Later, Tater!" "Time for bed, Fred!"

*He has lots of love and affection for several inanimate objects. He will give his key a bath (soap and all). He will wrap his NASCAR in a blanket to put to sleep. He washes his beanie baby monkey's hair.

*He gets along with everyone. Whether it be an 8 year old girl or 2 year old boy, he plays well with whomever he is with! I don't know a kid who doesn't love Thomas. I couldn't say whether he gets along better with Matthew or Mary Beth. He seems to be the playmate who both of them want to play with.

*He loves to be babied. He talks in a baby voice a lot. He loves to be cuddled. This was a stark contrast to Matthew who was born thinking he was an adult.

*He is my child who can play by himself for hours. Again, a stark contrast to Matthew. He can be in his room and keep himself occupied for ever!

*He is my giggler. It is hard to picture Thomas without a huge smile on his face. Things crack him up easily. I love to hear him giggle!

*He has got a mischevious streak. He is starting to do things specifically to annoy Matthew. After Matthew has inflicted years of "torture" on Thomas, he is finally getting his revenge! I have to choke back the smiles!

*He and Matthew wear the same size clothes. I believe that Thomas will be bigger than Matthew one day.

*He is a daddy's boy to the maximum. He worships the ground that Bryon walks on. From the moment Daddy comes home, Thomas is glued to him.

*He wants to go out with whoever is going out. If someone is leaving the house, he wants to be a part of the action.

*Things don't scare Thomas too easily. He isn't scared of the water, the dark, thunder, lightening, snakes. He takes it all in stride.

*He gets strangely attached to things that we have no attachment to.
Matthew loves Alabama and Baylor football. Makes sense, right?
Thomas? He loves the Seattle Seahawks.
Why? We don't know.
NASCAR? No clue why he adores it so.
The color red? Who knows?
He wants to visit Seattle and talks about it constantly.

Just a few quirky things about my little guy!

*He is my laid back, happy, go with the flow, funny, beautiful boy who has blessed our lives so richly for four AND A HALF years!

The next Tiger Woods?

This morning I informed Matthew that it was Putt Putt day at Mother's Day Out and to please hurry up and get dressed. Ten minutes later, he exits his room wearing this number. When I asked him why he was dressed up for church when everyone else will be wearing t-shirts and shorts, he replied, "This is how you dress to play golf."

He just got through watching The Greatest Game Ever Played and I guess he felt he should dress like they did in the 1920s to play golf! Oh well, you pick your battles.

ME at 22 months.

In the midst of all the chaos in our house right now, my little girl is changing so much! Here is what she is doing:

*Talking up a storm! "Matthew goin' night night!" "Ont (I want) chockit!" "ME do it" "Ont princess cup" "Rocky rock baby doll." The combinations change daily. I love this language explosions age!

*She is starting to love girly things. She will play with her dolls. She will make tea (which she calls "Coppee" because her mama drinks lots of coffee!). She loves her Disney princess sippee cups. She loves bows. If she doesn't have one in her hair she says, "Ona bow!" She also loves holding jewelry and called it all "pretty". "Ona hold pretty!" The first time she sees someone, she walks up to them with her arm out to show her bracelet.

*She loves to make us laugh. One of her favorite ways to do this is to talk in a funny voice. I can only liken it to Fat Albert's "Hey, hey, hey!" voice. That guarantees a laugh every time!

*She looks similar to my mother. She has her smile. I adore my mother so this trait makes me so happy!

*She never met a stranger. She loves saying "HI!" to everyone. She never cries when I take her to the nursery or to Mother's Day Out. I think she is quite the social butterfly!

*She is incredibly affectionate. She loves to hug and kiss all the time. It isn't usual for me to be holding her and her to give my neck a huge bear hug unsolicited. She will also do this from behind when I am sitting down. She constantly wants to be held. I can see where this could get tiresome, but since she is my last baby, I really enjoy holding her.
*She is a mama's girl. Don't get me wrong, she adores Bryon. It's just when the boys were her age, all they wanted was Bryon. It is sweet to have a child actually want me over Bryon from time to time! ;)

*She has a great Elvis impersonation. You tell her to do "Elvis" and she curls up her lip!

*She is still attached to her "bibi" and wants it every time she is hurt or tired.

*She still loves to dance and does so any time she can.

*She can play for long stretches with the boys now without me having to worry about her safety. She can climb up on their bed and down without problems. This gives me 15 minutes every now and then to myself. How nice!

*She moves constantly. Up and down. Left and Right. Even when she walks, both of her arms are going every direction and her body sways left and right! She keeps me on my toes!

What a blessing she has been to me for the past 22 months!

Part 3

OK, I am really not trying to write a suspense novel. There is just so much information and I can't sit down long enough to write it all. I am taking a break from packing to write the rest.

There was one house in the neighborhood that fit our criteria. I called a realtor to take a look inside. I took one look inside and fell in love. It was the right size, the right flow, the right colors, the right details. I immediately said goodbye to idea of the house swap. This was the home I wanted. I couldn't sleep that night because my mind was racing a hundred miles a minute. We decided to put our house on the market and see what happened.

We talked to a builder friend of ours who lived in the neighborhood. He told us that he had just built a house with the same floorplan as the one we were interested in. A couple from out of state had put a contract on it then decided to pull the contract and try to sell their home before they bought it. Our friend put the house back on the market. We took a look at it and loved it as well. It was strange, because there were bits and pieces of each that we liked. One had painted cabinets/one had stained. One had my favorite wood floors/one had wood floors that weren't my favorite although still very nice. One had a peaceful,cozy backyard with no neighbors in the back/one had several back yards converging in its backyard. One had plantation shutters throughout/one had wood blinds. We really struggled with which one we liked better. Our plan was to see which one was still available when we sold our house.

We decided that we liked the builder's house a little better. Mainly because it was a lot less expensive. When we had a contract on this one, we decided to put a contract on the builder's house. Well, the builder told the out of state couple that someone was putting a contract on it and they panicked and decided to buy the house from our friend! We were disappointed but philosophical about it. Our friend told us he would build us the same house with all the things we liked about each house for the same price.

The problem was, all the desirable lots were taken. Should we build a house with everything we want on a less desirable lot? Go through the building process which we didn't want to do? Live in a duplex? We decided to put an offer on the house that was still for sale and offer the asking price of the other and see what happened. The owners took our offer! It was a done deal. The house that kept me up all night a few weeks ago would be ours!

So that is that in a nutshell. I wouldn't wish the selling of a house on anyone. Anyone who has been there can sympathize! I had 1-3 people looking at the house each day starting the week Matthew started summer. It was stressful, but thankfully not a lengthy process. Packing isn't nearly as stressful knowing where we are going.

I wondered for a while about that phone call. I feel like that was God's way of starting me in the process of changing my mind about building. I truly feel like this is the best move for our family and I am anxious to move in and be settled. This move is bittersweet as we are leaving the house that we brought all our babies home to. Our first houseguest the night we moved in was Kevin, the night before he married Kristen! We really feel like this move signifies the end of babyhood for us. Exciting but sad at the same time.

In other news, we returned the favor for our neighbors this evening by running over a very large rat snake headed to their house! We ran over him in Bryon's truck one time and saw that he was still moving. We backed up and he curled up with his mouth wide open ready to strike us! It was so gross! We ran over him again and I think that did him in. Get me out of this neighborhood! ;)

Part 2

About that phone call:

The people who used to own our house called us and said they heard we were going to move and would we possibly be interested in a house swap? Let me back up 8 years. Eight years ago this summer, we found a house for sale that we loved. We made an offer but when it came to selling the house, the owner's sister decided that she wanted the place. The owners said that the across the fence neighbor who had the same house/floorplan (different brick) were thinking of building a bigger house for their teenagers and we should contact them.

Well, we did and the rest is history! We fell in love with the house which seemed so big at the time. This family loved the house they were in but wanted something bigger for their children. They decided that they would build the same floorplan and add a game room. Since we were ready to move and they hadn't even started drawing up plans, they swapped houses with us! We were renting a small house on the outskirts of town.

Fast forward 8 years. Now the family's two children are grown and they are looking to downsize. My first reaction to the suggestion was that we were going to build on our lot but they were more than welcome to buy ours. Something about the conversation made me think. It just seemed to coincidental that we had been having reservations recently. Was this a sign? We thought we would check it out.

When we went to the house, it felt like bizzaro world. It was our house with small changes everywhere. The lot was beautiful with trees everywhere, although there wasn't much yard for the kids to play. Many of the things had been upgraded. It wasn't quite as big as the house we had drawn up for our lot, but it was bigger than this hosue and it felt like a good size. Some things bugged me. It needed a lot of updating and I was really wanting to move into a house that needed no updating. It was in a different school zone as well. There was a steep drop off in the back yard that would have been safe for teenagers, but not my almost 2 year old. We would have had to put in a deck. There were lots of things that I really liked about it as well, so the tough decisions started rolling in. The family had emotional attachment to this house and I felt bad about not taking them up on their offer. Also, wouldn't it be great to go ahead and move and not be thinking about building in a few years?

My parents suggested just for the fun of it, to look at every house in that price range and just see what we could find. We still weren't convinced that we weren't going to build on our lot, but the feelings of being sad if we didn't live there were diminishing. This got me thinking of a neighborhood close to my house that might have just what we were looking for. Matthew's best friend lives in this neighborhood and I took Matthew over to his friend's house recently. I had not been in the neighborhood in years and when I pulled up to their adorable house in a neighborhood with sidewalks and children running around, I thought, "Oh I wish we had thought of this neighborhood before we bought our lot. Oh well, too late now." This neighborhood was close to everything and we wouldn't have to move schools! I called up a realtor to see what was available in this neighborhood....

How we came to where we are now.

I wouldn't have dreamed two months ago that we would end up where we are now! Here is the beginning of the process.

We love the neighborhood where we own a lot. It is one of the prettiest subdivisions in our area. Everytime we are out there, we enjoy it. We did start having a few reservations about the move out there recently.

*I was scared to death to build a house. I have heard horror stories of going way overbudget and I didn't want to drag kids all over Home Depot/Lowes/etc. looking for drawer pulls. Bryon is difficult to get a hold of during the day and I would hate to make lots of those decisions on my own! I also did not want to move into a duplex or apt. while the thing was being built. All of these things added up to a lot of stress that I did not wish to have in my life.

*The neighborhood was in a different elementary school zone (same district). This school is a good one, but I have gotten attached to Matthew's school. I love the kids and the parents whom we have gotten to know this year. Also, Bryon would not have been able to take Matthew to school anymore b/c it was 10 minutes further in the wrong direction. They both have come to treasure that time and I like not having to wake up the little two!

*It was farther out than we would have liked to travel. It would have added 10 minutes to our journey anywhere. Not a lot unless you consider that we are just now getting into time of our lives when we are taking kids to lots of activities.

*The cost of living in this neighborhood has gone up considerably over the years. Katrina didn't help. Again, we are trying to decrease stress in our lives, not add more! Finding a nice home in a more reasonably priced neighborhood would enable Bryon to work less and having him home means more than a big home!

These are a few of the negatives in a sea of positives about the neighborhood. We had decided to postpone building a few years ago until we got a strange phone call two months ago....

I'll write about that tomorrow! We are having our home inspected today so I am praying that all goes well!

Things I have done this week....

Shopping............check
Laundry.............check
play with kids......check
sold our house......check
bought a new one....check


It has been a very busy month in our house! I hesitated even saying anything about it until all the paperwork is signed but I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.

I haven't written a lot of substantive blogs lately primarily because selling the house was all I have been thinking about! I will try and fill in all the details over the next few weeks but probably won't be blogging too much as we only have a few weeks to pack up our home.

Please say a prayer that everything goes smoothly for us and there are no hitches to the selling/buying process!

What does Dirk Nowitzki like to do on game day?

Hang out with my boys!!

My brother had the boys for the weekend. Every game day, DN eats at the same restaurant so Michael took the boys to see him.



Matthew told him, "If I could play in the World Cup I would play for the German team."

Thomas asked him what color his house was!

I am so grateful to my brother and sister-in-law for making such a neat memory for my boys!

Feel good songs

So, lots of stress in my life at the moment. I was out with the kids yesterday listening to my new Prince greatest hits cd when Raspberry Beret came on. I love this song! I cranked it and sang and danced with all my might. The kids had a blast too. All the stress left my body. It is amazing what a good song like that does. My favorite are those that are heart pumping and you can't help either singing at the top of your lungs or dancing. Or both! There are a few that always to that for me:

Heart and Soul by T'Pau
Sweet Home Alabama by Lynrd Skynrd
Tempted by Squeeze
Sharona
How It's Going To Be by Third Eye Blind
Independant Woman by Destiny's Child
Jenny From Block by J. Lo
Scar Tissue by Red Hot Chili Peppers
I Want I That Way by the Backstreet Boys (pathetic)
Lemon Parade by Tonic
Two Princes by Spin Doctors
Jump by Van Halen
Mandonlin Rain by Bruce Hornsby
Buddy Holly by Weezer
Flood by Jars of Clay
Colored People by dc Talk
Shout by Tears for Fears
Most any 80s rock
Alone by Heart
Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leopard
Steal my Sunshine by Len
I want to know what your thinking by Information Society
Ain't too proud to beg by Temptations
Good by Better than Ezra
10,000 miles

The list goes on. What are your "feel good" songs?

Dear Better Business Bureau

Yes, I would like to report that I have a complaint against Lockridge Priest....

*I paid the company $60 several weeks to check the system and they said everything was fine.

*I paid the company $60 on Thursday just for them to say we "had a problem".

*I begged and pleaded with the manager to have someone finish the job on Saturday morning so we wouldn't fry all weekend.

*They ordered the wrong parts which left us with no air all weekend and a 5 ton unit sitting in our garage.

*They took 8 hours to finish the job on Monday.

*I noticed last night that a water stain was on our ceiling.

*Air is no longer working and it is again 85 degrees in our house.

*Service man came out but said he was too tired to finish the job tonight. He just charged us up with frion.

*Should take most of the day to find and fix leak tomorrow while it is supposed to be 100 degrees outside.

*Lockridge Priest messed with the wrong hot mama.

Life is good again.

The air kicked on about 2 p.m. yesterday afternoon and it took the rest of the day to get to "room temperature" but we made it! It is amazing the difference a few degrees can make. 85 degrees: liveable. 87 degrees: unbearable!

This is my only few hours without the kids this week so I need to run errands and have a nice relaxing lunch with girlfriends. Gotta run!

The weekend

The air guys have been out this morning so hopefully by this afternoon, things should start cooling down!





We had a busy weekend. Matthew went with my parents to the Scottish festival in Arlington on Saturday. My dad loves all things Scottish and this annual festival is one of the highlights of his summers. We haven't been in a few years and had plans this weekend, so Matthew got to join my parents. They had a fabulous time! Matthew danced the Highland fling for 10 minutes straight while a scottish fiddler played. He also got to do the log toss simular to the ones in the Highland games. Mom and Dad said he never got tired and had the time of his life. I wish I could have seen it!


We stayed here and had Bryon's sister, brother-in-law, and niece come for a visit. Bryons BIL is very handy around the house and came up to help Bryon fix our fence, wood floor in the office, and work station in the garage. Shari and I took the kids to the zoo. Following SG's advise, we took a match box car to the otter tank and Thomas got the otter to follow the car for a long time. We shared the car with several eager children and had a good time! We only got through half of the zoo before it was too hot to go on. We are in for a long, hot summer!

Matthew starts Upwards Basketball camp today. The camp is at our church and lots of kids from the community are going. It should be fun!

Keep your fingers crossed that our house cools down today!

I am one hot woman!

I mean that quite literally.

Our air conditioner finally died. We have been without one since Thursday night. It is pushing 90 degrees in the house and about 5 degrees warmer than that in my room where I currently am. Needless to say, this won't be a long post because I have to get out of this room! For some reason, it is always hottest on this side of the house.

Yes, Thursday night, I had people coming over and I realized that the air wouldn't kick on. Friday morning, I called the air people and asked them to come out and charge our frion. We have had a slow leak for years and it needs to be charged about once a year when things start heating up. After taking a look at the system, it was determined that the motor was dead. We could replace the motor for $600 or get a new system for $2300. Since we have had the slow leak for years and figuring that an inspector would come and tell us it needed to be replaced when it is time to sell the house, we opted for the new system. There goes my clothing budget for the month! (joking)

The manager took pity on me and our three small children and told me that it was too hot to put a new system in that afternoon so they would come out on Saturday morning and not charge me time and a half which they normally do for weekend work. I thanked him and headed out of our sauna.

Saturday morning arrived and our old system was taken out. Then the workers informed me that the manager had written that our unit was an indoor unit and not an attic unit so they didn't order the drip pan for the new unit. It would be Monday before anyone could come out.

Not too happy with Mr. Manager.

We have been trying to stay cool any way we can. Taking long drives. Eating at restaurants. Going to Mom and Lauren's house. They offered for us to spend the night but it is too hard to get everyone packed. We are just waiting it out. I have a new appreciation for all those who came before me before air conditioning was a standard thing. How did they do it?

Anyway, more on the weekend later. Got to get out of the sauna.

The return (and demise) of Snakey.

Last night around 11 p.m., Bryon and I heard a bunch of screaming girls outside. Of course, my first thought was, "If another teenage girl plowed into our mailbox....."

Well, actually, a bunch of teenage girls saw this little guy in front of our house heading our direction. They knew we had little kids and got scared that it would get in our yard, so they backed up and ran over it! This picture was taken just a few feet from my curb.

This one looks identical to the one that was below my feet last month. I got the type of snake wrong. It is actually a rat snake. Animal control says they aren't poisonous but highly aggressive. You won't die from a bite but you are likely to get bitten by them! Yuck!

I am hoping that this one was my friend from earlier and not part of a large family of rat snakes that call my yard home!

Summer garden

Everthing looked so pretty this morning that I thought I would take a few pics of my changing garden. I love a summer garden before it gets so hot that the plants start to suffer. My favorites in summer are my balloonflower, butterfly bush, hydrandea, morning glory, and passion vine.

My gardener friend came over today and when I showed him my passion vine, he told me the significance of the flower and why it was named the "passion" vine. It turns out that there is deep symbolism in the flower. This is what I pulled up:


"Five petals & five sepals are ten apostles, leaving out Judas the betrayer & Peter because he denied knowing Jesus. The purple carolla Bosio reported had seventy-two filaments, the number of thorns in Jesus's crown. The three pistil stigmas are nails. The five stamens are the number of wounds, so that to this day, Catholics in South & Central America call it "The Flower of the Five Wounds." The leaf represents the spear that placed the wound in Jesus's side (that one is a stretch since the leaves are five-lobed, but unlike some other species, this one's individual lobes are at least lance-shaped). The dark spots under the leaves are the 33 pieces of silver paid to Judas. When the flowers are spent after a single day (the time Jesus spent on the cross), the petals do not drop from the vine but re-close over the ovary, & this symbolizes the Hidden Wisdom that constitutes the Mysteries of the Cross, & is like Jesus enclosed in the tomb."