Mastering the Self-Portrait

I've been given a little trouble lately about the serious neglect of the blog and I would have to agree. I thought I'd jump back into the bloggy world with a fun post about myself and one of my favorite people.

Deneise and I had the awesome privilege to take a weekend trip to Seattle back in May. And while the pictures and stories of that trip will have to wait for another time, we did have a really fun time trying to master the art of the self-portrait. (Is portrait really the right word for this??!) I have seen many a person reach their arm out to take a picture of themselves, usually with very good results. I have seen MANY a picture on a blog or facebook where it is obvious that is what is happening, again with good results.

Why Deneise or I thought we were capable of this skill escapes me, because we obviously aren't capable. Though I should say, I think I was the only one who attempted it, so maybe it's just me!!

Prepare to be amazed . . . . .

From the Space Needle . . . .

Yikes . . . .






Not exactly . . . .
Better ?? . . . .

Didn't get faces or the water in the background . . . . .

Almost . . . . we forgot to tell our faces we were taking a picture . . . . .

At least I got Deneise's glasses in this one . . . not much else though . . . .

And this one has to be my personal favorite . . . . maybe our best picture of all time . . . .

wait . . . . . .

wait . . . . . .

It was a bit windy at the top of the ol' Space Needle!!

And the most interesting part of this little story is that people were constantly passing us as we were trying to take our own picture . . . . and not one time did anyone stop to ask if they could take a pic of us!! It's a touristy place people!! If we can't work together at the top of the Space Needle to get our pictures made, where can we??

All in all, a super fun trip . . . . with a lot of funny pictures to prove it!!

Lots o' Ball

After an all-too-brief break from organized sports, Opening Day came bright and early today. With three out of four boys playing baseball, it's going to be a busy Spring!!

Luke and Landry drew the short straws and both had games at 8:30 . . . in the morning!! They both played hard and I ran hard back and forth between their 2 games. When it was all over, Landry's team came out on top and Luke's team took a loss. Luke took the loss pretty hard which, interestingly enough, pitted the Rangers (Luke's team) against the Giants. Just like in the World Series, the Rangers came up short!

We had a nice break at home then headed to the baseball field to watch Alex play later in the day. Alex hasn't played baseball in a couple of years so I was kind of interested to see how he would do after such a long break. He did well, making a couple of great catches and hitting the ball. It was a great day for baseball . . . until the cold front (that most of us missed the memo about) rolled through.

The funniest thing I heard today was spoken in the car. Landry (who won today) and Luke (who lost today) were talking about their games and how they did. Landry matter-of-factly says to Luke . . .

Luke . . . I bet if my team played your team, we would definitely win yall!!

Luke respectfully disagreed!!

Say What??

I have been reading way back in the ol' blog ... back to 2007 ... and I have laughed so hard at the stuff I'd forgotten!! This blog ... it's a good idea!! Here are a couple of my favorites from tonight .... Parker was making me laugh back then too (12/12/2007), Landry was just a little 2 year old learning some crazy stuff about his body (12/2/2007), and a good reminder that you can't say "thanks" too often (11/2007).

My computer is sick ... really sick ... so there won't be any pictures until it gets better.

But I was reminded by reading back that early in the bloggy days, I would just write a quick story or tale of something someone said that was funny ... or just something I didn't want to forget. I think I'm gonna try to do that more often!!

Parker ... interesting boy that he is ... uses his post bedtime moments to make some pretty serious choices about his life.

For example, a few weeks ago, long after he should have been asleep, he came out of his room all cock-eyed and messed up, and said, "Mom ... don't be mad ... I HAVE to tell you this!! I have finally decided what I want to do with my life!!!" I say, "Awesome ... can't wait to hear it."
Parker - "I'm going to be a professional hockey player!!!"
Me - "????"
Parker - I know, I know .... I don't know how to ice skate but I'm going to learn. Will you take me?? Can I take lessons??
Me - Say what??!?!


Then tonight, another night of having trouble falling asleep, he comes out and has some more exciting news to share.

"I need vocal chord surgery!"

Say What???

"Well, yeah ... I think I wanna be on America's Got Talent and my voice really isn't that great, so I'm gonna need some surgery to fix that!!"

Dream big, baby .... dream big!!

Wrestlin'

I am not a big fan of letting the boys wrestle.

If I was, they would do it 23 out of every 24 hours. It's the perfect occasion for the saying ...

It was all well and good until someone lost an eye!!!

It just never seems to end well!!

But . . . when Ryan comes to visit, wrestling is a given . . .especially where Landry is concerned. In the days preceding his visit, Landry begins the smack talk.

This is how a phone convo might go . . .

"Hey Ryan! When are you tumin to my house?? . . . Ok . . . . Ummm . . . Ryan . . . you're goin DOWN!! No . . . uh-uh . . . YOU'RE goin down!! Nooooo . . . YOU are!!!"

And when Ryan finally arrives, he does not disappoint!! These were taken at Thanksgiving . . .

Landry's usually the first . . .

But he always get some help . . .

Everyone always feels like they won . . .

Thanks to Ryan for being such a good sport!!

(Wrestling is hard to get good pics of ... amazing photographer that I am!!) :)

It's sooooo COLD!!

Obviously, we got snow and ice. But the temperatures are what are so stinkin crazy this time around!! I went outside to snap a couple of pics and realized very quickly that I would not have any playtime in the snow today!!

It's like crazy cold ... and windy ... and just cold!!

Enough of that . . . here's all I got!!

Notice that only ONE of those pictures was actually taken outside!!! :)

And . . . we get to do it all over again tomorrow!! Wooo-hooo!!!

Stock Show and Rodeo

We had the privilege of going to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo on Sunday with my parents. We don't do this every year, but it is always so much fun when we do it!

We started in the exhibitions and the little boys were amazed by the tractors!!


They got to see the inside view from a horse trailer . . .

Playing on the big digger thingy . . .

Next, we headed to the FFA Children's Barnyard. I LOVE this place!!! My favorites are definitely the baby chicks hatching. Here's the fam watching them in the different phases of hatching. There was one yellow and one black that had just barely made it out of their shells ... all wet and trying so hard to stand on their feet. There was another yellow and another black that had been out for a little longer ... so cute and tiny!!

I also love the little ducklings where they have the little pool for them. They're so cute to watch as they try to get a drink and end up sliding down the slide into the water!!

We then went to the barns and came upon these sheep that had just lost their wool!! They looked naked and cold!!

This young lady came up to us and asked us if the boys would like to pet some sheep. Of course they did, so we followed her over to her little pen. She let the boys come right in and put their hands all over the sheep!!


She really wanted Alex to come in too, but he was way too cool to go in and pet the sheep!! One of the best parts of the day was when she said to Alex, "What's the matter??? You CHICKEN????!!!" And then she starts flapping her arms like a chicken right at Alex!! The look on his face was priceless!!! What made it even better is that she's 11 years old!!!

She was a really sweet girl ... lives up near Gainesville ... and was really great with the boys. Even Landry enjoyed it and didn't freak out at all!!!

There weren't many rabbits to speak of but this one made up for it!!! He was the furriest little guy with the longest ears and pink eyes . . . he looked like a real, small version of the Easter Bunny!! So cute!!

Parker tried his hand at roping and did pretty well for his first attempts . . .

Next came the Midway and I can honestly say this is my least favorite part of any experience like this. There is no amount of money that will satisfy the desires this part brings. The games are rigged and the rides are expensive. And when you realize that the toothless man smoking a cig who hasn't had a shower since the beginning of the Stock Show put this whole contraption together, it doesn't bode well!! And it was nice and cold by this point!! Here we are huddled up, trying to stay warm!!!

We walked through the Midway telling the boys to find that ONE thing that would make this whole experience complete for them. After lots of contemplating and debating, the big boys decided on a fun house kind of thing. But this . . . was Landry's dream . . .

As soon as he saw it, he began to talk in his very loud, very excited voice!! OH! MY! GOSH!!! I. WANT. TO. RIDE. THAT. SLIDE. RIGHT. THERE!!!!!!!! Are you sure, I ask?? YES!!! THAT IS SOOOO COOL!!!! Ok ... that's easy! I like a boy who knows what he wants and doesn't waver in his decision! Poppy went to buy tickets and the other boys debated on the merits of one of the fun house options. I again ask Landry, "Do you want to do this one with the boys??" To which he answers, "NO!!! I WANT TO DO THAT SLIDE RIGHT THERE . . . THAT ONE BEHIND YOU!!!" Okie-dokie!! The boys do their fun house and we head over to the slide. We pay the man our tickets and begin to climb what seemed like Mt. Everest!! We get to the top, settle ourselves in right next to each other, get the signal, and GO!!! We slide down together and had, what I thought, was an awesome time!! We get to the bottom and I look over at Landry. He has the saddest, most scared look on this face!! He jumps out of his sack and into my arms and immediately starts crying!! Apparently, it was a little scarier than planned!!

Of course, I had to laugh because it was such a complete and total opposite reaction of what I thought I would see!! He'll probably never get on a slide that big again!!


We had just enough time to go through the petting zoo before the rodeo. This is always fun and the boys, especially the littles, had a great time here!!

I had to capture these two guys (with a little girl's hand!). We decided they must be brothers because they just kept at each other!!

The tears are gone and Landry loves petting animals, especially when separated by a fence!!! (I've definitely got some mad photo skillz!! Not everyone can capture random kids' hands and snap the picture at the exact time the eyes close!!) But the smile is what counts, right??!!

Lots of goats!!

And finally, we made it to the rodeo!! I didn't take any pictures with all the moving and lack of light. But it was, as always, a good show with lots of amazing stunts, tricks, rides, and feats. It is a totally different world but it is always a neat one to visit!!

Much thanks to Mom and Dad for a super fun night!!

A 14 year old???

Alex celebrated another milestone back before Christmas . . . he turned 14!!!

It just doesn't seem like 14 years have passed since I birthed that big ol' baby, but I guess it has!!

Here are some things you should know about Alex . . .

* This was the year he grew taller than me . . . I'm 5'8" and he's a bit taller now!

* He also caught up to me in the weight department . . . 120 lbs!!! HA!!!

* He gave up his lifelong dream of being a professional football player after one year of playing middle school football and this year, chose the less-traveled path of tennis!! He did quite well for having never played before. We spent a bit of time at the tennis courts and learned some things and had some fun!

* He's still holding on to his dream of being a professional basketball player. I do encourage him regularly to at least give a Plan B some thought . . . you know . . . just in case!! He has yet to do that!!! :)

* The boy can eat his body weight in Snickers and Dr. Pepper!

* He started to stink this year!! Well, maybe it was last year, but still . . .

* When Alex is home, there's ALWAYS a game of something going on . . . basketball on the driveway, football in the backyard, soccer in the house. The boys is always moving and usually dragging his brothers along for the fun.

We went to eat for his birthday at Spring Creek and here's the little ray of sunshine himself . . . doesn't he look so happy it's his birthday???!!

Yes, this would be ipod #2 and the last one that will be purchased with my money!! Emily and I gave up one-and-a-half hours of our lives on Black Friday for that and that is not something I will do again!!!

When I asked Landry what we should get Alex for his birthday, he immediately said "deodorant!" (See above!!) So, deodorant is what we got!!

Emily got he and Reagan tickets to watch 2 basketball games at the American Airlines Center . . . both Baylor and A&M were playing that day, though not playing each other. Fun time for the boys!!

Basketball cookie cake

Landry wasn't feeling so good this night . . . poor guy!!

After much begging, pleading, and threatening, the birthday boy finally

put a semi-normal (?) look on his face and took a picture with his Momma!!

Happy Birthday Alex!!

Just an average Fall day

Thanks Emily!!

Countdown to Christmas

Most of the boys LOVE Legos! So when December rolled around, Emily found the perfect way to count the days till Christmas . . . enter the Lego Advent Calendar!!

This really cool gadget had 25 little "doors" that we carefully cut open. Inside was a little bag of Lego pieces and a picture of how the pieces went together. This was Day #1 . . . a snowman!

Here are some of the creations . . . skateboard ramp/skateboard/helmet, dude with sword, piece of machinery that I can't think of the name of, and the snowman.

The boys really looked forward to doing this every day. It was cool to see what would be behind the door!! Very neat idea!! Thanks Emily!!

Out with the old . . .

I've had this chair for a really long time. It was tired. It was dated. A lot of the time when I looked at it, I thought it was ugly!!

Lucky for me, I have a friend who is amazing at taking ugly things and making them beautiful!! So, she took my chair, spent some quality time with it, got into a fight with it, got injured by it more than once, but ultimately prevailed and made it beautiful!!!

And comfortable, apparently . . .

And who, you might ask, could do something so incredibly amazing????

Well, Shellee, of course!!!

Thanks Shell . . . . awesome job!!!

Arrrggghhh!!

Trying to change the blog design . . . isn't working . . . frustrating!!!!

The flu has come to visit . . .

He's praying that he'll be better before his basketball game on Saturday!!!