My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys...

Well, not really, but I couldn't think of a catchy post title.

Today I experienced my fifth KU Cowboy Day. I wish I could post a picture of Eli at each Cowboy Day since he was one, but I can't since our computer crashed and I lost all the pictures prior to July of 2007. That still stings. I did manage to find some from the last two years, though.

Cowboy Day 2007


Cowboy Day 2008


If I did have the pictures from previous years, you might notice that Eli has worn the same western vest for the last four years. It's from the Pumpkin Patch and has "McCall" on the sheriff star. How could we not wear it?!

Cowboy Day 2009


Do these pictures make anyone else a little sad?

We're Taking A Sick Day

Yesterday afternoon, Phoebe started to run a low-grade temp. She didn't act too "sickly", but she didn't eat dinner, either. This morning she was running 102 and she smelled like throw-up. (If this grosses you out, just skip to the next paragraph, but I know there are moms out there who understand and don't mind hearing about other children's throw-up...it's a new and weird place you find yourself at a certain time in your life.) She hasn't actually thrown up yet, but I fear it's coming. I gave her some ibuprofen and the fever has gone a little and she rallied a bit to play with some legos, but is now back to lying lethargically on the couch watching Sesame Street.

So we are taking a sick day. Movie-watching, cuddling, book-reading, and napping are the only things on our agenda today. Oh, and lunch. Hopefully, Phoebe will recover in time to make to Cowboy Day at KU tomorrow! (That was from Cowboy Day 2007. I apparently didn't blog about Cowboy Day 2008. I know we were there!)

I spent a little time on the laptop this morning. Three back-to-back episodes of Sesame Street can get a little old. (I *heart* Sesame Street. Really. It is probably the most creative, witty, smart children's show on the market. But three episodes, in a row, is a little much...even for an avid fan like myself!) Here are my conclusions after messing around on the internet all morning:

* I would really love to attend something like this. I think it would be very much fun to get together with other fun people who love to cook and learn all about these kinds of things. Does anybody know of a good (fun) cooking class like this in Amarillo? One that doesn't involve bbq?

* If I were renewing my vows, on a beach, I would wear this dress, but I would probably look a little "happier" than the model.

* I have made these curtains for my living room (and plan to do so for my bedroom). They aren't hung yet because I am waiting for Brad to obtain a hacksaw to cut my curtain rods a little shorter. I absolutely love this gal's blog and get lots and lots of inspiration from it!

* Everything on this website makes me wish I had found it when my babies were, well, you know, babies.

* I can't read this blog without crying. This morning was no exception.

* I have a thing for silhouettes.

* Facebook is an exceptional time-waster.

* I wish I had the ingredients for this sandwich because I would have it for lunch. Unfortunately, we have nothing like this in our house. Which makes me think I need to get myself together and actually make lunch!

Sick Days are kinda fun...as long as you are not the sick one! :)

Portraits of Pure Boy

Painting Day

Saturday morning, I woke up singing this song (It's sung to the tune of The Backyardigans "Racing Day". If you don't know it, count your blessings, because it will get stuck in your head and NEVER leave!):

"It's Painting Day,
It's Painting Day.
It's not Belly-Aching Day.
Today's the day we paint."

Catchy, huh?

Anyway, we had several pieces of furniture that needed to be painted. Because of my love of all things "junky" and "old", I'm not one to turn down hand-me-down furniture. Especially if it has good bones, like the pieces we were given. They just needed a little TLC.

We had been putting off this little project for months now for two reasons: 1). The weather has been bad and I didn't want to paint with all the doors windows closed and 2). I HATE to paint. I had also been waiting to get Brad on board with whole "painting" idea so that he could encourage me to get moving and get it done.

So Saturday morning (after French toast and coffee) we headed off the Lowe's. As Brad was grumbling about spending $40 on paint supplies and paint, I reminded him that all this furniture had been free so it was time to see the bright side, buck-o.

We needed to paint an armoire, a small bistro table and chairs, the legs and arms of some side chairs, and the legs and arms of the rocking chair in Phoebe's room. Here is a "before" picture of the armoire and the bistro table and chairs.

I also need to paint this fridge, but I wasn't up to it on Saturday.


I started painting after lunch and gave everything a nice bottom coat. Unfortunately, it was going to take about three coats! But I am blessed to be married to a wonderful man who actually enjoys painting so he finished up the next two coats! Yeah!

He's cute, huh?


I can't post pictures of the finished products because we aren't technically finished with them. I plan on working on them this week and finishing them up by the weekend.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I'm still sick over Phoebe's hair. We had it cut on Friday to make it look a little more "intentional". It's cute, I guess, but her hair is just too short to be curly. I know it will grow back. Sigh. Since I'm so patient, the wait won't kill me at all! (Ha!)


If she were smaller, I'd just buy her this hat, and it would make me feel so happy, I wouldn't worry about her hair anymore!

Mamma Mia's Pizza

I decided not have our usual "Friday Night Fiesta" so we could try something my blog friend always does on Friday nights. We're just spontaneous like that and making our own pizzas just seemed like so much fun.

And we needed some fun after the week we had!

I did not make own dough (although I am looking for good whole wheat pizza dough recipe if anybody has one), but instead I had bought a case of frozen pizza dough balls from Sam's and split it with a friend. I didn't think we needed 20 balls of pizza dough!

Getting our dough ready to bake. Please ignore my awesome apron that my mom made several years ago. I can't seem to cook without making a gigantic mess...especially when I have "helpers".


This should scare us all!


Because we are all, like, sooo authentic around here, we tossed our pizza crust in the air.


Eli said, "This is just like we are really in CHINA!" Hmmm. Maybe we should spend a little more time on our geography around here.

After we tossed our pizzas around for awhile (and surprisingly no pizza ended up on the floor!), we drizzled a little olive oil on top and sprinkled it with Italian seasonings and baked it for exactly five minutes. Or maybe it was closer to seven minutes...somebody might have pitched a fit around this time.

Then we loaded them up with toppings! The choices included: pepperoni, Italian sausage, red and green bell peppers, baby portabella mushrooms (left over from this tasty dish), and black olives.

Phoebe loaded hers up with E-V-E-R-T-H-I-N-G...then spent the entire dinner picking everything off except the cheese!


While the pizzas were baking, we had a little fun with the leftover black olives.




Finally, our pizzas were done.
Phoebe's is on the left and Eli's "crooked" pizza is on the right.


This is the pizza that Brad and I shared. Brad's half (on the right) has an unequal ratio of toppings to crust while my half (on the left) is practically perfect.


Our pizzas were fab-u-lous and we will soooo be making them again!

Is Barber College Less Expensive Than ACU?

My friend, Dixie, invited us down to Canyon to the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum for a miniature "Cowboy Day." The weather finally cooperated and it was a bee-you-ti-ful day! I had told Eli this morning what we were doing and immediately began digging around in his closet for his boots and wranglers (of course, we have some...we live in the Panhandle!). When Phoebe saw her brother all "cowboyed-up" she insisted that she wear boots, too. So, I obliged...and took a few pictures.




After snapping these pictures, I was feeling pretty good. We were on schedule, everyone was getting along, the weather was lovely...it was a good day. Then I noticed it was kind of quiet upstairs. I went to investigate and found Eli and Phoebe wrestling. I told them to stop because it was messing up Phoebe's hair...


Oh wait, it wasn't messed up...


Eli had cut his sister's hair!

This is the evidence...collected in tiny clumps from all over the craft room and playroom. It's not just a little, bit, either. Eli had not only cut Phoebe's hair, he had set up a chair for her in my craft room (where I had left out the scissors so I do have some culpability here, but if looking at Phoebe's butchered hair everyday until it grows out isn't punishment enough, then I don't know what is!) and played barbershop!


I was livid! While not my finest parenting moment, I didn't beat him like a redheaded stepchild (which is what I first considered). Let's just say there will be no Wii playing for the next little while and there were lots and lots of tears (his and mine) and some major apologizing and spiritual issues discussed. His excuse? He didn't want her hair to "keep getting tangled up in stuff"!

Here's a picture of her hair just after the "incident." It doesn't give a true picture of how horrible her hair really looks.


It makes me sick to my stomach every time I look at it. Seriously.

We went on to Cowboy Day and we weren't even late. Dacie was very jealous of Phoebe's boots (and it's a better picture of her shorn locks).


Apparently, Phoebe was not going to let a bad haircut ruin her day!



Despite all of this, I had to admire how even the cut was. Maybe he has a future in the barber business. Let's hope he makes it that long!

Girls Gone Junkin'

"True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice."
- Samuel Johnston

It had been over a year since we had all gotten together last. And that is just way too long! :)

We are group of girls who share a love of junk and "junking." Some of us more than others, but everybody enjoys a good deal. In our past Girls Weekends, we haven't been very good at taking pictures so this time, I went a little overboard and took lots and lots and lots of pictures.

Friday night, after turning a 2 1/2 hour drive into a 3 1/3 hour drive thanks to our good friend "Garmin", Rebekah and I finally arrived in Ft. Worth. I had driven to Abilene so we could carpool together. We were trying to get to Southlake Town Center (I was needing an Anthropologie fix) and "Garmin" decided we needed to take a detour right through downtown...during 5 o'clock traffic. Nice.

We finally got there and met up with Maria (still waiting on her blog), Stephanie, and Jenny at The Cheesecake Factory. We gorged ourselves on food and drove back to downtown Ft. Worth so we could eat again! Rebekah's husband, Kevin, had ordered us chocolate covered strawberries. Delish.


We try to have a little "shower" for anybody who's having a baby (and there's been somebody consistently the last seven years!) and this time it was Jenny.


These cupcakes were divine. We really just took this picture because we were messing around with my camera.


Saturday morning we got up early to hit Antique Alley. It had rained all day Friday and was still drizzling when we set out on Saturday. We felt like we were sloshing through the mud all day! The first "deal" of the day were two frames that Steph bought for $1 a piece. This was somewhere between Maypearl and Grandview.


My first purchase of the day came in the form of a homemade apricot fried pie in Grandview. A group of Mennonites had set up an impromptu bake sale on the square and were selling all kinds of homemade baked goods...including freshly made fried pies! They are just a little slice of heaven...especially when they're hot! I wish I could have one right now!


More mud. More junk. Lunch at the Dairy Queen in Cleburne. (I also *heart* DQ steak fingers, but I didn't take a picture.) These were the last purchases for the day...a $5 chair and an old grocery store sign for $35.



We felt a little funny pulling up to the nice hotel valet in the middle of downtown with this and covered in mud.


But we clean up nice! :) This was before our dinner at Mi Cocina.


We slept in on Sunday morning and enjoyed breakfast at Mimi's cafe. I got a little "snap happy" here and took a heckuva lot more pictures. I'll only share a few. :)



It was a great weekend and my only regret is that it wasn't a few days longer! A big thank you to my hubby who did such a great job with the children all weekend. He even fixed Phoebe's hair for church (which means he can fix it at all other times, as well!).

Let's do it again soon!

Kindergarten Registration=Disaster

This morning, I was supposed to register Eli for Kindergarten.

Except that I forgot all about it. That is, until I was talking to my friend, Heather, on the phone about t-shirt sizes while wearing my pajamas watching my children run around in their pajamas. It was exactly 9:12...and my appointment was at 9:00. Shoot!

I hurriedly hung up the phone (sorry, Heather) I called and asked (begged) the nice school secretary if I could possibly reschedule and would she not think of me as the mom-who-is-so-unorganized-that-she-forgot-about-her-son's-kindergarten-registration-and-if-she-just-knew-me-she'd-realize-how-uncharacteristic-this-is-of-me. Actually, I didn't say the last part...I just thought it. She said I could come at 11:30. Great! Now where was that packet they sent me in the mail two weeks ago? The one I put in a "safe place" so I wouldn't lose it? The one I decided to not look at last Thursday because I was trying to pack and, surely, I'd have time to get it done Sunday when I got home?

After searching for 10 minutes (it was in the temporary filing "box" on Brad's desk in the file labeled "Things To Deal With"...how appropriate) I showered and dressed and got the kids ready in record time. Then I took a look at this packet.

My heart stopped.

It was three pages of questions and a list of important documents that I would need to bring to registration. Birth certificate, Social Security card, shot record, and utility bill for proof of address. I had absolutely no idea where any of these were!

It was about this time that I started to hyperventilate.

How could I show up at a rescheduled (because I forgot!) Kindergarten Registration without all my documents?! What were they going to think of me?! How would this affect Eli's kindergarten success?! Things were getting serious, people!

I found the birth certificate pretty quickly since I had just been to City Hall and picked it up...I knew I needed it for kindergarten registration. The Social Security card and the shot record proved to be another story all together. I had to call Eli's doctor and ask her to (quickly) make a copy because I had never been good at keeping up with it. The Social Security card was another matter and I spent a hurried 30 minutes looking in all our files only to eventually locate it in Eli's baby book. I made a copy of our Homeowner's Insurance for the address verification because we do all our bills online. I threw all these into a file folder, threw the kids in the car, and raced to town to pick up the shot record.

We screeched into the parking lot and tumbled into the office with five minutes to spare. Eli was questioned and screened and assessed and we were finished in 30 minutes. I guess they'll let him in anyway.

Needless to say, I didn't mop today.

It's Good To Be Home

I'm finally home after a wonderful weekend away with my girlfriends. We laughed and ate and walked and found lots of "treasures". Stay tuned for further updates...




Upon seeing my potato sacks, he said, "Those make me think of when I worked in a potato factory."

"What?"

Apparently, he spent a day when he was ten sorting rotted potatoes from the good ones on a conveyor belt under the feed store his mom and dad ran.

I guess you never really know a person.

While The Cat's Away, The Mice Will Play...

...lots and lots of Wii. :) The children and Brad are staying home this weekend...and I am not.

I'm headed out for a weekend with my "Girls". We are meeting in Fort Worth and we'll spend Saturday "junking" along Antique Alley. I am so excited on so many levels!!

Great Friends + Miles of Junk - Children= GOOD TIMES!

I'll be back on Sunday so it isn't going to be too long. Although, Brad does have to take both children to a birthday party on Saturday (insert maniacal laughter here), but he isn't responsible for actually obtaining a present. It's wrapped and ready to go by the back door. Who wants to bet that he forgets it on his way to the party? :)

Hope your weekend is full of fun things!

The Things We Do For Love

I love this little boy.


I love him so much that a few weeks ago when he asked me to cut his hair like his buddy, Corbin, I actually considered it. I adore his "spiky" hair and I wasn't sure if I was ready to give it up. (Yes, I have control issues!) So we made a deal: I would cut his hair after Easter AND I would get to rub it whenever I wanted to...secretly hoping that he would forget all about it.

Ha!

Monday morning he woke up and asked me to buzz his hair. Then he mentioned it three more times before lunch. He did the same thing yesterday. I was feeling the pressure. So I did a little soul-searching and decided that this was not such a big deal and I should save my "No's" for the stuff that really mattered.

I couldn't find our clippers, so I had to borrow them from my friend, Missy, who happens to be Corbin's mom. Upon learning that Eli was going to buzz his hair, Corbin said, "Eli, you do NOT want to cut your hair like mine! If you do, all the girls will want to rub your head!"

Hmmmm. Maybe I've figured out his motives. :)



And, really, he's pretty darn cute no matter what he does with his hair.