Christmas Music

With all the activities right before Christmas, I never had a chance to post photos of Colin's trombone group performing around town before Christmas. I was amazed at how beautiful the music was, since the group consisted go tenor & bass trombones, a cello, and cinbasso. Here are some photos from their performances at Town Center and MD Anderson:
The cinbasso is the big instrument in the lower right corner. It made some beautiful sounds!

i look forward to listening to them again next year~

Waiting on 2012

Looks like we survived another Christmas! This year Ron's parents spent the holidays with us. We spent Christmas morning at our house opening gifts.
Ethan got his Packers banner to hang above his bed........
and Colin was very happy to get his "doppler effect" T-shirt.
I was just happy that the only trip we made to the hospital was to listen to Colin play with his Trombone band at MD Anderson!!!!! Gma & Gpa made it safely back to Ohio last night.......and I spent the evening playing on my new Kindle Fire. I have to admit that it is the best Christmas gift ever, and to quote Connor......"I had no idea I wanted it"

Now to get prepared for 2012.........ready or not, here it comes!!!!

Merry Christmas

We had a very Blessed Christmas. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas~

We Believe!

We had our first visit from Santa yesterday while celebrating Christmas at my parent's house.
Everyone sat on Santa's lap........including these two elves!!!
We had lots of really good food, and I made sure that there was wine!!! It's amazing how quickly Christmas has snuck up on me this year. Seriously, where does the time go between Thanksgiving & Christmas??? I remember being a kid and thinking it was an eternity................well it's not~

Well.....I guess I fell off the face of the Earth

It seems like I haven't blogged in forever, but it's only been 2 weeks or maybe 3 right? But in cyberspace that's an eternity!!! So here's an update on things going on around here. First, Ron did something he's NEVER done in all the years I've known him. He surprised me and put up the Christmas Tree while I was at book club on Thursday night. He didn't put the ornaments on, but just dealing with the tree & lights was a blessing!!!

We spent Saturday at the Oiler game and they lost. So football season is finally completely over for us. I have to admit that I'm sorta glad. What I mean is I would have love to see them win, but man was I tired!!!! I can't believe that next year I'll have a freshman that just might decide to play football. I'll be one big ball of nerves, but I'm sure he'll love every minute on the field!

Then we have Colin, who I think was ready to have marching season end. He has his Region Band tryouts next Saturday, and I'm hoping all goes well. I love this photo of him.........especially since his hat is off and you can see his face.
That's it for now. I'm still putting out decorations, and plan to get some new stuff tomorrow. I've found that I've grown tired of some of my stuff & Ron agreed with me(actually I don't think he ever liked some of the stuff ) !!! So I have to run to the store quick before he changes his mind!!!!

Turkey Day Countdown......

Thanksgiving really snuck up on me this year. I thought I had an extra week, but I found out last week that I didn't. But all is well.......I've got a turkey defrosting in the frig, along with a ham, and all the fixin' just waiting to be fixed! All will go well, it always does. I think I've finally hit that age when I just let things happen and roll with it. Maybe it has something to do with living with teenagers.......yep, I think that's it.

I still have so much to do & have no idea when I'll get it all done. But.......somehow Thanksgiving & Christmas will come, they also do~

I just have to remember Colin's birthday..........yep, gotta order that cake tomorrow!!!

Falling Back....

I love the fall. Mostly because it means an extra hour of sleep!! It was lovely have extra time yesterday to get things done around the house.

My latest project is a scarf. I found the hand dyed yarn at the yarn shop in League City. I just love the colors & they match my green jacket perfectly. My goal is to get my scarf knitted before the next cold front arrives....
I finished one of my home cleaning/organizing projects last week. It was dusting and rearranging my smaller curio. I had picked out some items from Granny & Popo's estate and decided to display them in the family room. My favorites are the ketchup & mustard jars. I remember them being on Granny's shelf in the kitchen.
Between all the knitting & cleaning, I found some time to finish a scrapbook page. This page probably looks familiar because I did a very similar layout for Ethan's photos on the mechanical bull. It was quick & easy........
That's it for now. Besides football playoff games & basketball team tryouts, the boys are keeping themselves busy with the latest PS3 game release.........some military blood & guts game. I don't get it at all, but I guess it must be a boy thing~

Busy Times

Well it's October and things are moving fast around here! Between Band, Football, jobs, and family we've been going nonstop. Ethan's football team is unbeaten with 2 games left this season. The defense has been awesome......they haven't had an offense score against them this season!! I've had so much fun watching them play, and they beat Friendswood last night, so all is good!Colin is in the middle of marching and competition season. He is marching tonight at Veteran's stadium, and has a competition all day Saturday at The Woodlands. The also have UIL on the 18th and finals at Sam Houston on the 23rd. They placed 2nd at the Galena Park competition, so they should do well in the next few weeks.
Check out the birds that have taken over the pool!!! Every afternoon at about 2pm they gather at the hot tub and take turns "bathing" on the spillway. I want to get a fake owl to scare them away, but Colin loves them and thinks they're cute! Imagine that.......my tough boy thinks the birds bathing in the pool are cute. I'm thinking he'll change his mind when he has to clean all the poop on the tile~

Don't know when I'll find time to post again..........the next two weeks are gonna keep me on my toes!

Papaw's 70th birthday party

We celebrated Papaw's 70th birthday today at his favorite place, Golden Corral. It was a surprise....and all of the kids & grandkids where there to celebrate with him. I think his smile says it all........

Scrappy Monday

I've been scrapbooking more lately. These are some layouts from a CKC class I took this summer. The picture are of Ethan and they were taken in 2005!!! I have some of Colin riding on the bull too, and I plan to do the same type layout of his photos.
The bird really doesn't "go" with the layout, but let's just pretend it's a cowbird??? okay?? This is what I get for buying all those cute embellishments when I'm a boy momma!!!

I'm off to clean up some of the messes around the house. At least I can enjoy the music while I work.......Colin is practicing his music for Region Jazz Band tryouts this Saturday. Oh the sweet sound of a bass trombone playing jazz~

Proud Momma Post

Gotta brag on my boys just a little. Colin is marching in the PHS band and loving it!!! Here they are marching onto the field...........
Can you pick Colin out of the pack??? He's right behind the pink flag in the middle of the photo playing t-bone.
I haven't decided whether or not I like the new uniforms...........but the colors definitely look good on Colin.
Ethan's football season started yesterday with their first game. Ethan made the "A" team as a defensive end, and he's also on special teams. They won their first game against Laporte 10-2, and Ethan's play of the game was when he recovered a fumble at the end of the 4th quarter!!!! Here's some highlights from the game:



That's it for my bragging.........with all the commotion they have brought into my life, it's nice to also brag on all the things they do that make me proud of them!!! That's life & right now life is good~

Scrappy Monday

It's Monday and instead of gloom & doom, I'm in quite the good mood! So is Maggie........
Every time I take photos of my layouts for my blog she poses for photos, too!!! I do believe she'd like the cooler weather to return so she could get a little "squirrel" action.

I had some fun this weekend. I did a layout that has been calling my name for quite some time. I have been in love with this photo of Colin since Andrea e-mailed it to me after our trip to Livingston. Here's the story behind the photo........all the boys went out on the boat to do some tubing. Colin quickly discovered that contact lenses and tubing don't mix, so Megan(Andrea's 4 yr. old daughter) was sweet enough to let him borrow her beloved pink goggles!!!! Surprisingly Colin wore them. Check out that smile on his face. I'm so glad Andrea got this photo, because he'd never have let me take it!!!

I used Authentique card stock & tags, Studio Calico veneer hearts, AC thickets, fiskar's border punch, and......Studio Calico white Mr.Huey mister.

Today I'll be the carpool queen, running kids all over town......plus we have meet the teacher tonight at the High School. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I get to "knit & bitch" with Debbie!!!!

Happy Monday~

It's done....finally!

Santa's Lap: I have been staring at these photos for way too long, and finally put together this layout. I used all sorts of stuff........pretty much everything but the kitchen sink!! I decided that I need a break from Christmas layouts(with triple digit temps it's sorta hard to get into the mood), and plan to move onto something else. I've been going back & forth between the boys school albums and vacation pics. I guess whatever catches my attention will be next on my list!

Tomorrow is the first PHS home game and I am giddy with anticipation!! I love high school football & can't wait to see the halftime show. Let's just hope the weather cooperates and we don't have a deluge of rain during the game~

****I guess I should have cropped the photo and made it larger, but I'm just too lazy at the moment. Click on it to enlarge it for details*****

playing catch up

The first week of school was busy & HOT!! The first thing to mention is that my little guy got his braces off on Friday.
Isn't he just too handsome??? It was amazing to look at his before and after pictures. Now he just has to make sure he wears his retainer at night so he doesn't have to wear braces twice like Colin!!!!

On Thursday PHS had their first football game against Madison. Ron chaperoned at the game, and discovered that chaperones don't really get to watch the game. He was busy filling up water bottles and collecting flip folders during halftime. In addition to keeping a close eye on his firstborn!

I skipped the game and went to my book club meeting. This month we discussed The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It was so much fun, and Stephanie did an excellent job with dinner. I'm really loving being in a book club, and hanging out with my girlfriends.

Now onto the business of this hot weather. I seriously can't remember it EVER being this hot here.......I mean 105 degrees??? That's just crazy! So to combat the heat, I decided to try making grilled pizzas. I had heard people talking about how easy they were to make & they weren't lying!! We made cheese & pepperoni pizzas & both the boys LOVED them. To quote Colin....."they are very good & filling........like restaurant quality good" and that my friends put a smile on my face~

The recipe for the pizzas was from Weber's Grilling cookbook, just in case anyone wants to try them.

1st day of school

Well, here they are all dressed & ready for school! Colin was up at 5:45 am & is "official" attending PHS.........no more of that 9th grade center nonsense!!! A lot of good it did me anyway~

Here's the little guy. He was up at 7:15 or more like 7:25 to get ready for school. He's now a big guy on campus being that he's an 8th grader. I'm so hoping that he has a great injury free year!!!


I found my missing photos and have lots of stuff to post this week. I just hope that I find the time to get on the computer & get back to blogging!!

I'm trying people!!!

So I haven't blogged in so long that I've forgotten how to get my photos to post here. Yikes!! I'm sure it has something to do with the recent updates to our system. I'll figure it out later & post photos from the boys first day of school. Right now I need to go & pick up Ethan.........

just saying......

I think that says it all.......

Pearly Whites!

The braces are FINALLY off!!!! This guy is beyond happy, since band camp starts on Thursday......

Scrappy Sunday

Here are a few pages I finished this week. For some reason I was drawn to my Christmas photos!!! So it's Christmas in July..........

I'm hoping to get a few pages done a week. I also want to get busy on the boys school albums, mostly because I want to stay up-to-date on Colin's high school stuff. I have a really cool idea for his Senior year & it'll be here sooner than I'd like~

Happy Birthday, Hubby!!!

He's looking good at 45!!!!

Photo Shoot

Well here is my first try at taking photos of "little" ones. I'd forgotten how difficult it is to capture kids at this age in photos. Here are some of my favorites........This one is my FAVORITE!!!! I mean how sweet.....the older brother trying to hug his little sister, too bad she wasn't having any of that!!!!!

Oh my...........I'm a sucker for this blurred off centered photo!!! I just love it~
This one would be perfect if the sun wasn't peeking thru the trees and glaring on Caden's face.....

I'm hoping that their mom find one that she likes!!!! The session did sorta crater after Carly did a face plant on the sidewalk & then fell face first off a curb into a street gutter full of yucky stuff. Oh, and let's not leave out Caden. He got his hand slammed in the car door when we got home. It was quite an exciting evening~