Tuesday, July 28, 2009

And Speaking of Obsessions....

...I'm not the only one who has them.

These three have a 2-3 popsicles-a-day habit. :)

Creative Genes

This boy sure does love his Legos. Who knew that SpongeBob, Patrick, Batman, and Robin could all fly a ship together? :)
Last week Harrison went to an art camp at a kids art studio called VanGrow Art Studio. He and Hud have taken classes there before and always LOVE it.
Harrison was supposed to play in a baseball camp, but after he broke his arm, we had to cancel. His Mimi decided to sign him up for the art camp instead so he would still have something fun to look forward to. I'm so glad he got to do this...he gets to play a lot of baseball, so it's good that he gets to do other things too. He loves to draw, color, and paint, and as I've said before, it's a big deal to me that all 3 of the boys develop a love for art.
This is his self portrait...it makes me smile. :)

Little Slugger Camp

Yesterday Hud got to be a part of the Texas Rangers' Little Slugger Baseball Camp.
It was raining outside, so they were able to move the camp inside to the batting cages where the Rangers practice, which we all thought was pretty cool. :)

I was really impressed by how this camp was organized~the coaches were SO GREAT with the kids....really patient, fun, and did a wonderful job of holding their interest. Not easy with a bunch of 5 and 6 year old kiddos. They were awesome!
Hud said his favorite part was batting. I was impressed when he fielded the ball, and threw it right into the bucket (which was what they were supposed to try to do). Awesome. :)

I spent the majority of the two hours wrangling this little guy, who was royally ticked that he didn't get to play baseball. It's tough being the little brother. ;)



Is it just me, or does he look way too tough in this picture?

This is our friend, Breon, who works for the Rangers. Part of his job is to organize these camps, and he did an awesome job! The boys thought it was so cool watching him talk up there. :)

At the end of the camp, former player (who now works for the Rangers) Jim Sundberg spoke, and then passed out certificates to the players. Pretty stinkin cool.
We can't wait until next year!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

My Other Obsession

Those of you who know me well know I have somewhat of an addictive personality. For the most part, they are healthy (and by healthy, I mean "not dangerous") obsessions: my kiddos, my smokin' hot husband, Arizona Diet Green Tea, blueberries, Little Debbie 100 Cal. Nutty Bars...and these days it also includes the Twilight series. I've blogged about it before, or if you're friends with me you're either obsessed along with me or you're still rolling your eyes at me. Whatever. I've just started my third time to read the books, as I patiently (not really) wait for the author to get it together and write some more. ;) I love the romance and passion between Edward and Bella. I love the way he takes care of her, protects her, the way they understand each other...if you haven't read these b/c you don't like "vampire novels," then you are seriously missing out on a beautiful love story. This photo here is enough to make me want to quickly get back to my worn out copy of Twilight. Geez...talk about smokin' hot...
...ahem. ;) Anyway...I've recently fallen in love with this family as well. I've been a fan of Tori Spelling for years~ if you were a teenager in the 90's you were possibly a fan of Bevery Hills, 90210 as well. If not, you were missing out on greatness. This summer I've read her first book, sTori Telling, and just started Mommywood this week. In addition to tuning in to watch Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood each week as well, and I just can't get enough of the whole crew.
Why do I think they are so great? I'm glad you asked! :) Here are a few of the reasons:

1) They are a relatable, and trying to make their family as
normal as possible given their life and surroundings.
2) Tori and Dean relate to each other in a lot of the same ways Brian and I do,
and it's fun to laugh and cry along with them. I love the way they love each other, almost as much as I love the way Brian and I do. :)
3) She totally lets her guard down, and is brutally honest too, often going without makeup, dressed in whatever, just loving on her kids and her hubby.
4) Minus the whole "Hollywood distraction" they seem like a regular family. Very hands on with the kids, do their own cooking, shopping, etc. With the same kinds of frustrations and distractions that we face, but on a larger scale.
5) I somewhat relate to the fishbowl they are living in. Of course, our bowl is WAY smaller (tiny, actually, in comparison), but as a minister's wife at a large church, there are plenty of people that I don't know who know lots about us and our boys. I know it comes with the territory, and the vast majority have nothing but the best of intentions and are sweet, kind, generous people, but it makes me a little self-conscious at times. And as weird as it may sound, Tori has actually taught me a lot about how to handle that, and that these people care about us and want us to know that. Hmmm...who would have thought I would learn that from watching their show? :)

Monday, July 20, 2009

Not one to be outdone by his big brother,
Hud, age 5, drew his own version of Magnadoodle Plankton,
which I also think is pretty awesome. :)
Oh, and he decided to start reading tonight as well.
These kiddos never cease to amaze me.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

MagnaDoodle SpongeBob....
...and MagnaDoodle Planktondrawn by Harrison, age 8.
I love how he has several different things he is interested in, and passionate about. He loves to play baseball, watch baseball, learn facts about baseball through Sportscenter, baseball cards, etc. Which is thankfully the only sport I like so I can easily tolerate this obsession.
But he also loves to read, which he comes by quite honestly.
He loves music, and has already been asking for a guitar for Christmas.
AND he loves art, which thrills this mama's heart to no end.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

"W" is for Water Balloons

This summer the boys and I have been working on our way through the alphabet (not in order), trying to do different activities that start with each letter. At the end of the summer (in a perfect world) we will put photos of all we did into a scrapbook that I already made, called "Our Summer from A to Z." I'll post a pic of it later. Today we played with water balloons, so we now have "W" covered. :)
On your mark, get set...

GO!

10 Things

Okay, we've been home now for a couple days and I am definitely experiencing the post-vacation grouchies. It's not pleasant. I'm tired, I've got lots of ironing to do ('cause I've already unpacked and done all the laundry~ yay!), a couple of projects to finish up, and LOTS to do in this house, including rearranging the big boys' room, rearranging/redecorating our bedroom, recovering my sweet Momo's glider for our family room, cleaning out closets, yada, yada, yada. I won't bore you with that anymore.

One of the blogs I follow that is one of my favorites is this one: Jen is the wife of my second cousin, I think. :) Basically, she's my mom's cousin's son's wife. Have I confused you? Well anyway, she's family, and her blog if pretty fabulous. She's currently pregnant with her third kiddo, and also has a 3 year old and a 1 year old. She was having a rough few days this week and posted the 10 things she's most thankful for. Now that I'm in the same boat (minus the whole expecting a baby thing) I thought I would share mine too. So here I go....and as she also said, I'm not promising anything deep or profound. None of the normal answers like my kiddos, my hubby, my other family members, friends, etc. I would hope that you blog readers already know how thankful I am for the people in my life. :)


10. Edward and Bella (aka~ the Twilight series)~ I have just started the series for the third time. I've tried to move on to other books, but with the exception of sTORI Telling (how I love that Tori Spelling) nothing has compared. So, while on our LONG drive last week, I started Twilight again. And I love it just as much (or more) than I did the first time I read it.

9. My bathtub~ there is not much better than spending time in my tub after a long day. I read, I pray, I relax, it's greatness. I always wait until the kiddos are all happily dreaming away before I take a bath so there is a near guarantee of no interruptions. My tub is big, I have lots of bubbles...it's the perfect ending to any day.

8. Our DVR~ I love it that the tv no longer rules my schedule. We can be out doing whatever we want, and I can rest assured that our incredibly smart DVR is happily recording all of my favorites, which these days include: Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, The View (even though I would still love to punch Joy Behar right in her smug face) and re-runs of the What I Like About You.

7. My cell phone~ mine is nothing fancy, but it does let me takes pictures, which is great b/c you never know when I might see something that gives me some creative inspiration. I'm thankful that I can quickly get in touch with Brian or my mom or whoever else I need to quickly. It makes the worrier in me rest a little bit easier.

6. The water park~ we have spent many days this summer (and will spend many more) at a great water park about 20 minutes from home, and it has provided super fun breaks from what can get to be boring days around here. What, you ask? It gets boring around here? Hard to believe, but yes. Sometimes. :)

5. My craft room~ Even though it's technically my office, since crafting is my "job," it's also my creative escape place, a place where the boys can play while I work, where I can catch up on my dvr, etc. I'm thankful that all my stuff is already in there all set up, and I no longer have to drag everything out when I get the itch to make something fun. I'm hoping that our next house has a place like that, and that Brian will get one too. Oh, and that the boys would each have their own rooms too. I can dream, right? ;)

4. Hunter's paci~ I know, it sounds crazy, right? He's getting older, and it's time to let it go (it was probably time a long time ago), but I'm really in no big hurry. I mean, I know he's not going to try to take it with him to Kindergarten for fear of getting laughed out of his classroom (but even if he did take it and kids did laugh at him, they would get the wrath of one seriously protective mama) so who really cares? It makes him so happy and keeps him my baby for just a little while longer. I mean, he will always be my baby...it just keeps him little. So we're going to let it go for now, and work on getting rid of it later. I promise. :) I'm going to let that little guy love his paci for now.

3. Blogs~ I love blogs. It took me a long time to jump on this bandwagon. I really just didn't get it. But now that I've started this one, and get to read my friends' blogs and people that I don't even know but now feel like I do, I find them fascinating. I love getting to read about other people's lives and I've learned lots of things about healthy eating, sewing, art, things to do, saving money etc. etc. How very 2009 of me. ;)

2. the internet~ seriously, what did we do without it? It is an endless source of information, keeps me connected with the outside world and in touch with friends and family I would otherwise not get to see/talk to...it's greatness.

1. At the risk of completely copying Jen's #1 answer, I am thankful that there are so many random, not-super-important things for me to be thankful for. Could I live without all of them? Probably, but I'm thankful I don't have to. And there are so many way more important things/people/places that I am WAY MORE thankful for. Namely, the 4 boys I get to share this life with. For loving, helpful, fun parents and a mother-in-law who still help take great care of us. For an extended family who loves and cares about us too. For honest friends who love me for me and aren't afraid to tell me they do. The list goes on and on.

Maybe I couldn't leave my people out of this list after all. ;)

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Last Day~ Santa Fe

I can't believe we are already on our last day of vacation! Today we had a blast visiting Santa Fe. We spent most of our time at the Plaza Mercado for shopping and yummy eating.

Lunch was at the Blue Corn Cafe and it was YUMMO. Hud and I had the blue corn tacos~ we were super proud of him for trying something new, and he ate every bite!
Harrison and Hunter stuck to their normal staples~ chicken strips and fries.
That's okay...we're on vacation. :)




This was the view at the center of the square~ lots of people playing music, singing, and selling their wares for money. And there was a guy making fajitas there too. If we hadn't just stuffed ourselves at the Blue Corn, we would have tried them!

We visited two cathedrals in the square, and they were beautiful!

Brian was looking for this one, b/c he wanted to see the "miraculous staircase." I had never heard the story before, but it is pretty amazing. Basically, the nuns that lived in this chapel prayed for a staircase, and soon after a man showed up with tools to build them a staircase in return for letting him stay there.
Looking at this staircase that man built, I would agree it is a miracle. There is no pole to hold it up, and the only tools the man used were a hammer, a saw, and a carpenter's square. The nuns believed that Jesus himself had come down to build it. Interesting, huh? Brian also bought some Holy water there, just for the fun of it. I pretended that I was thirsty and was going to take a drink of it...he totally panicked. It was awesome. :)
These pillows are the inspiration I've been looking for to finish some big square frames I bought for our bedroom and then haven't done anything with. This is exactly what I needed...can't wait to get busy with this project. Picked up a couple other things for our bedroom (which needs some serious help) at World Market. Yes, we have one of those at home, but they were having a great sale!
This was our view on the drive home. Doesn't get much better than that, huh?
The boys are happily playing with their rubber band guns they bought at Yippee Yi Yo (fun name, huh?). Harrison bought his first set of pastels and is excited about getting to draw with them (Im a proud mama), Hud is playing with his lizards he bought at the Moon Rabbit toy store (pretty sure that Moon Rabbit was the name of the hippie girl tha ran the store~ the boys loved her!). And Brian found a Santa Fe style Starbucks mug (he loves a memory cup), so I think we've all got our little vacation keepsakes to take home with us.


And tomorrow we have the LONG drive all the way home.
It has been an awesome vacation, and we are so glad we got away to do this.
Can't wait to be back in our own beds tomorrow night!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Tennis, Anyone? Or maybe some paddleboating?

I am a bloggin' fool these days, huh? In reality, I want to this while it's fresh on my mind, otherwise I'll never stay caught up. I'm already two years behind in the boys' scrapbooks...the least I can do is keep our blog updated, right? AND I will have too much to do when we get back home, so I'll be blogging away on vacation. :)
This afternoon we continued to take part in all the the active/sport/outdoorsy
activities we could stand...we did some paddleboating...
...well, actually Brian and I paddled our legs off while Harry and Hud relaxed in the back and Hunter steered us around and around in circles.


After that experience we headed to the tennis courts. Harrison has been asking me for days to show him how to play. Brian and I used to play all the time when we were dating and newly married...but haven't since. We had a great time showing the boys how to play, and then letting them take turns playing with us. It definitely made me want to start playing again.
Can't believe I'm actually posting this pic, but oh well.

Isn't he cute?

Tomorrow, we're off to Santa Fe! Can't wait to shop those markets. And see the Indian (ahem..the Native American) pueblos.






Breathtaking

Pretty sure we will never get tired of this view. And I swear (except that I don't) that the sky really is bluer, the air is definitely cleaner, and everything is more beautiful here.
Tonight we are taking the boys out for a late night look at the stars. I can only imagine how beautiful that will be.
How can anyone look at this and not believe in God? Seems pretty impossible to me.

Random Lunchtime Pics

Are you starting to feel like you're on this trip with us? ha ha. :)
we had some fun with the camera while eating lunch at the Chuckwagon....or Chuckbucket, as Harrison likes to call it.

This was my reaction to something one of the boys said...can't remember what exactly was said, but clearly it was either tacky or inappropriate. :) This also could have been the same look I gave while watching the Sotomayor Hearings on FoxNews (which was on while we were eating). That woman needs to stop talking and go away.

Hud took this one of Brian picking his nose. Now, Brian claims that he wasn't really picking his nose, but I'll let you be the judge of that. ;)
How very much the Hunter Man loves a Diet Coke. He comes by that honestly.

Geez...I think it's naptime!

Vacation~ Day THREE. Mini Golf.

We woke up this morning happy, rested, and ready for a new day. After taking our time getting ready, eating breakfast, and checking out the Lifeway Store here, we headed over to the mini golf course. But not before taking a quick family photo!
And maybe a goofy one of Hud and me!

Who needs toys? This kiddo is super content to push an empty stroller around all day.

Awww....how I love these two!

It's pretty interesting playing any sport when every person playing is super competitive, but we were surprisingly sweet and encouraging to each other! :)

Brian was our champ...big surprise, I know. Harrison and Hud were GREAT though. Me? I could use some practice. And Hunter took the game very seriously...until he got frustrated enough that he would just walk the ball to the hole and drop it in.
Wish that would have worked for me. ;)

This kiddo brought the phrase "Grip and Rip It!" to a whole new level. Wowza.
He has a powerful swing.

This was my favorite hole...I couldn't pass up the photo opp of the boys in the wagon. :)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Vacation~ Day TWO

Before we headed out to New Mexico, we made a stop at the Palo Duro Canyon.
Isn't it beautiful?!
This picture makes my stomach hurt...I kept picturing one of the boys rolling down the hill, but they were very careful, and I was constantly nagging them to be careful.
Not my best trait, I know. I'm a paranoid mom.

They loved this cave, and would have spent the whole day in there if we had let them.

Expert climbers!

We weren't in the right shoes (except for Hunter) to do any real hiking and climbing. Some day, when they are older, we will make a trip back there to REALLY hike and camp. Today was just a quick trip.

If you can't tell by the look on his face, Hunter was not a fan of me putting him on this rock. ;)

King(s) of the world!
Now, on to Glorieta...