the Lake

I grew up on a huge lake in Oklahoma.  Pretty much everything in the town revolved around the lake which spanned 4 towns and 2 counties and nearly surrounded my hometown.  So when my neighbors asked us years ago if we wanted to join them at their lake house about 3 hours north of Houston we jumped at the chance.  We've been going to their lake house off an on ever since.  It's in a quiet little town, very Texas, very country.  It reminds me of home except that this lake is tiny in proportion to my hometown one.  But the cows and horses surrounding the roads to get there might as well be the same ones that surround the roads to my lake back home.  My husband has been wanting to take Celia "camping" there for a while now and decided this past weekend would be perfect.  He planned on pitching a tent in their backyard and "camping out" with Celia while the comforts of home (like a potty) were just steps away.  We loaded up the SUV with the 2 kiddos and headed up there.  It's amazing how time flies.  We realized on the way there that we had not been there since I was pregnant with Kye who is almost 2 now.  Unfortunately for us the weather did not cooperate.  Saturday was nasty cold and rainy.  Amazingly, Celia and Mark were so intent on camping that they in fact did sleep in the tent Friday night, but came running in the house on Saturday morning to warm blankets.  The weather messed up most of our plans to fish and enjoy nature.  But we still had a great time inside reading, coloring, movie watching and did venture outside with lots of layers on for a nature walk. 

Even cold it's still very pretty up there...

This is what most of the weekend looked like though...

Mark did try a little fishing with Kye on Sunday when the sun finally came out.

I took some pictures of Celia for a project I'm working on for her.  Here's a little sneak peek on the dock...

and this is what Celia looked like on one of our first visits to Lake Murvaul on the very same dock...

Rain or shine we always have fun at the lake.  It's nice to unplug from our loud busy city for some R&R out in the country with some great friends.



the Purple Ponies

It's that time again.  Soccer!  And this time no hideous orange and black uniforms, Yay!  We obviously were the new team in town in the fall and got stuck with that nasty orange.  I guess they felt sorry for us because we lucked out with the perfect shade of purple for our spring season.  And apparently it was pretty easy to name the team.  I think the discussion lasted about 2 minutes... and the Purple Ponies it is.  Celia is actually way more into it this season and was smiling and enjoying herself the whole game.  She even came very close to scoring a goal.  Way to go #7!

Happy Sweets Day!

I was just about to put Celia down for her nap when the doorbell rang and this arrived... There was just no chance she was going down for her nap without sampling one of these bad boys.  Thanks Nanny and Poppa!  Luckily the little guy was already upstairs snoozing from a long morning at the park.  Better hide it before he wakes up...

my Little "Tweethearts"

My poor children.  I torture then so with crazy photo shoots.  And my poor mom...I always plan these photo shoots when she's here so she can help me set them up and entertain my children while I am taking their picture.  This one made me decide that I need a studio.  That would make my life so much easier.  So what if I am not an official professional photographer and don't actually have a business.  I totally get why photographers need studios when you're trying to get photos inside your house.  It is very difficult to find the perfect lighting and set up something that looks cool in the middle of the craziness that is your home, where your children makes messes etc.  This is what I set up this time for my official Valentine shoot for the kiddos...

This is actually in their playroom upstairs.  I had this whole vintage "love bird" theme planned.  I found these branches outside and painted them white then attached all these little red birds and newspaper hearts.  How long do you think this set-up lasted with Kye?  Was your guess about 10 seconds?  That's pretty close.  My mom said, "you know he's going to knock that vase down don't you?" "you need to tape it to the table".  I didn't and he did knock it down several times.  I still got some cute pics though.  I needed to use them for their Valentine's cards. 

In case anyone is interested in the outfits.  I made the headband for Celia.  I have been seeing these headbands everywhere and finally got around to making one.  It's just strips of satin and some lace.  The lace I used was some old lace of my Great Grandma's.  She is totally where all the creative genes come from in my family.  She was so awesome.  The vest is from Target and worn inside out because I liked the fur inside better.  I also made Kye's "tie" shirt and his suspenders are from Claires in the mall.  Mark gave me crap for Kye's outfit and said Kye would be mad at me later.  But it's really hard to dress a boy for Valentine's Day.

Here's what Celia's card for school looked like:

And Kyes...

And since I just started this blog here's a trip down memory lane at their pics and cards from last year...

Happy Valentine's Day!

the Party Trick

I knew I would eventually get behind in my blogging.  It's been a month since my last post??  Yikes.  I have been busy working on a master bedroom remodel, planning the kids' birthday party and dealing with Valentine's pics/cards and have totally been neglecting my blog.  Sorry!  So I decided to at least do one quick post today.  These pictures were actually taken last fall.  But I had to get Kye's party trick documented on here since someone comments on it just about every day.  Basically since the child learned to use a sippy cup this is the way he chooses to drink out of it.

He is a milk nut.  He would drink a gallon a day if we would let him.  You can give him a full sippy cup and he will turn it up like this and kill the whole thing without taking a breath.  He won't let go until he has finished the whole thing.  And you CANNOT get it out of his mouth until he's done.  He and his Daddy have had many the battle at bedtime usually ending in milk all over the floor and the lid still in Kye's mouth.  People are always laughing about it.  The reason I thought to put it on here today was because his teacher at school told me this morning that her son has started doing it at home and said to her, "look Momma, just like Kye".  Celia has even started doing it because it gets Kye so much attention.  Mark and I are a little worried that he is so good at killing a beverage.  Especially because once he's done he throws the cup across the room...yes every time.  Anyone else picturing the movie "Animal House"?  He's also obsessed with beer bottles and cans.  I see trouble in our future.  Right now he's just so darn cute with it though...

Here he is with his milk and one of his "night nights".  He loves his fluffy blankets.  You can see he doesn't pull out the cup even to play with his cars.  This kid cracks me up.  I promise to be better with my blog posts  I just designed the kids' Valentine's Day cards...very very cute.  I will post soon...promise :)

Gramps

Today services are being held for Mark's father, Richard Worden.  Sadly he passed last Thursday.  We were all shocked with his terminal cancer diagnosis just before Christmas.  We had just flown out to Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving with them and had a wonderful visit.  It wasn't something that was in our "normal" holiday routine to fly out to Arizona for Thanksgiving with 2 children under 4.  Normally we spend Thanksgiving here in Houston.  It's much easier than travelling.  We are so happy we broke out of our normal routine.  Those days we spent out there with Gramps will always be in our hearts.  Here's a little pictorial tribute to Richard Allan Worden.  He was so great to my children and loved them dearly.  He will be missed by many.

I took these photos last May when he and his wife Linda (aka Grams) came out to visit us here.  It really stinks to have grandparents in 3 different states and on 2 different coasts.  The kids just don't get to see any of them enough.  We will miss you Gramps.

our Christmas

This Christmas was a little less Merry than years past unfortunately.  The plan as usual was for us to head first to OKC to visit with Mark's mom and family for a few days and then on to Eufaula to visit with my family for a few days.  What is with my holiday plans derailing this year??  Well, we got some very sad news right before Christmas.  Mark's dad was diagnosed with a very aggressive and terminal cancer.  It looked like he may have just days so Mark got the next flight out to AZ.  That left me with the kids and a long trip to OK without Daddy to celebrate Christmas with us.  So the kids and I changed our plans and went to visit Nanny and Poppa in Eufaula first and spent most of our time there with the exception of  Christmas day when we made the 2 hour drive to OKC to spend some time with Mark's mom and her family.  It wasn't exactly the same without Daddy.  He is back now and his dad is doing as well as can be expected which is not good I'm afraid.  We all were so lucky that we went out to visit him for Thanksgiving and had a lovely visit not knowing that he was even sick.  We have been and continue thinking about Gramps and sending lots of love out to Phoenix.

On a happier note the kids did enjoy their Christmas.  Here they are throwing out "reindeer food" (aka oatmeal with glitter) on Christmas Eve.  Notice the coats and hats, it was freezing in OK, actually below freezing much of the time, brrrr.

And Lucky for us Santa could not fit their presents in his sleigh with the rest of the kids' toys so he needed to drop them off at our house a few days early which let Daddy enjoy their surprise before he left for AZ.  All Celia has been asking for is a bike, specifically a "Barbie" bike.  Honestly, she hardly ever plays with her Barbies so I'm not sure why she wanted a Barbie bike, but that was her request and Santa very nicely obliged.  Celia also told Santa that her little brother needed a bike as well.  Poor Kye has been stuck with her hand-me-downs so Santa brought him his very own boy bike....

They both LOVE their new bikes.  I thought Celia would have a hard time riding hers.  But she is doing so well on it.  And Kye can't quite reach the petals on his.  But he has got the hang of "walking" it with his feet.  He is so happy to have a bike of his own.


And it seems Santa had room in his sleigh after all for one more ride-on for the kids.  On Christmas morning this monstrosity was under the tree at my parents' house.

They LOVE it as well.  Celia is a major horse nut anyway and had to put this huge thing beside her bed that night so it could sleep with her.  She has given it 3 different names and I think she finally settled on "Spirit".  And, yes, she's riding with a feather boa.  Shouldn't every girl ride her horse with a feather boa?  Check out what's on the TV.  My dad watches all those old westerns.  Celia is racing the horses on there.

I predicted there would be lots of fights over it and there have been.  But I also thought Kye might have trouble riding it since it's for age 3 and over.  I was wrong.

Here he is introducing himself... oh and check out his cap.  I can't get Kye to leave a hat on.  But this one?  He wouldn't take it off.  Why??  Because it's a John Deere hat like the one his Poppa has and anything Poppa has Kye wants too.  In fact, this was a pretty much a John Deere Christmas for Kye which is fine by him.  I think my dad bought every toy tractor he could find.  Kye loves them and he calls them all "Poppa".  Like if he drops one "Oh, no, Poppa" etc.  He's obsessed.

Back to the horse.  Why did I think he would have trouble riding it??  Check him out...

Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately for me) there was no way I could fit "Spirit" in my car with all the other presents we had to take home to Houston so my parents are boarding her until they can bring her down.  Until then I will be looking for a place to put her in my house.  Thanks Nanny and Poppa??