Monday, February 27, 2012

fit for a king

Nana's birthday gift was a crown fit for a king...

 or queen.

The king pose.



Well hello pretty lady...

We'll miss you Ally

 We had to say good-bye to Ally this morning.  
On Friday her oncologist said it was time so we spent one last weekend with her.

Poor dog went through a lot in the last year but finally her body said it was enough.  The tumors were too much and by this weekend she was hardly walking and if she did walk it was slow and hard I'm guessing, judging by her breathing.  

I am thankful that I had the extra time this past year and a half to spend on vet visits and just caring for her.  She was my shadow, always following me around the house, day and night.



Her first family photo...
For those of you that don't know she was free in a box at the Uhaul storage facility the day we were moving our stuff out of storage in Dallas and moving to College Station, 6 months after we were married.

and this weekend's photo--one of many but the best we could accomplish.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Strawberry season is here!

Sydney has been mentioning since last April..."I've got an idea!  Let's go pick strawberries!"
Each time I've had to break it to her that strawberry picking season is over.  Sometimes she took it well other times...well...I'm sure you can imagine her reaction.

Yesterday it began and today we were there, buckets in hand, ready to fill them to the top!

Well maybe ALL of us weren't ready.  Scott suffered a very minor cut to his elbow at school today and apparently it was very painful and his arm needed to be elevated and held at a specific height.  So between the whimpers and Sydney holding up and yelling at the top of her lungs, "The best strawberry in the world!!" after she picked each and everyone of her strawberries, I'm sure we were quite a sight.



At some point he couldn't resist yelling like Sydney (and I think his arm was tired of holding up the other one :o)) 



This week's haul gave us 9.6 pounds of sweetness...let's eat!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Happy 5th Birthday, Scott!

The birthday boy!


How old?  Five!!
"Then I'll be 6, then 7, then 8..."


Mommy finally forked over the money for a "video game" and the jumping place.  

Party time!


interesting...


His cake of choice: complete with blue frosting dyed with 1 1/2 containers of blue food coloring.  
Happy Birthday!

Valentine's in a post

Whew!  What a week.  Between Valentine's activities and Scott's birthday I can now see that this week will need some planning for years to come!

So here's a short summary of the Valentine portion of the week....

Scott and Sydney are testing out a game I made for the girls.

The girls made some Valentine gifts.

Extra heart candy?  Let's use it up.

Sugar cookies for Scott's school Valentine party.

Valentine party at our house

Valentine party at school

Ahhh...relax with some chocolate cheesecake.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Valentine Beans

This year's family valentine will not be featured on pinterest.  
It's corny but original and it features what we seem to have a surplus of around here...beans!


Scott and I were playing a rousing game of UNO at 6:30am one morning.  As I waited for him to deal the cards I reminded myself for the hundredth time that it was time to put away the giant tub of beans that had been decorating our entry way for the past week.  "I've bean meaning to do that.  Get it Scott?  Bean meaning instead of been meaning...beans."   Sometimes having a 4 year old as your audience can really boost your confidence. 
  Hmmm...Scott thought it was funny.  He said it was a good joke.



Saturday, February 11, 2012

The first present of the 5th birthday...

The first birthday present was opened a little early this year.
Minutes before finally being able to hold the first t-ball practice (thanks to rain) it was wrapped and opened...

Folks it's a bat!  
The antique bat of Eric's t-ball days is retired and Scott is on to newer and lighter bat days.

Well I guess they'll be ready for baseball picture day.  They have the poses down pat.

Sister needed some poses and practice swings as well.  
Perhaps one day she too will play with the new bat.



Ally's makeover

Thank you Ally for allowing Sydney to beautify you.
You patiently endured the endless brushing and combing and hair bands.

Sydney collected her tools and laid them out.  

First up a "pony tail."  
Ally is giving the the look..."REALLY!?  Are you really going to let her do this?"

Now to brush out that fur.  The perfect doggie hair-do is smooth and sleek.

No she's not vicious in this picture, just yawning.  
Perhaps Ally isn't into this hair thing as much as Sydney.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Love is...

Love is...
taking the time to write your name on every single Valentine!

(Yea!!  We are finally at this stage!)

Oops!  Love is NOT happening on this side of the table.  Who do you think she's mad at?  I'll give you a clue: she's hiding behind the camera.  I sit here now and I can't even remember why she was mad.  Boy, if this is the look I get now I can't wait to see what's in store 10 years from now!

I'm sure this look will resurface years from now when she see's that I've shared it for all to see :o)

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

January Extras

January was a pretty busy month...let's see...

The girls got busy shaking, shaking cream to make butter, that is.

Eric purchased our first pair of 3D glasses.  They go over well with the gang.

Sydney spent her allowance and some Christmas money on a wheelbarrow she saw immediately when we entered the store.  She never changed her mind which was impressive because we were there for at least an hour while Scott debated, reasoned, begged, cried, changed his mind and finally happily came to the conclusion of his purchase.

Quite an impressive harvest for only one afternoon of gardening.

A friend and I threw a baby shower for another friend of ours.  Aren't those cake balls amazing!!  I didn't make them but my friend did!  I made the hard, chewy brownie bites sadly displayed next to the owls.

Sydney and I made cloud dough using flour and baby oil.  Fun stuff to play with!  
Thank you pinterest!

Monkey joined us for breakfast.

Finally some use out of materials I have been wanting to use for at least a year.  I thought perhaps we could get a jump start on Valentines but...

Jack, the cat, is the only one with a truly finished product at this point.

Ted-E-Bear came home this past weekend to visit from Scott's school.  I tried to enlarge the words below so you could read what Scott had to say about the visit.


I anticipate another busy month in February--Scott's birthday, Valentine's Day, t-ball, etc.  Perhaps I should just anticipate busy months from here on out.