My Guy

Where has this month gone? I really thought I had posted my last blog last week. It's been a busy, great month though!

Yesterday was my Bday and boy, did I get spoiled! I have the best hubby in the world. You know it's going to be a good day when you see this waiting for you! Nothing bad comes in a bakery box!

I KNOW you want to see inside the box!! Jon wanted to drive all over Houston to all my favorite cupcake places, but I finally talked him into going to one place. Remember I don't like to shop?

We also went to the mall to upgrade my phone to the iphone 4. I told you I got spoiled! Then he dragged me over to Rocky Mountain Chocolate for a caramel apple fix. Mmmmmm . . . I have to clarify right now that all of these treats were NOT just for me! Not that I couldn't have eaten them all . . .

Some of you may know that my honey is a Renaissance Man. Well, his skills are multiply'n, let me tell you. A few weeks ago Grace got invited to a 50's party where the girls were going to dress in a poodle skirt if they wanted. I made a mental note and then quickly forgot until the invitation was in my hand the day before the party. Well, I had a full schedule that Friday and Saturday so I asked Jon if he thought he was going to be able to do it on such short notice. He took Gracie to get fabric Friday night and the next day when I got back from my meetings this is what greeted me:

When it was time to go to the party Grace came down with all sorts of new things on her little body. If it was me, I would have thought getting the skirt done would be a great accomplishment. Jon on the other hand got the skirt made AND accessories for the outfit: a belt, a bow for her hair, and made a baby blue monogram G (heat transfer) for her shirt!!

All the other ladies there were SO amazed that Jon had made the skirt that they were inspecting it and telling their husbands about it etc. Yeah, I got to brag about him!

PS As I write he's in there on the sewing machine adding pockets etc. to his camel back. I love that guy!

Fall! Finally!

We still have mosquitos swarming, and it is 80 degrees today, and no leaves turning colors, BUT here is why it's fall nonetheless:

1. We haven't used the AC for 3 days!!

2. We had to wear jackets when we went out this morning.

3. We had soup last night for dinner (and Jon wasn't sweating and complaining that it is TOO hot for soup!)

4. We had Apple crisp for dessert - yummo.

5. We started getting out the fall/Halloween decorations because it finally feels like we should.

I was talking to my sister the other day about how when I was younger, I HATED the fall. I hated summer ending, I hated the dreariness of it, I hated that I would have to rake leaves and sell pumpkins after school (aha! That's why I hated it!), I hated that I would have to start school again and put away my flip flops or bare feet for shoes etc. It didn't even excite me that my birthday was coming up, it was just too hard to see all the other stuff.

Then I grew up and moved to a place that has summer 10 months a year, and Spring/Fall/Winter for 2 months, but with no real definition of change. The first year we had the AC on till after New Years for heavens sake! And guess what? I love the fall! I can't wait to start layering clothes, eating cranberries and pumpkin dishes/desserts, wrapping up to watch TV at night, and most of all . . . the mosquitos die off!! I hope this cold front lasts for a while longer. Happy Fall! And if you have any great fall recipes, send them my way.

16 Years of Wedded Bliss!

See? It's been so long our pictures are getting discolored! Love you babe!!

Pre-teen eyes

I look at the world through whole different eyes now that I have a pre-teen male in the house. We took a trip to our neighborhood branch of the Houston Public Library last week, which isn't how you expect an adventure to start out, but that's how our life goes. After finding my books I went to look for C-boy, or Radical Dude as he calls himself these days, in the Manga section. I walked past the handful of "hobos" (the kids favorite word) trying to escape the record heat and humidity and bask in the AC. I turned the corner and was greeted by half of this girls back showing and half of her buttocks. This is after she pulled her pants up and her shirt down.

She looked up and saw Collin and me so, she sat up and we walked around her. I was glad to get on the other side of her, only to be greeted by this/these:

The only reason Collin didn't notice too much was because she wasn't blond. He's got it bad for blonds. He thinks they are H.O.T. I can sort of handle that, it's to be expected from boys and he's got a lot of Bybee genes in him. But then we went to the grocery store and I heard him start laughing like a 5 year old and yelling at me to come see this:

He laughed and snickered over it the rest of the afternoon. Repeating it over and over. So what is worse? Oogling over cleavage, or regressing into a 5 year old??? I waffle . . .

Girls Trip '10

Howdy folks. Grace and I had our first annual Girls Trip a few weeks ago. We went to San Antonio (we thought we'd better start out small) for the weekend and we had a blast! We stayed at a great hotel, ate good food and had lots of fun. We did all the fun things in San Antone that there is to do - The picture above was the river boat ride. We started the day out by trying to eat breakfast on our "porch" in front of our room. I went back inside to get the camera out of our air-conditioned room and this is what happened when I tried to take a picture. It was just a little hot and humid!

We went to the Alamo that was almost deserted compared to how it usually is! We almost had the place to ourselves.

We walked along the River Walk and had a great lunch. Just in case you forget you were in TX, there are flags everywhere to remind you (not unique to SA). I love Texas pride.

Grace and her new armadillo (she got one for Collin too):

I researched hotels in SA that were kid friendly and found a gem of a hotel. It looks like cabins surrounding a playground and a SWEET pool. I thought by the pictures on the internet that the pool couldn't be as big as it looked, but you know what they say, Everything is bigger in TX and this pool was huge! It had one end that was 1 foot and another end that was a hot tub and the middle was huge. Grace could have spent the whole day in here. It was also great because after around 8:30 pm, it was quiet because all the kids were in bed.

The next day we braved the record-setting heat and went to Sea World.

Our favorite part was the Shamu show. Ok, it's really called something like Believe, but we all know the main attraction is Shamu!! And she had a baby with her this time. It was so cute.

We got there almost an hour early and got front row seats . . .

And GREAT views!!

We also did get a little wet, but not too bad because we sat in front of the performing platform.

Very seriously cooling off with some Dippin' Dots:

Enjoying one of the other shows.

We had a great time. Grace was so fun to travel with! She eats what I eat, we like to go to bed early and get up early. We like the same things on TV etc. I can't wait for our trip next year!

Dr. Sholls Ruby Slippers

It's amazing what you can find at your local library! Collin spied this book and brought it home. . .

I had no idea where it would take us or what it would do to my house! We only have boring old silver duct tape around the house so we "had" to go buy some colored "DT" for C boy. He made a bunch of things - clip for Graces hair, CD case for Jon and flip flops for himself. ALL out of DT. Well, he figured that if he could make flip flops, he might as well try shoes. No pattern for them, other than a pair of his own shoes to go by. It took him a few hours, including all the pin striping, but every bit of these (minus cardboard for the sole and stuffing for padding) are DT, down to the laces. . .

I can NOT wait to see what this boy is going to do/be for a career!!

Beach Days

We've had a weird summer this year. We didn't get to the beach until July!! But we more than made up for it by going every weekend for 5 weeks straight. It was amazing to see the difference in the ocean just one week apart. It was also interesting to see how many different activities you can do at the beach. See the "huge" waves here? They are pretty good size for Texas shores.

That's Jon, Collin and Grace boogie boarding above, and C-boy below. We had a great time together on boogie boards now that Grace is a big brave swimmer.

The boy is like a bird on water. He could go farther on his board than any of us. It was amazing and yes, it made me jealous! He's also a fish IN the water! He takes after Jon.

The bathing beauty taking a rest.

The next week we came prepared to boogie board again and this is what we found. I guess the tropical storm in the Caribbean the week before that made such big waves had left. I haven't seen this still of water for a long time. I also have never see fishing boats so close to shore taking advantage of all the marine life that day. Tons of fish, some dolphins and a jelly fish that made Grace scream and run for shore.

Me and my honey taking a break. . .

Although we didn't get to boogie board we got to skim board and play in the sand which is Gracie Loo's favorite thing to do. I love that they still play together.

Now take a good look at this picture and scroll back up to the first one. Big difference!

MMMmmmmmmm . . . .

Photo found on internet - better than how mine turned out!

I tried a new recipe last week that was a hit for all of us. I don't really even like cooked blueberries and I was saying "Mmmmm" after every bite. Grace said, "If I was on Best Thing I Ever Ate, I would choose this." Collin said that even though it didn't look very appetizing, he was "going to dream about this tonight". So, what was the recipe? Blueberry Crunch! I love a good fruit crisp and this was delish because it had a great crust to fruit ratio. We also had some cream in the fridge and that made it even better. You gotta try this!

Blueberry Crunch

Crust:

1 c rolled oats

1 c flour (I used Whole Wheat)

3/4 c. brown sugar (I used less)

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 c. butter (I used 6 oz)

Filling:

4-5 c fresh blueberries (or any other berry or fruit)

1/2 c sugar

3 Tbsp. corn starch

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix dry ing. and sprinkle over blueberries and stir to coat. Set aside.

Combine Rolled oats, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Press 1/2 the crumb mixture in the bottom of a 9" baking dish. Cover with blueberry filling. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over filling.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40+ minutes or until golden brown. Let cool slightly and top with whipped cream.

Good Things Texas

Our 4th of July weekend got ruined by Hurricane Alex raining out our trip to Corpus Christi so we ended up staying around town. The kids and I had found this great place on our ice cream trip to Brenham and we wanted Jon to come too this time. This is the Southern Flyers Diner at the Brenham airport. Yes, that's right and the food was GREAT!

Their specialty is fried pickles and although the batter to pickle ratio was a little unbalanced, they were yummy. Collin got whooped by the chili cheese dog (yummy homemade chili).

They have a big screened in porch looking out over a pond that makes it feel like you are in someones back yard almost. And the runway is right there too, so you can watch planes take off and land.

Both times we've gone there have been old cars parked in the parking lot so there is something for everyone. I recommend it to any locals lurking!

Summer's Here!

Ok. It's been here for quite some time, but it didn't really start for us till after Jon and I got back from Florida and things kind of got settled down. For most people, summer means it's time to get out. Here it means it's time to get indoors away from the heat, humidity, mosquitoes and rain! Summer started with Scout Day Camp. Long story why we went, since Collin isn't even a cub scout anymore, but we always have a great time and he got to be a Jr. Staff which he loved. This year was great because it was indoors - a rare luxury in the 90 degree and 90% humid Houston summer! Here are some more pics of what we've been up to. . .

This is the start of our 4th year here. We always start the summer by making a trip to the Blue Bell Factory. We came here right after we moved and were living in the Super 8 (Grace STILL wishes we lived there!) waiting to close on our house, so it always marks the year point.

Devouring the Blue Bell ice cream. Nothing says Houston summer like it. Funny that we only eat Blue Bell once a year, at the factory!

So, remember when you were 11 and you were saving up for your first Samurai sword? Yeah, me neither, but Collin is determined to get one and is always thinking up ways to earn an extra dollar. He opened his own stand with lemonade he made himself (almost every "customer" as he calls them asks him if he made it himself).

Jon is obsessed with Gelato. And what better place to get a great Italian cup of Gelato, than at Gelato Cup in Chinatown??

They have a few of the usual flavors, and then ones like Black sesame, Taro (Collins fav), and Green Tea.

They have all sorts of tropical fruit flavors (the pineapple, passion fruit and guava are divine). They are famous for their Durian gelato though. I am very proud of my kids. They both tasted it and they both get un American flavors when we go there. I love that they try new things!

Summer also means swimming lessons . . .

Except that it is also the Monsoon season and the classes get cancelled if there is thunder! The rain also tends to dampen beach plans. More on that later.