Thursday, December 29, 2011

45 years to celebrate


I could say a lot about the fact that today, my parents have been married 45 years.  But I'll let this photo stand on its own.  Happy Anniversary Dad and Mom!

Monday, December 19, 2011

birthdays birthdays birthdays

I am getting a little nervous. Blizzard warnings where we are supposed to be traveling? Eeek. My husband is the best though and is trying to find a way to get us to my family. I owe him the world. And it will all work out. I just keep telling that to myself.  We'd rather be safe than not.  Oh, but it is so hard when you want to get somewhere and there are obstacles.  To make matters worse, I can't hold my mail online or over the phone.  What is the point of technological advances if they do not work? 

But, BUT, it is Noah's birthday today.  And he is happy.  So there is that.  And we are all healthy (knock on wood...I totally did, did you?) so there is that too.  And we will get to our destination somehow and sometime.  Breathe...

Here are my favorite fellows...

Here is Noah's cookie cake.  He wanted a green angry bird, so I put one on his cake.  It turned out pretty well (although his beak is much bigger in the game...He is a toucan.  Oh well)
Rhett wanted an ice cream sandwich cake.  It was fairly easy to make.  :)  It is too cold for me though.  Rhett loved it though!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and if you are traveling, be safe. 

Sunday, December 18, 2011

my baby boy turns 9

I won't have pictures until tomorrow, because I'm writing this on my iPad. The boys just went to bed and I'm on my bed, ready for sleep. I've been baking a lot today and I am tired! Noah, sweet Noah. My favorite thing about Noah is that he is still so lovable. He still wants hugs and kisses and cuddling when he is sad. But he has grown up a lot too. He loves all things science and video games and books but he is very choosy on what he reads. He still wants to wear athletic pants and plain t-shirts that are soft. He has a thing for stuffed animals but no longer wants to bring them to school. He still will occasionally try to sneak one in my purse when we are going out to eat though. Noah is fiercely against being told what to do by anyone. My sister, Jana, once likened him to WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE's Max and it is true. Noah roars and gnashes his teeth when he doesn't like something. He once said that he would like a little brother or sister so he could have authority over them. We laughed and laughed at this. Seth and I are youngest children too so we know exactly what he means. I know that I have a twin but I couldn't tell Case what to do anymore than he could me. One more thing about Noah. He gets so excited about presents. I hear him upstairs because he is too wired to sleep. I am sure he will be waking up early tomorrow to open his gifts. So that means I better go to bed. Happy Birthday Noah!!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

celebrating an eleventh birthday

Rhett turns 11 tomorrow. Without me getting all weepy, I will attempt to explain how lucky I am to be his mom.

Rhett is curious.  He wants to know everything about everything.  He also thinks he is right about most things and never thinks his mom knows what she is talking about, especially in subjects such as Math and Science.  Or English...excuse me, I meant Language Arts.  Or anything else.  He always questions me.  "Are you sure about that?"  He doesn't do it so much with his dad yet. 

Rhett likes to talk.  Especially when he is happy.  And that is what I remind his dad, when Seth is getting frustrated because Rhett has not stopped talking.  I just say, "That means he is happy," and Seth smiles and can't be frustrated anymore.  Funny enough, he wanted to look up what the meaning of his name was the other day.  It means, "speaker."  We were right on the nose with that one!

Here Rhett is, with his Dad and Pop, at the Philbrook Museum.  I am sure Rhett is wondering if the fish get cold or why they are the color they are, or maybe he is asking the meaning of life.  No telling with that child. Though I get exasperated, I secretly love it.  He will never just do something without questioning the why of it.  And that is a good thing.   
Rhett loves to help.  He also loves to please.  In this picture, still at the museum, he climbed onto the tree branch quickly, but then turned and helped his brother.  Without being asked, he just grabbed Noah's arm and pulled.  

Rhett is such a sweet big brother. Too sweet, sometimes. The other day, the boys were fighting and I went to them to see what the big fuss was. Fighting over legos and Noah got his way. Again. Rhett just didn't know what to do. I told him that he needs to be assertive. If Noah is being mean, I said, then Rhett had every right to kick him out of his room, even if the legos belonged to both. Later that night, after the boys were in bed, Seth and I heard a loud bang upstairs. Seth ran up to see what it was.  A few minutes later, Seth came down and asked me, "What did you tell Rhett?" I repeated that he needed to be assertive and asked why.  Seth answered, "Because Rhett said Noah would not stop talking, so Rhett just pushed Noah out of bed."  So he is trying, even if it is not in his nature to do so.

Rhett still gets scared, still gets sad enough to cry sometimes and can be silly and goofy and, well, a boy.  But he is growing up.  I can see glimpses of what kind of man he'll be and it makes me proud.  But it also makes me happy to see this:


He is as excited as Noah is to open a card from our elf each day.  He still wants to believe in magic even when his logical mind is screaming it cannot happen.  He still believes in the wonder of childhood and I, for one, am so happy that he does. 

Happy Birthday Rhett. 

Thursday, December 08, 2011

elvis likes owls too. whoo wouldn't?

Yesterday, our little elf left stickers to decorate the boys' dad's presents:


 A Chick-Fil-A sticker.  That is the answer to your question, "What is on Rhett's head?"  I don't know.  That is the answer to your question, "Why?"

Today, we found this:
You see, Elvis used my craft supplies to make his cards.  And he must have found my owl stamp and just loved it so much that he couldn't think of anything for the boys to do today.  They were so excited to get to go play the Wii though and thought it was quite hilarious. 

I have to say that Elvis has made this December the most fun for the boys.  I'm glad he came around this year. 

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

ode to all things peppermint-y

One of my favorite things to do this month is make peppermint bark.  It's easy, it's yummy and it is a good little gift to give away.  (Except the one year I made it and didn't give it away and I ended up eating the whole batch by myself.  Ugh. Because of that, I didn't make it the next year.  I needed time to reclaim my love of peppermint bark.)

Usually, I make it to look like this:
One bag of creme de mint baking chips, one bag of good quality white chocolate baking chips, and crushed up peppermints (I used the softer kind this year so it's not so crunchy).  Melt the creme de mint chips in microwave, spread out and let harden.  Melt white chips, stir in a few peppermints, spread on top of chocolate, top with some more peppermints, let harden.  Break and enjoy.  I like keeping it in the fridge because it tastes super yummy cold.

This year, I also made it like this:
In this batch, (that is still too soft to break apart) I melted bittersweet chocolate chips, and topped it with a layer of Hersey's Peppermint Kisses.  Topped it with peppermints.  It's pink!  And it is sooo good.  This stuff is dangerous. I need to give it away. Don't want a repeat of a few years ago...
I dare you to try it and not love it. (I am bringing this stuff with me wherever I go, so if I'm coming where you, get ready).

Oh peppermint bark.  How I love you.

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Elvis makes us bake cookies

Our elf is a bit bossy. So far, he has ordered us to put up our tree (I was thinking of skipping that one this year but Elvis insisted), watch the movie Elf, and today we had to bake cookies. Because we were working on a short time limit (Rhett has baseball practice this evening), I went to the store and bought Pillsbury Simply... chocolate chip and peanut butter cookie dough and some Hersey kisses.  Easy and I didn't mind giving up control for this one. :)

The boys rolled the dough in the sugar:


Then after baking for about 10 minutes, they placed the kiss in the middle:


Now for the fun part.  While I drizzled chocolate onto the already sweet enough cookies, they followed with sprinkles.  They didn't hold back:


I wonder what Elvis has in store for us this week? (I kind of wish he had told me so I could have written it down ahead of time but I guess surprises can be fun.)



Thursday, December 01, 2011

in case you still check on me...

I updated the blog today!

 December is already here.  I kind of let November pass me by on the blog.  Sorry.  How about some pictures? The one above is of Boston United Methodish Church in downtown Tulsa.  It is a beautiful church.  When Seth's parents were here over Thanksgiving, she wanted to take some pictures of nice architecture, so we came here first.
The next place we went was the Philbrook Museum.  It has beautiful grounds.  The trees still have color on them which was nice too.  We really like this museum.  Everytime we come here, there is always something fun for the boys. 
This time, it was a cat.  She just hopped right into Rhett's museum box and made herself at home.  We all thought it was hilarious.  She was a friendly cat

Here are my boys now.  They are getting so big.  I can't believe we'll be celebrating their birthdays this month.

This month will be fun.  An elf came to visit today and left a bowl full of letters!

Rhett and Noah were so excited. 
A month of activities to do.  Noah wanted to open them all at once.  He hates waiting for things.  Sometimes that is the funnest part though. 


Monday, November 21, 2011

love, me

Ever since we bought our dining table last year, I've been waiting for the day til we fill up all the seats.  Finally, that day will arrive on Thursday.  I know it is crazy to go ahead and set the table, but I couldn't help it.  I'm too excited.  It's a mismatch of plates, glasses and decor, but I love it. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope you have a great one!

Monday, November 07, 2011

November

I got on the Internet to see if I could get inspired for what to cook for dinner and decided to pop in and say hi.  I haven't been a very good blogger these past few months.  I couldn't tell you why except that Pinterest, kids, painting, laundry, planting bulbs and other things have taken precedent. 

But I can tell you some things to catch up.

  1. Noah is getting glasses.  He has wanted them for so many years and it turns out he really needs them.  He is near-sighted and the doctor said he could go another year but turns out, Noah has trouble seeing 3-D images.  Which led me to ask, "You couldn't see 3-D during all those times we went to a 3-D movie?"  Nope.  Mother of the year, here folks.  I felt so bad.  How many blurry movies was he going to sit through before he finally realized that it wasn't supposed to be blurry?  Who knows.  That kid.
  2. Earthquake! We had an honest-to-goodness Earthquake (I can't type it without capitalizing it, it was that !!!) here in Oklahoma.  Walls shaking, rumbling...a very strange thing to go through.  This year has been one crazy year as far as Mother Nature has been concerned. 
  3. Rhett didn't make his reading goal this past week and had to be a commoner on their fictional boat.  A commoner! He said he wished he could have been a servant instead.  I don't know how servants are better off than commoners but I felt bad nonetheless. 
  4. My bedroom is painted and beautiful.  Well, not right now.  Right now there is laundry everywhere.  But when it is beautiful again I will take pictures. 
  5. November is here.  Wow. 
  6. All the bulbs are not planted yet.  I'm running out of time but it is such tedious work.
  7. I finished 1984 by George Orwell for book club and it made me mad. I guess that was the point?
  8. It is rainy outside.  Perfect fall weather. 

Til next time...

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

T(w)een Wolf vs. Vanishing Man

 It was a like a cheesy horror movie at our house last night.  We had the webs, the b-movie characters (thanks to Martha Stewart's Halloween magazine), and ghosts.  We even tried some spooky lighting but it didn't work. 

Without further ado, here's the Houston boys starring in their own 'picture' movie:

To Catch a Vanished Man

The Vanishing Man is creepy.  Can you see him? Only if he wraps his face in guaze.  Ooooo.  Wait, is he behind the tree?
 Now he's over here! Watch out T(w)een Wolf! He's right behind you!

Aw, but the baby-face wolf knows all about the Vanishing Man.  That man that hides behind his fedora thinks he has us all fooled but T(w)een sees through the man whose invisible.  Yes, Wolfie has been on his trail for weeks now. He has set a trap and has been waiting patiently for the man in guaze to appear. T(w)een Wolf looks and quickly runs to catch him! Now is his chance!


The wrapped-up man in glasses runs from the not-a-child-not-quite-a-teen wolf and falls right into the trap that was set for him! The Vanishing Man is brought down by his own web of deception and lies!  Aha ha ha ha!  What will happen to the well-dressed vanished man now? 


T(w)een Wolf doesn't know!  He never got that far in his plan!  He really didn't think he would ever catch the man no one can see!  He needs some candy to think straight.  And its almost getting dark.  He tells the Vanishing Man that he will be back and to stay right where he is.



The Vanishing Man laughs quietly.  He is not worried.  He has his ways of disappearing.  T(w)een Wolf doesn't know but VM likes his candy too.  In a flash, the Vanishing Man is up and gone, into the night, always wary of a wolf that is between the ages of 10 and 12.


The End?


T(w)een Wolf.....Rhett
 The Vanishing Man....Noah
    
Make-up and hair....Mom
Set design....Rhett


To Catch a Vanished Man Part 2: Coming soon

The T(w)een Wolf catches The Vanishing Man again! And this time he has a plan...and plenty of candy.  Bwa ha ha ha!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Inspiration to Creation: All about Flowers

Pinterest has become my new favorite place on the internet.  Its window shopping at its easiest.  Lots of inspiration there:

Inspiration: Nestofposies.com Felt Flower Wreath


Creation: Aimee's Felt Flower Wreath


My wreath looks like it was a lot easier than the one I was inspired by.  I actually did most of it in the car in the Laser Quest parking lot while waiting for Noah to finish up at a birthday party.  I wrapped a styrofoam wreath with 3 rolls of striped black and white ribbon (to make sure it was completely covered) and then cut felt squares into spirals.  I wrapped the spirals into flowers and stuck a silver ball-headed pin into the middle.  That is all.  When I got home, I did glue the ends of the ribbon down but the flowers without glue.  Easiest wreath ever.

Inspiration: Blue Sky Confections Paper Plate Wreath

Creation: Aimee's Paper Plate Wreath


Ok, so my paper plate wreath is not as cool as the other.  But this was a lot of work and my hands still smell like coffee.  Allow me to explain.  First, you take 50 cheap paper plates, soak them in coffee (hence the reason why my hands still smell like coffee), ball them up to wrinkle and lay flat to dry.  Then you cut them into spirals.  After this step, you burn the edges with a candle and I tried, but I kept setting the plate on fire.  (I had a dish of water near by) so I decided to skip that step.  Then I ran out of hot glue sticks, which you are supposed to use to glue the flowers onto the wreath.  So I decided to just wrap ribbon around the rest.  I glued pink pearls in the middle of some of the flowers.  I may make some tiny changes before hanging it up. Hers is a halloween wreath, mine will be for winter.  I'm happy with it and that's all that matters, right?  Although hers is really, really cool but I bet it took her days. Just saying...

In keeping with the flower theme, here is one more picture.  I finally, finally like how my fireplace looks.  I arranged the dried flowers and branches and love how it looks in the room.  (The black balls in the fireplace are for halloween.  Seth was a little concerned: "Why are there black balls in the fireplace?"  Hee)  Next week, I'll show you what I hung up on my blank wall. 

Have a great day!


Monday, October 10, 2011

I have a fractured tailbone.

How's that for an opening line?  I could have said, "Here's a story for you, sprinkled with irony" and then tell you how I fell, not from a horse, but because of my two dumb dogs.  And because of my two dogs making me fall, I have to give up horseback riding for awhile. 

It would be here I could spout out that line, "When life gives you lemons..." but honestly, sometimes I don't want to make lemonade.  You know? 

It hurt. And I was mad.  I was frustrated and just so unhappy that this happened to me last Thursday night.  When it happened, I immediately started crying and didn't stop for about an hour. 

But, four days later, I am trying to get over it.  It still hurts and will probably hurt for quite awhile.  I still haven't quite forgiven my dogs, even though they don't know that and I guess I know they didn't mean to amd all that and thank God it was me it happened to and not one of the boys. 

Where was I?  Oh yeah, getting over it.  Not quite there yet.  But I am trying.  I know I can't do some things (like paint my bedroom or plant my bulbs or aforementioned horseback riding) but I am finding other things to do.  Like making wreaths.  I made one already and am in the process of making another.  Catching up on reading books.  Browsing Pinterest.  Watching tv.  Decorating for fall. 

It would be here where I should say, "It could be worse." but how about I say, "Thank God it wasn't worse."

I'm going to go pick up my mess from making wreaths now.

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

hello old friends...

I love this picture.  It makes me laugh, true, with Noah's booty sticking out, but it also makes me proud.  He actually was aggressive and blocked the ball from the offense.  Way to go Noah!

I feel like October started with a bang and is busier than ever.  We still have two sports to play (well, Rhett does, but we all have to be there), and kids are having birthdays (it seems like October is a really busy month for birthday parties.  I wonder why), we are trying to make our backyard beautiful, and I'm trying to paint our bedroom.  Oh and halloween costumes! Yikes.

Project Bedroom is in the works.  I have got a paint color picked out but just can't find the time to paint! But I'm excited.  I can't wait to show you when its finished.  I can't wait til its finished.  Honest, I am not looking forward to painting again but I'm tired of looking at boring walls.

Project Daffodil is in the wings.  I have bought about 100 daffodil bulbs and plan on planting them in our backyard.  Seth has made a wonderful mulch bed by our back fence so all I need to do is wait a couple of weeks so its not so hot and get to work.  I wonder how long that will take me?

Project Halloween is waiting to be researched.  Noah wants to be The Vanishing Man.  I'm loving the idea and hope its as easy as I think it is to pull off.  I think Rhett wants to be Glowstick Man but he could change his mind still.

That's what I've been up to.  What about you?

Friday, September 23, 2011

it's all over but the sharing...

Please, Aimee, can you show us pictures from your birthday? Why, yes...yes, I can.

The cupcakes:
They had Cinnamon-Caramel Cream in the middle, iced with Chocolate Ganache, topped with Sugar Pearls to make them snazzy.  Pink candles because I try to add a little girly in my family's fun every once in awhile.  :)

My Beautiful Boys:
I forgot to mention that Rhett told me "Happy Birthday" at least a dozen times yesterday and, AND, Noah got up all by himself yesterday morning.  This is huge. It meant I didn't spend 10 minutes trying to drag him out of bed. 

My Sweet, Handsome Husband:
Seth got contacts a few weeks ago and is lovin' them.  What do you think? Do we look 17 years older from when we first started dating?  Maybe I really don't want an answer.  Hee. Hee.

The end:

Thursday, September 22, 2011

blessings abound

Today I turned 34.  I've had a very nice day so far.  My husband has given me a small gift everyday this week from flowers to Empire State Building legos.  Ah, to be a mom of boys.  So sweet. 

My boys both said I don't look a day over 20 something, which I think is the best birthday gift they could ever give me.

It's cool and rainy and my friend took me to Panera to have coffee and a bagel.  And she didn't even know it was my birthday!

Facebook makes it seem like you get all these cards in the mail wishing you a happy birthday.  I think it is my favorite part about facebook.  I should probably wish people a happy birthday more often on fb.  Hmm...  Although I did get real birthday cards in the mail and that is even better.  I let Rhett and Noah open them for me because I really get a kick out of watching them try to open envelopes.  They just can't do it.  Hilarious.

I've already gotten several texts from family and friends.  Sweet!

I made cupcakes last night and I'm going to fill them with cinnamon-caramel cream and ice them with ganache later today.  This recipe is actually a cake and is the best cake ever.  I wanted to make cupcakes out of them to see if I could do it. 

Modern Family was new last night and Parks and Rec is new tonight.  So our many other shows.  I love Fall Premiere Week (which most of the time, always falls on the week of my birthday)!!

It's also my brother's bday and I love sharing that with him.  He may think that is terribly cheesy so I won't tell him.

Above all, I realize that the older I get, the more I realize that there is a lot of terrible, sad things that happen every day and that you should celebrate the good things.  Love your family and friends.  Be thankful for them.  Be present. 

Oh happy day!

Monday, September 19, 2011

ruby

This past weekend, one of my great-aunts passed away.  I haven't seen her in at least ten years but I was quite fond of her, mostly because of good memories from my childhood.

She lived in San Antonio and had a very neat house.  We visited it when Mom had to take Jana or both Jana and Krista to summer camp.  Her yard was full of wasps, that Krista and I had the surprise of finding out once while racing down a small hill.  We started running for fun, then both started running for real because our ankles were on fire! Wasps were stinging! I think Krista was braver than I was because I remember bawling and I don't think she did.  I don't know how our aunt fixed it, but I do remember that she was quite calm about it.

My favorite memory of my great-aunt was when she took me swimming at her neighborhood pool.  I thought it was quite amazing she lived walking distance to a pool and it was huge! She got in with me and challenged me to swim to her without taking a breath.  She was just a few feet away, so I smiled and jumped in.  After a few seconds, I realized that she was backing up slowly but I was determined not to take a breath.  On and on it went until finally, when I thought I couldn't take anymore, she stopped and I reached her hand.  She pulled me up and smiled.  I looked around and saw that I had just swam the width of the pool! From then on, I could do it because I had done it before. This past summer, I did the same thing with Noah.  He was so proud of himself when he realized what he had done. 

And I thought of her.

Friday, September 16, 2011

a former night owl confesses change

Before school started, I probably mentioned that I would have to start getting up earlier and didn't know how it would go. 

I have found that the first ten minutes are the worst.  That is when most people probably drink a cup of coffee, but since I don't drink coffee, I sit in a chair and read emails from my phone.  Rhett usually is on the couch, curled up in a blanket, because he didn't want to get up either.  Then we finally drag ourselves to the kitchen and I make breakfast (which usually is cereal or frozen waffles) and while he eats, I get his backpack, water bottle and snack ready.  Then I feed the dogs and catch up on the world while sitting outside (it was chilly this morning!) while they are eating.  By the time I go in, Seth and Rhett are ready to go. 

I have ten minutes usually to eat breakfast and read some more before getting Noah up.  I start at 7:30.  On a good day, he is up by 7:38.  I quickly make his breakfast, get his lunch and snack and water bottle ready then go get dressed in either work out clothes (because some days, I run with a friend.  I know! Me, run.) or regular clothes and make up.  Today I was happy because I got to wear jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt.  I am so happy to not be wearing shorts. 

We are out of the door by 8:07 because his bus comes around 8:15.  (Did I tell you?  They finally moved the bus stop closer to my house.  It is just around the corner now.  I feel very bad for the owners of the house where the bus stop is though because their poor lawn is getting trampled on by 40 kids every morning. Yes, 40 kids. Crazy.)

I either run right after or come home and do a few things before going to school to volunteer (Today, I pass out frozen yogurt to the 5th graders!) or running errands.  Yesterday, I cleaned and organized. 

I am telling you all of this boring stuff because I have a point and I am getting there.

After spending time cleaning out my dresser yesterday, I looked at the clock and it said 12 pm.  I couldn't believe it was just noon.  Surely, I thought, the clock is wrong.  I have done so much and it couldn't possibly be just noon.  But it was.  That is when I realized that getting up early is wonderful.  I feel so much more productive, even when I don't do that much.  I find that I go to bed earlier and I only hit my snooze button once, but still get up before it goes off again.

The second week of school, Seth looked at me after I had just gotten up and said, "You are still getting up early?" And I said of course! If Rhett has to do it every morning, how unfair is it for his mom to sleep in?  And how wrong. 

So there you go.  A former "not a morning person in the slightest" is liking the early morning wake-up call.  Who knew?

However, I still sleep in on Saturday. 

:)

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Inspriration to Creation: Stenciled Tree Curtains

Inspiration: 

Last spring, I bought two books about the art of printing.  One book is titled Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils and Silk Screens.  One project that the author, Lena Corwin showed was stenciled "wallpaper."  She made tree stencils and then painted them on her wall to look like wallpaper. 

Creation:

I took that idea and made curtains for my living room.  Last winter, I took a few pictures of my two trees in the front of my house.  I traced the outline of those trees, took away the many, many small branches, and then made three stencils (two big, one small) out of the tracings. 

I bought 8 yards of a natural-looking fabric (basically a thicker muslin) and cut out two rectangles and got to work with two shades of blue:

Then I sewed the rectangles onto the bottom of the hemmed curtains.  It was by far the easiest curtain project I've ever done, minus the trouble I had with my sewing machine. (Thanks to my mom and Seth for the help in getting it fixed!)

Here they are, framing my heavier, shorter curtains in the living room:

I love how they turned out!  Now onto my next project... :)

Monday, September 12, 2011

visiting St. Louis, quick recap ahead

Labor Day weekend we went to St. Louis to visit our friends. I love St. Louis because they have such neat places tucked in the city. One such place is called The Magic House and it is a children's museum full of cool things:
I could see this hanging in my house. Couldn't you? 
When you walk in, there are all of these glass balloons on the ceiling.  It was such a neat image.
This 'music wheel' played a song by Bach.  Each chime played a different note and Rhett just held a metal stick to the chimes and we listened to classical music. 
They had a whole section devoted to our governement.  Here, Noah is in the Supreme Court. 
Don't they look like they would be really touch judges?  ;)
Another something I would like in my house:  a giant kaleidoscope.  The boys thought of Grandmom because she has a couple in her home (not this big!)

We also went to the zoo, went to a Cardinals game and rode a train in the woods (is cooler than it sounds) and went swimming but I didn't bring my camera to those things.  It was a nice little getaway. 

The rest of the week went by slowly because I kept forgetting what day it was.  'Its only Thursday?!?' I would think.  Saturday and Sunday were sports days for us, with Rhett beginning Fall Baseball.  He only plays double headers on Sunday and for only 5 weeks so it isn't so bad.  And Noah didn't complain at all. 

Of course, I felt reflective yesterday and made sure to enjoy my family.  I need to do it everyday but 9/11 is a good reminder that life is short. 

This week I have some projects planned.  I have already finished one which I'll show you tomorrow that I am excited about. 

I hope everyone has a great Monday!