RoundTop, Texas

We had a very hot but very fun day shopping for "stuff" in RoundTop. I say "stuff" in quotes because really alot of it is junk. But it's true what they say 'One man's trash is another mans treasure'. Really the saddest part was that we saw stuff that we either own or have owned that people were selling and buying. Anyway it was great fun to get away with just me and Rob, no children, let me repeat NO CHILDREN. I'm not sure when the last time anything like that happened !!!

We saw lots of these copulas, I wonder where they all came from and what would one actually do with one if they were to purchase it?? I wanted one.

There were alot of old baby carriages as well, this one looks like the MacDaddy of them all with the sleek wheels. I loved the wheel and the wheel covers !!!

So sleek and modern !!!

I loved all the really old kids toys they had.....

I almost bought one of these 'old' banks for little man, he loves school buses, until I saw the Made In China sticker on the bottom and then I thought naw I can get that somewhere else!

these roosters were interesting

and these jars too

ohh and the yellow buckets, where to put a yellow bucket....

and these great boxes. There were all different kinds and they were so soft and pretty.
I had dreams about all the 'stuff' we didn't buy yesterday. There were several things we passed up which I wouldn't do today if we went back.......

Bumper Sticker Tuesday

Really any day could be bumper sticker day but I saw this one today and I thought it was great, kind of fits our family to a tee. We have a fairy for everything else might as well include this.......

I Heart Faces - "Blue" photo challenge

This week all the photos of faces have to have the cool BLUE in them as well as face. I found this picture from a recent birthday party and I love it.

This is my entry for Week 38 - "Blue" Photo Challenge

She sure is cute. Take a look at the rest of the photos at I ♥ Faces .

The Ever So Reclusive Rhino

Here he is with Little Mama and Little Man. It has been sooo long since I have been able to snap a picture of him without this kind of very large very toothy no lip gummy smile.  I'm always thinking "where does this 'smile' come from?". Finally , tonight was the night.

During a very long night of bull fighting the kids got kind of sweaty and kind of sweet on each other. It doesn't happen very often but sometime they can be kind of cute together.

This picture is one of those times.

This picture is when those times have gone by the wayside and everyone remembers how they didn't really like everyone else about 20 seconds ago, and then they start choking each other.

And this is when The Rhino does something that makes me laugh until I have to run to the bathroom. He takes his finger, licks it and puts it on his backside while making "the sizzling" noise, kind of like his butt is sooooo hot !!!

And then this comes immediately after it, kind of like "yeah see how hot I am".  I'm not really sure who he was reminding of how hot he thinks he is but it was one of those moments that is just kind of built in to boys that he felt like a stud and wanted me to know.

And this is him laughing, kind of embarrassed, from acting like such a stud. This is my favorite picture of him in along time. It so absolutely the smile that I can never quite capture. It feels like him and I so love it.

I am so glad that I was able to take some of these pictures. We had such a good time as a family last night. The atmosphere was relaxed and so at ease. Sometimes I forget that spending time together as a family can be this great.

19lbs baby WOW

Check out the 19 lbs baby born in Indonesia, amazing and happily for her by c-section. I guess my 9 pounders don't hold a candle to this one. I just can't imagine what it's like to carry that much baby in my belly. How much food did she have to eat to keep up with the growth of that baby? God Bless Her and keep the baby healthy!

I ♥ Faces - Completely Candid Contest

This is my entry and only my second time entering. It's a great site for seeing some really great faces!!

Check it out !!!

Family Dinner Again

We had the most yummy lasagne tonight. It was a sweaty time for all the kids as we ended up on the playground across the street. I also got a chance to use my newfound camera knowledge, since I took a class yesterday on how to actually use the camera and it's gazillion settings. I thought I got some pretty good shots for being such a beginner. Here they are :

 I think this is a passion vine and it smells soooooo good, but I'm sure there are people that are so allergic to it. It kind of smells like honeysuckle, or so I thought.

 What a hoot these 2 are. This is their version of "hands up your going down a roller coaster". They had a ball.

Look at Little Man. He is the only one that will get close enough to me for me to take a picture.

He is soooo handsome, I wonder if he will marry me when he gets older?

Here is the Lamber, he doesn't realize it yet but his world is about to change dramatically. I'm praying for him !

The tire swing

The big kids on the tire swing, man they like to go fast.

They have such a ball, I on the other hand am trying not to throw up while I watch them spin.

These pictures where straight out of the camera, I didn't change them at all, ok well most of them. I think after a few more years of practice I might be able to actually take a pretty good picture, hopefully before the kids grow up.

What a Day

Really it has been ok. We put Loomis down today and that has been a blow for everyone. I'm torn between feeling like I killed him to remembering how bad his quality of life had gotten. He was no longer able to make it outside to potty and he couldn't stand up for a whole meal. His legs would end up doing the splits and then I would have to lift him up when he started crying, just heartbreaking. It's hard to take your dog to the vet to be put down when he seems a little spry, although it's like I told Big Daddy, the stimulation from getting out of the house and smelling other dogs and stuff made him very happy today. I will miss him terribly, he has been with us since the beginning and I have been his mom since then. Big Daddy had him before I even came on the scene and that is about 15 years now. I love you Loomis, maybe you will find someone to play hide-and-seek with you in heaven !!!

This is the Loomis. Isn't he handsome !!! This is the stud (well he never was used as a stud) in his younger days.

This is Loomis a few days ago, I guess dogs get grey around the

muzzle too.

This is (l-r) Abby Loomis and Stray. What a bunch of spoiled dogs.

Things in perspective : Today after we had taken Loomis we came home and Little Man went off to play, which is not uncommon. I found him a few minutes later in a part of the house by the wall where he had also been playing yesterday. I had originally thought he was just playing in the sun by the door but what I realized today was that he had been sticking these plastic sticks in the light socket the whole time. That moment I then put all things in perspective, while I will truly miss the dog he was old and had lived a good life. Now my child is dangerously close to scaring me into wetting my pants and his life could have been forever altered in the blink of an eye. I loved all my dogs and will truly miss them and am really sad to be without them. I try to think about them frolicking in the flowers, chasing squirrels and chewing on raw hides.

Hope

Hope - to feel that something desired may happen.


After watching Barbara Walters interview Patrick Swayze shortly before his death I heard him say something that really opened a can of worms for me. This concept of hope. It feels like sometimes that's all we really have, after all we aren't in control so it seems to me that hope would be the next thing on the list after control. It's something we do have and it is such a powerful thing. Sometimes hope is so strong that it blocks out all reality. 


This is mom or Grandma Betty, as the kids know her. We had hope until the moment she died. In reflection I know that there was little hope she would survive, should we have abandoned all hope? Would that be like giving up on someone, especially when they themselves don't voice that they have given up hope. I know she had given up on beating cancer long before she died, I think she let us hold onto the hope simply because she couldn't take that away from us, it was all we had left. 

In the Swayze interview he was reflecting on the media reports of his imminent death and how they affected him and his family and he said they angered him because they took hope from his family. I was struck by what he didn't say which was how they took hope from him, or did they or does the person dying have hope or is that something for the loved ones and does the person dying hear something different then everyone else? I hope I'm never in a position to find out but it makes me wonder and wish that I had been more attuned to what was going on when mom was dying. Would the questions I asked have been different if I had no hope that she would make it? Did the hope blind me from a reality and keep me from asking those questions and making that connection that I want now? Isn't she beautiful.

This is Play Doh

See this it's a piece of Play Doh. You can do all sorts of things with it and we love it in our house

.

Here Little Mama is giving a lesson on how to play with Play Doh. I guess the question is 'Who needs a lesson on playing with Play Doh?'

This is the Texas star that we teach our young-ins to reproduce at an early age.

The Rhino is trying to see if he remembers how to actually play with the Play Doh.

Oh yeah he remembers in short order

Little Man is thinking how interesting The Rhino is when he is making sea creatures out of his Play Doh.

Little Man cuts deep when he loves !!!

Even Oma gets in the Play Doh action.

I actually love Play Doh for so many reasons these are a few :

It's portable

If it falls in the carpet it will eventually vacuum up

It's non-toxic ( so all my kids were Play Doh eaters)

It smells fabulous, almost like cookie dough

It comes on sooooo many colors

It's soft

It's cheap

and many more wonderful reasons .

In My Rocket Ship

Sometimes there is a need to take off in a rocket ship. Little Man and I have started kind of a new ritual where we go on my bed and get under the sheets. We then take off (shake our bodies like we are having convulsions) and go on a long rocket ride.

Often Little Man stops to play a game he has brought into the rocket.

Often we just take a quick trip to the Moon for a little cheese, it gets really hot in our rocket.

When we have had a few giggles and a little cheese (and a few more convulsions) we land and come out for a breather.

I love these kind of special things that I get to do with the kids. Sometimes Little Man asks for some cheese and he wants me to come with him. I have figured out this means let's take a ride in our rocket to get some cheese.

The Rhino was always my snuggle worm and he would see how close he could snuggle to me, for all of about 10 seconds. Those are the memories that are so special. I wonder when he is 25 will he still snuggle with me??? I think it's just in his nature.

Manners What Manners

It is a challenge to eat out with a 2 yr old, I know this well. In case anyone has forgotten I'll let you reminisce with a few pictures of the other night.

So it all starts like this. He's looking at Terri and saying "how many fingers shoved up my nose does it take to get her aggitated?"

And when just 2 fingers won't do, he figures out that there isn't another hole there to stick another finger in so he does the old "hey are you looking at me" nod of his head.

And that's when all control is lost and people start attacking one another right in the middle of the restaurant. I give her credit she held out much longer than I did, although when I saw him doing the 2 finger dig all I could think was "where is my camera and who cares about the other patrons gagging". There were no children harmed in this picture as you can clearly see that is a smiling grimace on her face and no her hand is not all the way around his neck she is trying to keep him from falling out of the chair.

Well I guess she wasn't holding on tight enough around his neck, I mean shoulder. Again no children were harmed in any of these pictures.

And then this happens when the food takes to long or the conversation is going well or people haven't finished their meal or he is just plain old ready to go.

I'll stop with this one thought, you know at this age all this behavior is expected and even looked upon as a learning experience for him. It's when they get a little older and they behave like this that I start to truly get a little grumpy, ok well that's really not the only time or reason that I get grumpy but I don't want to go there.......