The Junk in our Trunk

Yay for Fall!!!

2011-10-07T14:40:00.001-05:00

I can not tell you enough how glad I am that fall is here. It’s so nice to be able to spend some time outside, and my need to express my creativity has kicked into full gear. It’s so nice to be able to say that I’ve actually finished a few projects lately, and started a few more:/

For example, this is the latest one I’ve picked up.

I got it for next to nothing, so if I don’t decide to keep it I can sell it and probably still make money on it. This one is going to take a while though. I’ve cleaned the outside up a little, but the inside needs some serious cleaning and repainting (just the drawers, not the oven) and there are few knobs missing that I will need to find replacements for, but I think she’s pretty cute.

Now, a couple of weeks ago, me and my mom made it to the half-off Goodwill day where I found me another project.

A super cute Midcentury lamp with a terrible lamp shade.

It’s not the style I like at all, and it’s covered in dust and grime. YUCK! But, I decided to not throw it away because it wasn’t bent at all and I though maybe, just maybe I could recover it for something else. You see, I didn’t want it on my cool lamp because it was just too big. It covered up a good portion of the lamp itself. So, I kindly set it in my garage as another something I would eventually get to.

Until this morning! I took the boys for walk around the block this morning and there happened to be a garage sale around the corner. WHAT a coincidence! Anyway, they had a lamp shade for sale, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it might work I thought. So, I asked, “How much for the lamp shade?…..$5.00” she said back. Now, I have become increasingly cheap I suppose, because I thought that sounded to high. Maybe if it had been the perfect shade, but it wasn’t. So, as I walked back home it dawned on me that I could possibly turn my old ugly shade into something much more to my liking.

I have been eyeing the super cool retro fiberglass shades for sometime. Something like this one,

or this one.

They are just so fun, especially the ones with patterns on them.

So, now I’m going to show you how to (sorta) make your own midcentury lamp shade.

I would imagine that there are many ways to achieve these sort of looks with different types of shades, but here’s how I did it.

I started with this:

Your grandma’s tall tapering, outdated, lampshade. Then I tore off all the stained fabric.

Aww, it’s already looking better. Now, you will find that throughout this project my perfectionism slowing declined. It’s a good thing that this was a free project. So, then the next step is to figure out where you going o cut you shade, because once you start you have to commit.

I cut mine pretty much in half. Then you have to trace out the shape of your shade on your fabric. You can do that by tracing on the fabric as you roll your shade on it. I chose to use just a plain linen fabric because of where it is going, but it would be so cool to do in a printed or a couple of different coordinating fabrics. I chose some super old, brown ribbon that was in a bag of stuff from my great grandmothers sewing stuff. Once you get your fabric cut out, you have to figure out how your going to make it stick to your shade. Might I suggest not to use hot glue until you get to the ends, because if you don’t line you fabric up right as your going around the shade, you will seriously mess up you shade trying to get it off again. I opted to use some watered down Elmer’s. It worked just fine. So, you brush on some glue and start sticking pressing out all wrinkles as you go.

When you get to the end, just fold it over and hot glue down.

You can tell that I’m starting to care less. Anyway, now it’s time to start gluing on you edges. I used the linen on the top edge and my ribbon on the bottom edge of this one. I just used hot glue to glue the ribbon on around the edge of the shade. Easy.

So, now I’m going to fast forward to assembly of shade pieces, because I pretty much did the same things for the other shade.

This pict is of my shades upside down. This looks strange, but it will make more since in a bit. I basically took my smaller shade and turned it upside down and sat it in the bigger shade, and then flipped them both upside down so that I could secure them together with some other old ribbon. I’m starting to care even less, and I’m just trying to finish because my 2 yr. old is beginning to require more of my time. So, after I get it all glued together and run through the house trying to find an extension cord so I can test on my lamp, the glue has set, so I can flip it right side up and hang it on my lovely lamp. And then it’s like something out of “A Christmas Story” when the leg lamp lights up and you just stand back and admire your work….

Oh, isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? My lamp is so much prettier now, but keep your distance. The closer you get the more you begin to notice my hurried work. She needs to be admired from across the room.

Oh, I almost forgot, I actually have been trying to get some “Fall” in my house. I found a cute pillow friend kit at Joann's last week and couldn’t resist. I must admit, I’m on the owl bandwagon and I can’t help it.

Isn’t he cute?

Happy Fall Ya’ll!

Lately

2011-08-31T16:36:00.001-05:00

So, the summer’s already gone, and Jackson has been in first grade for more than a week now. How time gets away from me! With the 2nd hottest summer on record, I can’t say much has been accomplished this “break”, and I’m pretty sure this heat is causing me to lose it a little. I do believe the only trip we took was the day to Austin. Our bank account has pretty much been drained from house projects, and I’m beginning to feel out of element. I have to say it’s nice having Jackson back in school. He loves it, and is a happier child because of it, which makes my days less stressful. I feel like I’ve reached a weird time in my life where I feel antsy, or unsettled maybe. I have “The Itch”. I have this over whelming need to delve into my creativeness and to share it with others. Figuring out exactly how I’m going to do that has been the challenge. I did design a logo last week for guy here in the metroplex for his running business. That was fun, but I have yet to get another job of that sorts. I have a couple of prospects, but I’m not feeling fulfilled. On the flip-side of this there’s a little guilt. I feel like I should be able to have fulfillment in my family and in my home and friends and even my calling. But there is still this constant want/need to have another outlet. So,…so much of my time lately seems to be spent on trying to figure out what I can and will be able to do. I am having a hard time keeping myself out of thrift stores, and away from garage sales. They are definitely my guilty pleasure. My boys are to the point that they don’t like going to any store with me, it’s like pulling teeth sometimes. But, I have found that if I tell Colin that we are going on a “Treasure Hunt” he becomes a pretty good sport. Here is his booty for the day.

A super cool remote control racecar (it actually is pretty cool even though I didn’t want to get it), and his spiderman suit. I think I know what he’s gonna be for Halloween this year. Anyway, another one of excuses for being stuck to the computer lately has been family history. Oh man! It’s so dangerous. I have to admit that I spent alllll dayyyy yesterday working on it. It’s seriously addictive and a good cause for a spent day, I suppose. I am so looking forward to cooler days where we can step outside, but in the meantime I guess I stay in and try to figure out how I’m going to waste the rest of this overheated summer.

Here’s some pictures of this summer…

Man, I sure do have some cute boys!

A little busy…

2011-06-27T11:20:00.003-05:00

So, it’s quite obvious that I have not kept the blog up lately, like seven months, YIKES! And at this point, I don’t really know where to begin. We made it through Christmas, New Years (a really fun New Years Party actually), Spring Break, The rest of Jackson’s Kindergarten year, of which I will put together another post for this later, Mother’s Day, Jackson turning 6, Father’s Day, and now were to Summer. Through all of this there has been a larger project in the works, and that is our renovation. It has been quite an exhausting experience. Jared had come up with a great plan to keep the inconvenience to a minimum. He was going to work one room at a time, taking down the exterior walls to redo the electrical and windows in each room. When he tore the walls out of the first room we discovered that there was no insulation in the walls (add it to the list). We then decided that we wanted to move the laundry room to the tiny bathroom at the other end of the house. So, since we were already working on the room next to that bathroom, we decided to just encompass it into what we were already doing in there. So, Jared and his Dad ripped everything out of the small bathroom, and we had this.

This is looking through the old bath doorway, through the torn out wall into what will be our bedroom. We closed off this doorway so that the laundry room opens up to the bedroom. Here is what we have so far.

Pretty good huh? So, because we decided to do all of this moving around, and because the main goal was to get the water heater and that washer and dryer out of our living room and because of a few other old diy attempts that weren’t properly executed by previous homeowner, we were pretty much forced to go ahead and redo the plumbing. In doing so, we also upgraded to a nice, new gas tankless water heater! Now we are down to one bathroom o_0 So, in redoing the plumbing we had to rip out our one usable bathroom as well. We wanted to move the vanity, so we had to get everything out of the way for the plumbers so they could move the plumbing to the other wall. So here is what it looked like.

And here is what it looks like so far.

Notice the lovely “white” bathtub! I’m so glad to see that black tub no longer in existence!!!

I actually need to take a half-step back. So, between the time we had the plumber come out and give us our estimate, and the time he came out to install everything, our AC decided to take it’s last breath. We had the our AC guy come out and access the situation.

Not that Situation!

(this is only to humor me, please do not think that I watch or will ever watch this show)

Anyway, he pretty much said that there was no quick fix, and that we would need to replace. Now, last time we had gone through this (last year), he told us that there was no replacing just the ac, we would have to replace the whole system together (furnace too). But this time he said that they were now allowed to put in “dry units” as a sort of a $2000 temporary fix until we were ready to replace everything. That seemed like a lot of money to spend for something that was temporary, so we decided to hold off until we could afford to replace the whole system. We bought some portable ac’s from a friend of ours and figured we could rough it through the summer with those. Well, that worked for about a month and a half in this Texas heat. Jared decided to take out a loan to replace the whole system because it was just too hot in the house.

Here is what that looked like.

This is all of the old junk laying in the yard, well, most if it. They company that we went with was fantastic, but they sub-contracted out to two crews. The deal was for it to be done in one day. One crew would install the units, and the other crew would replace all of the ductwork. They finished in one day, and we had ac that night. It was better, but not right.The temp never did reach what the thermostat was set to. I was told that this might happen, so I called the company and they sent someone right over. Now this was Saturday, the day before Father’s Day. When they got here they noticed that the crew installing forgot a tiny part that was supposed to be installed in the unit. The furnace itself was also tilting. They were here for a while when they finally said that they were going to have to replace the whole unit (furnace and coil). So, Monday they came to work and while the tech was trying to take out the heavy furnace, my fancy-shmancy filter collapsed underneath it. So, a new filter too. The tech was here for most of the day, but got everything installed properly and it all works amazingly and I’m so thankful for my new AC system.

Doesn’t the side of my house look Awesome , NOT…

Now we’re broke!

But do you see how that little window on that front is glowing blue? That’s my fancy filter. It has UV lights in it that kill germs that pass through it. Yippy!

Well, I’m still behind but I’ll try to catch up soon… I hope that some of you still check in from time to time.

Christmas crafts

2010-12-09T15:15:00.002-06:00

So, I have been especially crafty this holiday season. Probably because I have recently become an avid follower of few very inspiring blogs. Most of which are added to my friends list if you would like to check them out. One of which is Centsational Girl’s blog. She happens to have a post dedicated to everyone’s crafty ideas, and I have LOVED! looking thought them the past few days, and have be wanting so badly to contribute. I have had several projects that I have been working on for the past couple of weeks (takes me forever to get anything done with Colin here), but none that I really felt were worthy, until now. I’ll post it, plus the others to just so you can see what I’ve been doing.

I went outside yesterday for some fresh air and some inspiration, and found these.

Not only do they look way better up in the tree than they do up close, but they also produce a strange odor:( And to me, Christmas doesn’t stink, so I figured they wouldn’t work. But then I looked across the yard at a huge branch that had fallen last January with the huge snow storm, and that for some reason is still laying in our backyard and ‘=’ (that’s a light bulb) I had an idea. So I pulled off a branch, stuck it in a pot, and started spraying (and glittering). Here’s what I have today!

It somehow looks way better in person, it’s very Dr. Seuss’ish, I love it! I have some vintage ornaments that I got last year at an estate sale right after we moved into the house. I thought my branch was a good way to display them, what do you think?

I also attempted a wreath redo last week. I had high hopes and expectations, and was a little let down I have to say. I decided to go blue and silver ( from my many years of red and gold). I also tried my hand at flocking, and all I have to say is that there has to be a better way. Anyway, here it is.

Before:

After:

I like it, but you can tell where half of the flocking had fallen off by the time I got the whole thing decorated. I’ll live with it for now, but I foresee me trying a new flocking technique next year.

Sydney gave us a gingerbread house kit to put together. I had hoped for a fun time with the boys, but because everything I do has to be “Perfect” I couldn't relax enough for it to be much fun. It looks great, but every time Colin pulls off a piece of candy, I loose it a little. I need to be a better mommy, I need to be a better mommy ( saying this to myself). So, here is our little creation.

*let’s play “can you find Colin”.*

And last but not least, here is an idea that I sort of stole from one of the crafters, who, at the moment I can’t not find. here it is.

Now, the one she had made was with an actual wreath base, and the rosettes were made out of lace (super pretty). I had neither…so, I used a Styrofoam plate (you can actually see it if you look close enough) and a thin, cream colored batting for my rosettes. I think it turned out super cute and it goes well on the fireplace with my new mirror (another project). They sort of look like cinnamon rolls though, oh well. I have a few more ideas that I wan to come to fruition some time soon, I’ll keep posted. So, this is what I’ve been up to, how about you?

Thanksgiving Projects

2010-12-01T11:48:00.001-06:00

What’s going on?

What on earth could we be doing? I see a saw, lots of wood, lots of sawdust and some paint.....do you know what it could be? Only I would decide that we needed to embark upon a project like this one.

Well, here’s the finished product….

A nice, new huge dining table just in time for Thanksgiving Dinner! We were too excited about getting it set that we didn’t take any pictures of it without table clothes, food, and décor!

It was quite the set up as you can see. Heidi brought her lace table cloth that she got in Italy and Sydney brought her China. And me and Nicole painted and !glittered! those little word signs you see there. And the guys supplied us our table! It was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember.

Don’t judge!

2010-11-12T15:14:00.001-06:00

Yes, I know I have a seven week old that I have yet to post about! It has seemed that these past 7 weeks have flown by and I have yet to find much time in the day to even shower. And I’ll be honest, that sometimes doesn’t even happen. Don’t judge! On top of that, we were asked this week to give talks at church. And some how, I have found time today to write my talk, and now am attempting to update this blog all while keeping the kiddos happy and listening to Christmas…yes, Christmas music…on the lovely Holiday music channel on TV. Soooo, that means no cartoons playing in the background, Yay!

Anyways, I wanted to go ahead and show some of our pictures we’ve taken so far of little Lane.

Lane James Abraham

Born: September 24th 2010 at 12:25

8lbs 12oz

21 inches long

Huge hands and feet, long legs and arms. At his one week checkup he was 9lbs 11oz and 22 inches long.

And there you have it, that’s our sweet Baby Lane. He really is a sweetheart with tons of curly hair. He’s a keeper!

Jackson goes to Kindergarten

2010-08-31T13:00:00.005-05:00

So, it’s official, as of Monday, August 23rd my baby started school. Probably the hardest day I have had in a while to be completely honest. Jared got up early with us and helped me get the boys ready. He gave Jackson a blessing, and I took some pictures before we left. I was already getting a little teary, but I was holding it together. We drive him to school, all of us get out, I grab his stuff and something out of my purse, locked the doors and then shut my door. Immediately, Jared asked “Did you just lock the keys in the car?” YEP! Then I lost it. I was so frustrated, and already on the emotional brink. I tried as hard as I could to not cry in front of everyone, I didn’t want to be that parent and I didn’t want to freak Jackson out. So, I put on a smile, walk him into his classroom, put his bag up for him, tell him bye and blow him a kiss, and bolted before I turned into a puddle. All while I was still trying to snap some pictures. As soon as I make it to the hall, I run into Allison ( a friend from church who was dropping her youngest off for kindergarten), seeing me in my condition, she gives me a big hug. Which is so nice but only makes it worse, ya know? So, that was already about 8:30, and I needed to be at the dentist at 8:40. But we were locked out of the car. My superhero Mom, came to the rescue and gave us a ride back home to get the extra key, I rescheduled my appointment and made it on time, then went to Ross for a little shopping therapy. The day ended better than it started, luckily. Jackson, by the way, loves school. It’s already been over a week since that day, and he’s already gotten sick. That’s probably the worst part of it for me because I’ve turned so paranoid about sickness around here. I pray that things keep going well for him. I pray that he enjoys his time at school, and makes good friends. We love you Jackson, and we are so proud of you.

This is in his class. That is his teacher, Mrs. Gibbs. Not the best picture, but it was all I could get.

The Abraham’s go to Santa Fe

2010-08-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

This summer there was an Abraham family Reunion in good ol’ Santa Fe. I had never been before, and I loved it! What an amazing place! We all went in on a house in the woods and spent the weekend together. Everyone made it but Nathan and Nicole and Christy. We missed them. It was so nice to get to see everyone that we don’t usually get to.

This was the first night, we were all pretty tired, but the boys made the most of their time…

while Rachel watched:(

The next day, Grandma and Grandpa broke out the swimming pool.

This was the back patio and play area. It was such a nice place to relax and the weather was GREAT!

Later that day, we took a walk around Montessori Lake.

We all had to take our turns throwing stuff in the the lake.

And here we are. Thomalee took the picture, but we know she was there.

The next day, we went to Pecos National Park. And I unfortunately didn’t get any pictures because I forgot my camera, boo. But this is what it looks like. This is the old mission that is that was build by Spaniards when they came to preach to the Indians that lived here.

This is a Kiva. They were built as a place for rituals to be held in. You can actually climb down into them. They kids thought that was a lot of fun.

This was the inside.

Thanks to Aunt Heidi, we got some pictures of the boys in the Kiva.

Later that day, we drove into Santa Fe and visited the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, and went for a stroll around the plaza. And these would be the only pictures I took.

That evening, we ended up a Michelle’s campground where she made is shish-ka-bobs, and we discovered the amazing reeses smores.

We ended up back in Santa Fe the following and much to our surprise , there was a festival happening. They had music playing, and a bunch of booths sat up for the kids…and the best part was that it was all free!

Jackson posing in the fire truck.

Jackson did the cake walk and won on his first try… Way to go!

Then he played the ring toss game, and won two bottles of water.

After dinner, Michelle offered to take the boys so that we could have some alone time to walk around the plaza.

We watched some…dancing? This is a link to the video from Heidi’s blog. http://heidiabe.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-you-know-way-to-santa-fe.html

Heidi I need to get a copy of that video:)

Then we tried on some hats with Adam and Thomalee.

…and I was finally able to convince Jared to buy me a necklace! I love it!

So, the next morning it was time to say goodbye. Here’s all the kids.

And the kids with Aunt Heidi.

And the kids with Grandma and Grandpa.

Luckily right as we were trying to finish up pictures, the man that rents the house showed up to take our big group shot for us. This is the whole group and the front of the really nice house we got to stay in.

We had a great time and were so glad to get to see everyone. I hope we can do it again next year!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

For a little extra bonus. This is what we experienced on the way home. So, as we are driving somewhere out in west Texas, this side of Amarillo somewhere, a pigeon flies up out of the grass in the median. He was pretty far ahead of us, yet for some reason he decided to not elevate himself. He hovered in the air not moving, Jared going, oh, probably 80 mph tried to slow down some to give the poor guy some time to move. But no, he smacked right into the grill of the truck. So, about three hours later when we decided to make a stop, this is what we found.

And here’s Jared trying to remove him.

It was quite difficult to get him out, and once we did we discovered that he was tagged. He was a homing pigeon. :(

Jared’s 26th Birthday Fun

2010-07-25T10:57:00.000-05:00

Jared turned 26 this year, and the one thing he wanted to do was to build a huge slip ‘n’ slide. Sooo, he got online and found some instructions on how to assemble the giant thing. Grandpa Abraham came over early to help him put it together. Nathan and Nicole and their kiddos came to help us celebrate and to break in the slide. I, unfortunately could really partake of the fun, but I have to say even though it looked like a lot of fun, there was also some pain to be had.

Jared taking the first ride.

Grandpa almost getting strangled

Nathan flying!

The slip ‘n’ slide gat left out over night, so we got to play on it for two days in a row. The boy’s had so much fun, including Jared. He actually pulled me down it a couple of times too, it was fun. Maybe next year I can try it without the belly :)

I love this picture!

I hope you had a Happy Birthday Jared! We love you so much, and we appreciate all that you do for us. You’re such an awesome Dad and Husband! Happy 26th!

Let Freedom Ring

2010-07-10T09:45:00.000-05:00

Well, this will be the second time I write this post. It somehow got deleted yesterday. As most of you know, our fourth of July in usually a double celebration. This year was our 6th wedding anniversary. So, to celebrate, Jared got us a hotel for the weekend in Arlington and we went to two Ranger’s games. The first one was kind of an after thought after dinner on Friday night, but we got to see the fireworks. It was fun to be alone and have the ability to be a little spontaneous. We woke up Saturday morning and went to the pool at the hotel. It was awesome. It was like if you could dream of any pool to have, it would be this one.

For the most part it’s 2-3 ft. deep. Perfect for lounging with the kiddos. And it’s huge! There a turtle pond nearby and one of the turtle had escaped and fell into the pool. And who do you think dove down to rescue it? Yep…me. I like to think that I saved him, but I don’t know if I did or not.

So, after the pool, we went back upstairs and got ready to leave. We decided to have Saltgrass for lunch before heading over to the Ballpark again. Now, I have to also comment on mine and Jared’s detective work that took place that afternoon. While eating our lunch, a man and his “daughter” come in and sit right behind us. He was a big talker, and loud, and awkward. Now, at first we were laughing because some of the stuff that he was saying was so ridiculous. But he quickly went from being a weirdo, to being more of, oh, child predator‘ish. Now, the next part of this you might think we are weird, but we went out to the truck and there commenced the stake out. For about an hour we waited outside for them to leave so we could get some pictures to turn into CPS. Over reacting, maybe, but all I kept thinking was if this girl was in danger, I would want someone to do the same if it was my kid. Once they finally came out, we snapped our pictures, got the license plate number and left. I know, we watch too many cop shows.

Then, off to the Rangers! We got there early, so we were able to watch all of the opening…stuff. We watched them uncover the field. That was pretty cool because it had been raining and they had to get all of the water off of the tarp with big fans. Then we got to sing the National Anthem, and watch the first pitch. We usually miss all of that stuff, so it was nice to watch.

They played the White Sox that night, and WON 3-1. Go Rangers!

We headed back home that night so we could get the boys and get up for church the next morning. Sunday was the real 4th of July, so that night we, and the rest of the Abrahams ended up at the new park in Azle to watch the firework show. Nathan and Nicole and their kiddos came, and Grandma and Grandpa Abraham and Christy were there. There was quite a crowd and some loud “music” playing, and before we knew it Colin was gone! Maybe his way of expressing his right to freedom, I don’t know, but terrifying none-the-less. I didn’t have my glasses, so I was just trying to find a red shirt running around. I couldn’t see him anywhere because it was almost dark by this time. Then, over the loud speaker, “If you are missing an 18 month old in a red shirt, he is up by the stage!” Phew! Okay, Jared got there first but the lady was reluctant to hand him over to him, I think it’s a good thing (cautious) but it got on Jared’s nerves. Anyway, we got him back, and tied him to a stroller with my camera strap, and we were good to go.

Cute cousins!

Tied up, enjoying his snacks, and watching the show!

We ended up having a good night together. I’m glad that we could all be there.

I hope you all had a safe and happy Fourth of July!

One time only

2010-06-29T18:12:00.002-05:00

So, I wouldn’t typically do this, but I thought just this one time I would. I am going to make a post about me, and even post pictures…current ones! I have a friend that has her own small photography business. She called me yesterday and said she wanted to take pictures of my belly, and I laughed hard. She even told me what to wear. So, I though well I have never had pictures made of myself while pregnant. It was never an idea that appealed to me, but I figured that someday I might wish that I had. I threw on my dress, packed up the boys and went to her house. If you don’t already know, it’s HOT and about 120% humidity here in Texas, so I was sure I wouldn’t like any of the pictures. Especially if they included my hair and face. But, I was actually surprised. I even went today to have a few of them printed so I could frame them. Here they are, humid hair and everything. I hope you like them.

Thanks Lacey, I really did have a good time. That tire swing was killer though. It was about two and half feet off the ground, and about impossible for a pregnant lady in a dress to get into. Oh, and get this. She was trying to get pictures for her OB’s office and she said she chose the second one for her Dr. So, maybe I’ll be hanging in an office soon.

http://www.wix.com/laceyhasler/photography

Five Years Old…

2010-05-30T10:21:00.000-05:00

Jackson is officially five! He was so excited, and said he even feels bigger. I look at him and can’t believe how much he’s changed in the past couple of years (it’s drastic)! He’s is a boy, there’s no baby left:( I’m not gonna lie, it makes me a little sad. So, here’s how we’ve grown…

a couple weeks…

a couple months…

six months…

about the same.

a year.

two years.

three years.

four years.

Five years old…with his brand new birthday present!

Happy Birthday Jackson! You are becoming such a big boy. You will be starting school soon, and I’m not sure what I will do without you during the day. I love you so very much, I have enjoyed watching you become the boy that you have. I hope you always know how important you are, and how much you are loved. Happy 5th Birthday!

*yes, there are tears.

Outdoor fun!

2010-05-24T11:48:00.001-05:00

Bayleigh and Brittley got to come over and play this weekend. Jackson and Bayleigh are about 10 months apart and always have so much fun playing together.

And here’s Colin, being all Colin. He’s riding his truck pants-less, with the cat bowl on his head.

He’s sooo cute!

Jackson playing in the sprinkler, he look so grown up.

This is the only picture I took of Brittley, with her Uncle Jared.

The kids had such a good time playing together, thanks for coming over girls!

Introducing, Carrot!

2010-05-24T10:58:00.001-05:00

Several nights ago, as we were trying to get ready to go out to have dinner with Nathan and Nicole, I went out on the back porch to look for my flip flops and found this:

Except it wasn’t dead at the time….and yes, it’s a copperhead!

So, now we have this:

I told Jackson to come up with a name, and the options he gave us were Richard or Carrot. So, I think we’ll call him Carrot.

He’s supposed to have a reputation for killing snakes, so we’ll see how he does. So far, all he’s managed to do it to get himself stuck in trees. Jackson really likes him though.

Fun in Utah

2010-05-24T10:45:00.001-05:00

We were really fortunate to be able to take a trip to Utah this year with the boys. Nathan was graduating and him and his family were moving back to Texas. We were very excited for him. He has worked very hard over the last several years, and we wanted to be there to celebrate with him. However, I did not do so good at taking pictures of the things I should have. So, I will post what I have.

This was a pretty waterfall that we saw on our way to Park City.

This was the first picture I took with someone in it…..however we were already on our way home from Utah. We stopped at the Hole in the Rock.

So, where are all the family picts you ask? I really didn’t do a good job. I guess, sitting in the car it’s the only time I wasn’t holding someone or chasing someone, so I was available to snap some pictures:)

This man and his wife spent years dynamiting their home into a big Utah Sandstone. These are a couple of pictures of the inside of the rock.

http://www.theholeintherock.com/images/inside1.jpg

http://www.theholeintherock.com/images/inside2.jpg

I think we should do this!

Here are a few of my pictures.

There was also a petting zoo beside the rock that we visited.

I loved the deer. They were sooo sweet! I still can’t figure out how you could hurt one of these guys.

We’ll we had a really good time. We were glad we were able to see Nathan walk across the stage and finally be finished. Were glad to get to spend so much time with Heidi, and she was so nice and so patient to have us all at her house. We love getting to see the cousins get together and play, I’m just sorry that I didn’t get any of it on ~~film~~ card. We’re so happy to have Nathan and Nicole and the kids here.

Garden Update

2010-05-24T10:20:00.001-05:00

It’s been a while since i first posted pictures of the garden. It has been doing pretty well, considering the time I’ve been able to work on it.

I have had a big problem with all of the nut grass coming up in the garden, and have tried to weed constantly. That doesn’t work. I was finally able to find out that the best thing I can do, is to just let it grow. I also had a slight issue with some aphids on my tomatoes, but thanks to my mom’s fish oil spray, I was able to get rid of them easily.

Tomatoes

Baby Squash

Baby Cucumbers

I do have to admit, that I have killed some squash and cucumbers since these pictures were taken. I didn’t know that if you got the flowers of the plants too wet, it would result in rotted veggies. I have since then been watering only the ground around the plants and not the plants themselves.

Also, within the last few days, we have had cantaloupe spouts popping up. So far, I’ve picked three peppers, but I’m hoping that the tomatoes will start turning red soon.

New Project

2010-05-13T13:58:00.001-05:00

So I know I'm still really behind on my blog. Lot’s of things have happened lately that have yet to grace these pages, but I wanted to post my latest project. I’m a little proud of it (Jared, not so much), but here it goes. I bought this buffet at a garage sale a couple of years ago with the intent to “fix it up”. Well, I finally decided it needed to happen.

Here’s the before picture…

And the After…

I think it adds a little sunshine to my dining room!

I don’t know if Jared likes it though….What do you think?

Quick update!

2010-04-22T17:30:00.003-05:00

I have a couple other blogs in progress, but I thought I'd go ahead and post this first. I have put a temporary background on the blog to help announce that we are expecting a third little boy! As much fun as it sounds to have a little girl, I am very happy to be having another boy. I love watching Jackson and Colin grow up together and play together, and now there will be three. I love that they will have each other throughout their lives, there's nothing quite like brothers. Hooray for little boys!

Green Thumbs

2010-04-02T12:01:00.004-05:00

We've (Jared and I) have been talking about starting a garden this year since we moved into the new house. And after watching Food Inc., it just further reinforced the idea for us. My family had gardens every year for latter part of my childhood. Though it was a good experience, it was something that we were usually expected to help maintain. So, a few weeks ago, my mom and I drove , forever, to go pick up an old tiller that I found on craigslist. A few days later, I tried my hand at it. It needed a new belt, so Jared fixed it and finished tilling the area that I had marked off to be the garden. There was a little lag in the whole process for a couple of weeks due to lack of energy, but my mom came by a few days ago and thought she'd try out the tiller. She actually re tilled the entire garden for me. So, I decided to spend several hours outside yesterday with the boys cleaning out the garden and getting it ready to plant. They loved playing in the cool dirt and throwing it everywhere.

I knew it was supposed to rain today, so I wanted to get some seeds in the ground before the rain. I got the garden cleaned, the rows made, and the onions planted last night before dinner. Then today, after the first rain I planted the peppers and squash.

I have two rows left, and am thinking tomatoes, peas, and cantaloupes.

I also wanted to post a picture of the biggest grub worm I've ever seen. I found him yesterday while digging around. A grub worm is the larva of a beetle, but I've always been taught to stomp them because they're bad for the plants. This one was almost to big to stomp.

This is video of the same worm. I had no idea that they moved around this way, and it grossed me out!

……………………………………………………………………………………

And I also wanted to include a picture of the accident I had last night. I was walking into the living room, and snagged my little toe on the foot of the couch. This is what it looks like today.

Heather, I thought you’d appreciate this…

2024 Olympics....here we come!

2010-03-31T14:43:00.003-05:00

Jackson has just recently started a gymnastics class. As any proud parent would, I thought I'd share some video with everyone. Eventhough this was his first couple of classes, I can see the potential!

AKC Herding

2010-03-06T15:21:00.002-06:00

While trying to decide what we wanted to do today, we received a call from Sydney. She said that her and Michael were driving to some place south of Dallas to go watch a dog herding competition, and wanted to know if we would like to go too. We thought the boys would probably enjoy that, Colin has a serious thing for dogs, so we decided to tag along. However, it wasn't quite what we thought it would be when we got there. It as quite funny actually, there weren't that many people there, and the ones that were there were the one's competing. So, it almost felt as if we had showed up to a secret club the we didn't belong to. None of us really knew what to expect, but we met some really nice people, and some very adorable dogs.

These are a few of the herders.

By the way, it was really hard for me to get a picture of the dog looking at me. I learned that Australian Shepherds don’t like things pointed at them (as in a camera), so they will turn away. Which is what happened in the first two pictures. The first dog actually turned his whole body.

These are some of the herdees.

The boys had so much fun! There was so much room to run and play, we just had to be careful not to distract the competing dogs.

This must be the only picture I got of the sheepdogs. This is one actually herding. He didn’t do very good though. He did the equivalent to drowning himself in the creek. Basically, he didn’t follow the sheep across the bridge.

We were at the farm for a few hours, (long enough to get sunburned). Afterward, we headed to Cedar Hill State Park. We made a quick stop at a frozen custard shop nearby the park, yum!Then we drove around the park and found a playground for the boys to play before we headed back home.

Mainly, it was Jackson doing the playing. Colin spent most of his time wandering around outside the playground in the dirt and rocks. He did find a ball, his favorite!

We had a really fun day, I spent most of my time on the way home falling asleep though. It was a really good way to spend a Saturday. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Abraham!

Record Snowfall for North Texas

2010-02-13T14:33:00.001-06:00

First project in the new house

2010-02-09T17:17:00.002-06:00

The first thing I wanted to do when we moved in was to take the fan out of the kitchen and put in a cool chandelier. I looked for weeks online for a cool light fixture was was looking at spending at least 200 bucks for something that wasn’t even really like I had wanted in the first place. I wanted a chandelier with a big drum shade, or something that was contemporary with a little retro mixed in. I just kept thinking that I should just make something rather than spend a bunch of money on something else. So, I did.

I talked Jared into going to the Habitat for Humanity Restore, store. It’s a great place to find stuff for working on the house for really cheap. They have some new stuff, but mainly it a lot of used items that have been taken out of homes and sold for charity.We have found some really great things there before, so I thought I’d see what they had as far as lights go. Here is what I found….

This piece would have been added onto the bottom of a fan for lighting. You can see the pull string hanging out of the bottom. I think what I liked about this was the roundness of it. It has several ball shaped finials, and ovals frame each blub. Minus the finish color, it looked a little retro, and contemporary at the same time.

And this piece was old and in need of rewiring. It looked very industrial. So it has the ceiling mount on the far right, a long arm for the light to hang from, and then a couple of metal plates that would have set on top of whatever fixture it may have had at one point.

Here are all of my tools. A couple of needle nose pliers, my light ensemble and my can of Chrome spray paint.

Now I meant to take a picture of the fixture before painting, but I got to excited and forgot. And if you doing something like this, always feel free to improvise. Can you see the two ball shaped pieces at the end of the extension rod? Those are wooden beads. I needed something to cover up some threading, and the beads holes where the right fit and they blend with the rest of the fixture.

Okay, I wanted something to cover the sockets where the bulbs were and toilet paper rolls fit perfectly. I took some of my fabric that I had bought for my curtains and covered the rolls with the help of the hot glue gun.

The 20 in drum shade had to be ordered and as sad as it was for me, they are not cheap. It was the major majority of the price of the chandelier. So, here is the finished product!

With my curtains in the background. I paid, I think 90 bucks for the shade ( crazy right?) Every other one I found though was at least 200. The fixture parts were 15.00, and the can of spray paint, about 4.00. So, grand total 109.00. May not be a bargain (shade, I mean) but I really like the way it turned out with my pretty blue paint.

FYI, I wanted to add that if you ever feel compelled to try the spary paints with the super shinny finishes, (chrome, gold, copper). The say that they dry to the touch in an hour, but the heat from you hands dulls the finish some and you have to repaint again.

Christmas ‘09….with my new Camera!

2010-02-01T10:46:00.001-06:00

Okay, it's been way too long, again. It seems like there's so much to do, that nothings getting done. I keep saying I'll get to the blog after...., but if I do that, it would never happen. So, now that I'm laying in bed all day sick with the cold, I figure now is as good a time as any.
Needless to say, we did have a great Christmas! It did seem a little more laid back this year, which is always nice. Jared did a good job, as usually, with buying gifts for me. He bought me a new fancy camera(that I love). I just need to get better at taking pictures. Some clothes, the Wii Fit plus game, and of course a ton of candy in my stocking. Those last two seem to cancel each other out. Anyways, Jared got a table saw and a shop-vac to go in his new, still packed full of boxes, garage. Jackson got several fun toys. An erector set, a Dino Dig game, which I will post the picts of later, and a remote control airplane that we haven't had the chance to fly yet. Colin got a ball pit and a box of balls. Can you tell what his favorite thing is?

Here’s Jackson with his pop-gun he got from Grandma Barnett.

And Colin with his Aunt Sharia, looking at his new Cars.

Aaaand, I just realized I misspelled that! Anyway, you get the point. I guess I was too excited about our Christas Snow;)

This was us leaving Lake Worth, on our way to San Antonio. It usually takes us about five minutes to get from our house to where this photo was taken. That evening, it took about 40 minutes. It took 2 hours to get to Burleson.

We listen to Glen Becks, “Christmas Sweater” story almost the entire drive. It really made the time pass. We got to San Antonio at about 10:00, I think. We had to hurry and get the tree up and get the boys to bed before Santa came.

Jackson, so handsome, and so glad Santa found us.

The boys, trying to find gifts for everyone.

Sweet Colin, with his wild hair.

Christy, opening her UT necklace we gave her. Sorry Christy, it was the only picture I had of you that morning.

Here I am, checking out my new earrings.

And Colin, excited about his new present.

Jackson, excited about candy canes.

Jared, bundling up in everything he can find, it looks like.

After our festive Christmas morning went for a walk on the river and ended up at a nice Mexican place for dinner. We went back to the hotel, and spent some time in the hot tub on the roof. We played several games including a race to see who was faster at jumping out of the hot tub and jumping into the pool. Swimming across and back again then jumping back in the hot tub. I believe Jared won, and I lost. I was a really fun Christmas, and one like I have never had. I am normally one for staying at home with family for Christmas, I do have to say though, that I’m glad we did it. It was an experience, and there’s nothing quite like the feeling of having an entire hotel to yourselves. It did seem that the all of the people that were around for the next couple of days made up for our one night of solitude. We’ve now talked about going maybe the weekend before Christmas in hopes that it may be less crowded. None the less we had a memorable Christmas in ‘09.

We left San Antonio early Sunday morning heading back to DFW to make it to my cousins house for our annual family Christmas get-together. We were a little late, but we did make it.

My cousin Natalie and her little boy, JW. He was born eight days before Colin.

Jackson eating a cookie with Ma-maw, his great- grandmother.

Jackson is admiring a new truck.

Colin, going through his stocking(bag) goodies.

Jackson with his beautiful cousin Bayleigh.

Here are the guys, scheming about how to get the gifts they want.

I told Jared to take pictures while we opened presents, and this is what he did. I have about ten pictures that look like this.

That evening when we got home, we still had a few larger gifts that needed to be opened. We couldn’t take them to San Antonio with us, so thought we’d just have a little family Christmas at home when we got back.

Here’s Jared opening his shop-vac.

Colin pulling all of my tinsel off the tree.

Jackson with the Dinosaur Dig Game.

Jackson’s helping Jared open his table saw.

As crazy as it seemed our Christmas would be, it didn’t feel that way at all. I think we all enjoyed our Holiday festivities, and had a good time. I have to say, that I was a little glad it was all over though. I had felt that with us moving right before Christmas, I wasn’t really feeling like I was getting all of the normal, fun, Christmasy, stuff in that we are all used to doing ever year. i.e.I didn’t bake one batch of cookies this year for Christmas! Anyway, I was really worried that I wouldn’t have the full Christmas experience this year, and I had been looking forward to the holidays in the new house, long before we had found the new house. In the end, we all had a great Christmas, and thanks to everyone that we got to enjoy it with.

Taking a minute...

2009-12-19T20:34:00.003-06:00

I'm feeling a little bit bad about not posting for such a long time. This isn't going to be a fun post probably because I can't access any pictures, but I still felt I should get on here and write something. Things have been very crazy lately and I keep hoping that things will miraculously some how get back to normal before Christmas. Ha, ha! Anyway, we've been in the new house now for about a week, and I've accomplished painting the kitchen...pictures later...and I love it. It took a couple of days for me to feel that, but I really do love it. It's a fun house, a house with quite a few quirks. As in tonight, I found a plug in the garage that only works if the garage door is open. It happened to be the plug that I had plugged the Christmas lights into that I had spent a few hours putting up outside in the cold, only to have Jared close the garage door and all my lights go off. So I guess tomorrow I will be in search for a decent plug around here that works correctly. The house is cozy, and it's the kind of house you want to stay in for awhile. That was very important to us. We have all of our Christmas stuff up, except the LIGHTS! So, now it's just unpacking the rest of our stuff, and trying to get things in order, and try to cram in some Christmasy Traditions. I am looking forward to Family, food an dour trip to San Antone.
Alot has happened since I last posted, so I suppose I will have a bunch to write about when we finally get the computer set back up. Until then, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a very, very Happy New Year!

True Pioneer's

2009-10-27T16:19:00.003-05:00

I wish I could be more like this couple.

My own Haunted House!

2009-10-08T14:03:00.004-05:00

Well it's not really mine, or haunted....but I thought it would be fun for Halloween anyway. Some of you know this and some don't but I have had my eye on a house for a about a month now. No we don't have ours sold yet, but nonetheless I love this house. I have told some of you about it, so I thought I'd post some pictures of it. I have always loved old houses! Something I must have inherited maternally. I love the history, the character, the creaking of the wood floors....all of it. This particular house was built in 1891, yes it 118 yrs old, yes that's old, and yes it needs a lot of work. Somehow, I tend to look past all of that to see all that it COULD be, and I like a good project. Anyway, I let all of you see for yourselves and you can tell me how crazy I am.

This is the big front porch.

The entry, as soon as you walk in the house. This isn’t the best picture, but there’s old tin on the ceiling that the P.O. (previous owner)painted purple. And in the bottom corner is the top of the old piano that comes with the house.

This is the living room, it’s much bigger than this picture leads on.

Now this room looks the worst. This I guess would have been a parlor of some sort. It had two big pocket doors that divided it from the living room, but the rude P.O. ripped them out with the original mantles (three of them) in the house. That's all old wallpaper falling off the walls.

This is from the parlor looking into the living room, missing pocket doors and mantle ahead, but I guess the nasty rug's included. They left it behind.

This probably was a bedroom, it’s right off on the entry. And that’s the fourth fireplace. It’s all brick and it works.

Ah, this kitchen has sooo much potential.

This is the actual dining room it has a door way that joins the kitchen, and then that’s a lovely pink and purple bedroom on the other side.

This is the main bathroom in the house. It has a full wall of built-ins and a claw foot tub. There is another half bath on the other side of the sink wall, but I think it should be made into one bigger bathroom.

This is the outside of the kitchen and a nice little shack. It looks kind of rough, but it’s much better inside.

This shows the exterior of the brick fireplace, and some nice detail work at the roof peak.

This is the front yard. There are lots of pecan trees, a walnut or two, and a peach tree in back. That’s the old well house in the background. It is built with cement and stone. It has two small windows and door on the side facing the street. It has been painted white on the inside, and has a workbench with lots of shelves. It’s actually a lot less scary inside than I had expected.

This is other end of the house, the outside of the parlor. The attic widow at the top is a stained glass in need of some work.

Well, you all kind of have an idea of what it looks like. I can’t tell you why I like it so much. I think that I think it would be so rewarding to see it transformed and taken care of again. Please tell my what you think. And if by some crazy circumstance I end up with this house, I will start a sign-up sheet for a painting party, food included:)

.... and After!

2009-10-02T17:23:00.009-05:00

Okay, I said I would post the final pictures of the house after all of the renovations from this summer.

So, here's the before of the kitchen. Remember how messy...yikes!

And the After......ahh, much better!

Okay, this is the teenie tiny bathroom off of mine and Jared's room. So, I guess Mater bath, but it's not very Master-like. I have never really liked it until now, and I LOVE my new shower. The After picture looks dark because my batteries in my camera were almost dead and it wouldn't flash, you get the idea though.

If you remember, we also put a new fence up this summer.

And this is a picture of Jackson's room. Both boys were sharing the room at first, but we put Colin in Jackson's old room so that the house would show better.

Okay, now that I'm officially frustrated with this New post window, why is it SO difficult?, enjoy the pictures.

Yay for Fall!

2009-09-22T13:11:00.018-05:00

Well, needless to say, I'm really behind on my blog. REALLY. So with that in mind, this will probably be quite a long post. We have had a lot going on it seems. Since putting the house on the market a little over a month ago, just keeping the house suitable for showing has taken a good amount of my time. Seeing that I haven't posted since July, I guess I'll start back with the beginning of August and talk about all that has gone on since then.

Well, probably the biggest thing to happen was my sweet baby niece, Brittley, that was born. Yeah, I know I'm a bad Aunt for not posting about this along time ago, but better late than never. Isn't she beautiful! My brother now has two gorgeous little girls.

I also had my Birthday last month, and thanks to everyone for all of the birthday wishes and gifts. I turned 26, four more years till I hit the big 3-0. That seems crazy to me, not that I don't totally feel that old already because most days, I do. Not that that's old, but feeling as old as you always think 30 is. Does that make since? Anyway, Jared was really great this year. He took me to San Antonio for the weekend, and lined up the babysitting, hotel, and everything. He even took me shopping while we were there. The Hotel we stayed in was called Drury Inn Plaza, it was right on the Riverwalk. We had a balcony that overlooked the river, and the swimming pool was on the roof of the building. It was so COOL. It was originally a Bank, so the Lobby downstairs still had all of the old bank stuff and all the old metal detail work with the original stained glass windows, it was just so pretty. We had a really nice, relaxing weekend, and I wasn't really ready to come home.

This was the view from our room. That's St. Mary's cathedral down on the left. There's a courtyard down in front of the church that leads to the river. The night we got there, there was a Jazz band playing in the courtyard. We just opened our balcony door and listened to them while we got ready to go to dinner.

This is a tunnel that you walk through outside our hotel down on the river. It's covered in shiny red tile. It was really pretty.

These are pictures from inside the lobby. You can see the old detail all over. The stained glass was my favorite. Also if you look really closely, those two panels on either side of the window say "Trust binds the Nation together, Thift drives the Nation Tomorrow." Pretty interesting, maybe they knew something back then.

This is the carpet that was in the hall, It was turquoise and brown. I know, I'm easily entertained.

I don't know how many of you watch Man vs. Food, but on one episode he visited a place called Roundrock Doughnuts in Roundrock, TX. We decide to pay a visit when we started back home. And no, I didn't eat that Doughnut by myself. Not that I couldn't have because they are really good.

A week or two after my birthday fun, we had the opportunity to go watch one of the Pre-season Cowboy games in the new *Cowboy Stadium*. It was awesome! To be honest, when Jared told me we might be getting tickets, I wasn't really that enthusiastic about the thought of going to the Mammoth of a building and walking through tons of people. And anytime I have to think about getting ready to go anywhere, forget it! I am so out of touch with my inner-girl, it's sad actually. I spend all day most everyday around two little boys, it's starting to become hard for me to be girlie. Therefore, it's a frustration now to just get dressed up. Hello, I need some girlfriends!

Anyway, after we got the boys dropped off and we're headed toward Arlington I started to get a little more excited. Parking was crazy, and outrageous! We happened to park on the opposite side of the building than where our seats were so we had quite a walk, but the building was amazing. And we actually got to experience more of the building having to walk so much, so it was okay. We were excited because our tickets said that we were on the fifth row, but when we got to our seats we were actually on the second, bonus! The Cheerleaders walked right past us several times, and we showed up on the Jumbo Tron five or six times in the first half of the game. The stadium itself really is a sight to see. It's HUGE, and fancy at the same time. We both had a really fun night, and felt very blessed to have the chance to go because I doubt we'll be able to go again anytime soon.

These were some really cool lights in side the stadium. There was so much more that I didn't get pictures of and probably didn't even see.

Now on to September. A couple of weeks ago my little brother, Chase, and his wife Jordan came to town for a weekend and we wanted to get together, so we went to the zoo. It was a really pretty day, little warm, but nice. Colin had never been, not that he paid much attention to the animals, but he loved the train ride. Jackson had a good time too. He got to feed the birds, and he loved the white tiger. We all had a fun time, I'm glad we could spend the day with the cute newlyweds.

Keep Going

2009-09-20T10:28:00.007-05:00

continued...

Colin enjoying his train ride, he full of expressions and funny faces. It's too cute.

Jackson feeding the birds.

This is the new, stinky, pinguin exhibit.

I love the elephants, I snapped a shot of this on dusting himself.

I'll just add some other random pictures from the last month that I have failed to post. I spent a week helping Hollie Brazell lay tile in her house, this is a picture of Jackson watching tv. We were using the basket for Colin at first, but Jackson ended up liking it much more.

My cute little mouse.

Earlier this summer/ spring Jackson and I planted some cantalope seeds in my parents garden. This was the first pick. I was suprised that the melons even grew to the size they did. I don't think Jackson was even as excited as I was about it, but oh well.

Brotherly love. Colin thinks Jackson is so funny.

Well, that's about it for now. I am still planning on posting the "After" pictures of the house since we've finished everything considering some of you may not get to see it in person before we sell. I hope you enjoy, and I'll try not to take so long to post again.

Fun evening with old friends.

2009-07-20T21:51:00.009-05:00

A little over a week ago Jared's old friend Austin, from the band days, invited us over to his parents house to see his new baby boy and to cookout and swim. Austin's new wife had two other kiddos really close in age to Jackson, so it was a real fun time for him too. We all went swimming in the pool, ate grilled goodies, and watched a couple of old band videos...which is always fun(ny). Jackson had so much fun with the other kids, Ty and Alexis, he was so worn out by the end of the evening. Later on, Austin invited us to go for a ride out on the boat. Neither of our kids has ever been on one. My dad had a boat when I was growing up and I loved going out on it, so it was really fun to see if they liked it too. Colin's life jacket was way too big for him, he looked really funny! Jackson loved feeling the wind in his hair. Jared actually went tubbing, and I think he was tired by the end of the ride. We had a really nice time, thanks Austin.

Happy Birthday to ME

2009-07-19T15:04:00.004-05:00

I had a great 25th. Thanks for all the emails, phone calls, text messages and voice mails. : )

I walked in the door Thursday night and got my first gift. Sitting on the dining room table, next to a note that said "Happy Birthday, Jared" was a BANJO! Ditta-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding ding. Jamie definitely surprised me. I wasn't expecting anything like that. Those are always to best gifts. I found out afterwards that she pawned some of her old jewelry and drove all the way to Arlington to get it for me. She must love me.... I sure do love her. Thanks, Jamie.

Friday (birthday) my office took me out to lunch and we had some cake later on. I left work early to meet up with Mom, Dad, Jamie and the boys and a few of my good friends in Arlington. We had dinner at Pappasitos and then headed over to the Rangers ballpark. Watching a Rangers game is one of my favorite things to do: good entertainment, good food, good company = good time. There was an awesome fireworks show right after the game, too.

It was a great night. I've had a pretty awesome 25 years so far and looking forward to the next set. Now the pressure is on for Jamies B-day next month. Any ideas?

Jared

5 Years Ago...

2009-07-07T21:11:00.007-05:00

Jared and I were a couple of newlyweds, sunbathing on a beautiful Miami beach. Man, how time flys. So, I bet your wondering what great things we did to celebrate our first five years. Well, Jared had taken to whole week off, initially we had planned to take a trip. When that didn't work out, we decided to just stay here and try to finish all of the projects around the house. That didn't really workout either, but he did get the fence finished in the backyard with the help of the missionaries, and it looks GREAT! And he finally was able to get his car fixed so it would pass inspection, so that's a plus. The day of the 4th the church was having a pancake breakfast, but we didn't wake up in time for that. After that, the Lutz's had a ward party at they're house. That was a pretty good time. We had hotdogs and hamburgers off the grill, played kickball, and the kids had water balloon fights. We had decided the night before that we would go to a Rangers game for our anniversary. So we left the Lutz's house to come home and get ready for the game. Then it all gets stressful. We're rushing around, getting the boys stuff all packed for grandmas house, I can't find anything to wear of course, and Jackson's driving us nuts. Colin gets upset because Jackson is messing with him, so I pick him up to move him and in doing so I set him on my bed. I turn around to get something from my closet, and....Thud! Colin hit the floor. I picked him up and he was doing that thing where they cry so hard that nothing comes out, then he went limp. Now, I'm in a panic. Running around the house, trying to find some shoes so I can take my baby to the hospital, certain that I gave him brain damage and I'm a horrible mom. And this entire time Colin's crying, I'm crying, and Jackson now crying too (I know I scared him). But Jared holds it all together. He sits me down with Colin and gives him a blessing, and then I set in the floor with him just to observe any problems that he might have. He was fine though. After talking about it a little more, we decided that he probably just started to pass out from not breathing. And after all of that, we finished getting ready, took the boys to Grandma Abraham's, and went to the game. It was a good game. The Rangers won, and there was a nice firework show afterwards, but the only thing I could think about the whole time was the boys. I was so worried about Colin, and I missed having them there to see the game and the fireworks. And I don't know that Jared had that much fun, because I probably wasn't that much fun to be with. So, now we're shooting for a really happening 10 year anniversary. I think I should start planning now.

Here we are at the game!

Does anyone recognize this picture? Yep, it's our wedding cake. You know, the cake your supposed to eat at your one year anniversary. We have forgotten every year now, so my mom finally sent it home with me because she was tired of it being in her deep freeze.

I brought it home and let it thaw out for a few hours. I took Jackson's picture with it because it occurred to me that the cake was older than him. That was really crazy to me!

And YES, we ate it! "Disgusting" you say? It was actually as good as it was on our wedding day. I figure we should have lots of good luck now.

Fun Summer Days!

2009-06-27T12:19:00.005-05:00

For the past few Fridays, a few girls from church (myself included) have been meeting up at the new Weatherford Splashpad with all of our kids. It has really been a lot of fun, and I am finding myself really looking forward to Fridays. It has turned out to be great, because it's HOT. It's about the only thing you can actually do outside right now. It's also the only way that I've been able to get Jackson to spend time outside and with other kids. Win win. Anyway, I thought I'd post a few pictures of our Splashpad fun.

This one's too funny!

Happy Birthday Jackson!

2009-06-01T13:45:00.014-05:00

This last week we celebrated Jackson's 4th Birthday. I can't believe he's already that old. We decided not to have a party this year, and just do something as a family. It was soo nice! The celebrating actually last about three days. Thursday, his actual birthday, I sang "Happy Birthday" to him in his bed to wake him up. Thursday was a busy day. I had to take Colin to the Dr. for his 6 month check-up, go visiting teaching, and go to the store to get everything to make his birthday cake. By the time we got home, we were all ready for a nap, but that didn't happen. Jared came home early, and took a nap. My mom came by a little later and brought Jackson his first present. His first bike!

We drove him and the new bike up to the church so he could test drive it.

After a couple of hours of that we were all getting hungry, and Jackson, of course, wanted pizza.

Grandma Abraham and Christy came by later to bring Jackson more presents.

Twister Hopscotch, and some really cool silly straws.

Friday was rather uneventful, it was supposed to be the day to make the cake. I had anticipated Jackson being a big helper, and it being a fun project. Instead I had to do it mostly by myself, and it took all day!

Saturday was a little better, we got up that morning and got ready to take Jackson to the park to ride his new bike down one of the trails. We all got really hot and tired, so we came home and waited on everyone (grandparents)to come over for cake and ice cream.

After we finished our dessert, we left for Arlington to go watch the Rangers!

Colin got to go to his first Rangers game. It looks like he enjoyed it. We had a really good time, it was a really good game too. They won 14-1. With, I think, 3 homeruns. So we got to see the fireworks go off a few times. Grandma and Grandpa Abraham came with us too. It was nice to have everyone there enjoying the game, enjoying the "food", and cheering for the Rangers. We should do it again!

It was a nice birthday for Jackson, I hope we were able to make it memorable for him. He sure is growing up fast, and I often miss that cute little blonde haired, blue eyed baby boy that he once was. He's not so little anymore. I am looking forward, though, to the boy that he will become. I love you more than you will ever know, Jackson. Happy fourth Birthday!

2009-05-14T13:46:00.001-05:00

Catch Up!

2009-05-13T17:23:00.009-05:00

Okay, so I never post anymore. Blogging tends to be the thing that sets on the back burner for me. Not to mention we have had a ton of things going lately. Jared's been staying busy with work and church. When he's not doing that he probably working on the shed/recording studio project, and he still has to find time to finish the bathroom remodel. I have several projects going at the same time right now too. I've spent the last week refinishing the kitchen cabinets. Then I have to retexture the walls and paint, and put up tile for a backsplash. I have a bunch of stuff to get together for my brother's wedding shower this weekend. I've been working on decorations for that and I have to make a cake, yikes! I am also in the proccess of starting a quilt for my new baby niece that will be here in August. All of that going on with the boy's here, means I'm not getting a lot done, much less getting to post on a regular basis. So, I'm am going to do one big catch up blog. I hope that's alright.

This last weekend was a really fun one! My little brother graduated from ACU. We decided to drive out and see the ceremony and go camping with my parents at Abilene State Park. It was perfect weather for camping, and it was so nice to get outside for a couple of days. It was a mothers day well spent. Jackson got creative with some sticks and rocks. He had some help though.

It was really fun to take the boys camping, and Colin did pretty good for his first time. It just went by too fast, so we're trying to talk Jackson into going camping for his birthday.

I added Just a few pictures of some of the projects we have going, just so everyone can see what we've been up to.

Here's the shower Jared's been working on. He did some reframing and put up all the foam board, so now we just need to tile and paint. I thought it would be fun to have some before and after pictures.

What a mess right? But the cabinets look good. This has been my project. Most of that stuff will eventually get packed away and ready for moving. But I thought posting the messy picture would make for a more dramatic "After".

Easter Fun!

2009-04-12T21:35:00.011-05:00

I am quite a few blogs behind, but I am going to get my Easter blog up anyway. I'll fill in the blanks later. Anyway, we had a really nice Easter. We went to church in the morning, and afterward headed over to my parents house for lunch and the egg hunt. Lunch was really great, as usual. If there is one thing my family knows how to do, it's cook. Then we had the annual hunt for the eggs. It's fun to see our generation of kids do the hunting. I remember when it was me and my cousins all dressed up in our fancy outfits, lining up on Ma-maw's back porch scoping out the best route to take to get the most eggs, while having to patiently wait while all the adults tried to get our pictures. Now we get to do that to our kids. It's a really nice tradition to have, and it's only going to get more fun. In just a couple of years, we'll have four more out there running around with the rest of us.

Here a few picture's of Jackson hunting......there were so many eggs, you can kind of see in the first picture.

After the egg hunting was over, Jackon and Phillip (my cousin D'Anna's husband) came up with a game of there own. Human weedeater! Here's one of the videos, it's looks really bad, but Jackson loved it and it was super funny to watch.

So, after all of that fun we ended the evening at the Abraham's. Sydney made sandwiches and we all just relaxed until it was time to go home. I think we all had a good time, and I really like every chance to spend some time with family. I'm looking foward to the next get together.

Here are some other picts from the day.

The Boys in the bluebonnets!

Jackson and his cousin Bayleigh.

They're admiring a worm they found hanging in a tree.

Swing napping.

2009-03-12T16:26:00.003-05:00

This is going to be one of those pictures that will stand out as one of my favorites.

Colin in the Bouncer

2009-03-11T12:37:00.004-05:00

This is Colin's new pastime. It keeps him entertained in the kitchen if I need to be in there. It's pretty cute too.

Our New Pet...

2009-03-10T16:58:00.006-05:00

So, today I was sitting in the office at the computer, dealing with what else but real estate. We've been really trying to get in the mindset of moving lately. Jared wants to be closer to his job. He's tired of drive on 35 everyday. Anyway, I'm in the office and I hear Jackson in the livingroom say "Mom, MOM!" Almost as if he were scared and on the verge of crying at the same time. I think you know the tone I'm talking about. I walked into the livingroom expecting to see a spider, or some other kind of bug. Nope, not a bug. There was a lizard in our livingroom! How it got there, I have no idea, but I'm thinking about keeping him. I figure he has to be less maintenance than a dog, right? Yeah, I'll probably just let him go.

Jared or Colin

2009-02-24T13:10:00.007-06:00

Can you tell which is which?

Okay, if I could have got Colin to lay his head back, it would have looked even better. I had to take about 20 pictures to get even close.

Three months old

2009-02-23T07:49:00.002-06:00

Colin is three months old today. He is the sweetest baby, and is turning out to look so much like Jared. I will have to post some baby picts of Jared just to show you what I mean. He's continuinig to get chunkier too. I would guess he weighs about 15 lb.s now. He's talking more and laughing now too which cracks me up when he does it.He is a very smiley, happy baby! He's starting to get the hang of grabbing onto things, and putting things in his mouth. He has started bypassing the pacifier for his hands and thumbs too. Every now and then (including the last two nights) he will sleep through the night, great news! Jackson has more and more fun with him everyday and can't wait until Colin's big enough to play with him.

Videos of Jackson...

2009-02-20T16:25:00.000-06:00

This was the day before Valentine's Day. We met a few friends at the new park. Jackson has his own way of doing everything, and his favorite thing at the park are the swings. I have a few more videos, but I can't post them yet, will post soon.

Valentine's

2009-02-16T21:45:00.006-06:00

This year we had a nice Valentine's Day. I think it was the first year that Jared actually thought about celebrating it, which was nice. Not that we've never done anything for V-Day in the past, but this year was just a little more special I guess. It all really started on Friday. Jared, for day's, had been wanting me to open my Valentine's Day present, so he gave it to me in bed to open before he left for work. It was a really nice HD video camera, but it's like the size of a cell phone. It's pretty cool though, the quality is so much better that my regular camera. So, hopefully I''ll be posting some better videos on here. Then a little later, the boy's and I met some other moms with kids from church at the park that morning. After we left I took the boy's to the Ceramic Shop on Main Street, I had an idea. I (with a lot of help from Maria, the lady that owns the shop), had big cups made with Jackson's hand print, and Colin's feet prints. We did three of them. One for each grandma, and one for Dad.

It ended up taking a lot more time than I had originally thought, but it was worth it.

While at the ceramic shop, Jared called to see what I was doing. He was disappointed to find out that I wasn't at home, because he said that a package for his dad was being delivered to the house. When I got home there was a box of flowers on the porch that I didn't realize were for me until I read my name on the box. They were so pretty and he had written a really sweet message to go with them. There was even a box of chocolates, even better!

Then later that afternoon, Sydney came by with all of her Valentines day stuff from school. She had a neat Valentine's foam card making set for Jackson to get creative with, okay, well me too! I probably had more fun that Jackson.

So by the end of the evening, we had decided not to go out. I asked Jared to tell me what he wanted for his Valentine's Day dinner, and we made a list. I, trying to be as quick as possible, ran to the store to get everything. Came back home and made dinner. It was really good, but it was like 9:30 by the time we got to set down and eat:) The menu consisted of a wedge salad with really yummy dressing and Parmesan. Steak and shrimp. That's Jared's steak, mine was not that big! And loaded mashed potatoes. All on a bathroom towel on he living room floor watching a movie. I think it turned out to be a pretty good Valentine's Day!

He's now official.

2009-02-04T11:15:00.006-06:00

This last Sunday was the day Colin was blessed. It was such a nice day and Uncle Brian showed up to help with the blessing. Colin looked so cute in his outfit from Grandma Abraham! Jared gave the blessing, and did a wonderful job. It was such a special blessing! As the men were walking up to the front, Uncle Brian handed Sydney, Christy, and I pieces of paper to write on. I apparently had no idea what I was doing, but luckily Christy did. So I will use hers for future reference. Grandpa said that Colin kept his eyes open and paid attention the whole time and listened to every word Jared said. Brother Stutz admitted he opened his eyes at one point and saw Colin's big blue eyes staring back at him. It was a very special day. Here are a few pictures that we took afterwards.

My sister's vacation........not what we planned.

2009-01-26T14:03:00.004-06:00

This is a little long....

My sister, Heather finally got to come down from Missouri to meet Colin. She came in on Thursday, and we just spent the rest of the day hanging out around the house and talking, like always. We took a trip to Walmart to develope some pictures, and to fix my glasses, that I have so been missing after Jackson broke them. She got to play with Colin for a while before it was time for him to go to bed, and we stayed up for a little while longer talking before we retired for the evening. We had planned out the next couple of days that she would be here, so we needed some rest.
The next morning we got up early so we could take Colin to his two month check-up. He also had to get his first round of shots, not fun at all! He had to get three shots and some type of preventative that they give him by mouth. They did the oral stuff first, and he had trouble not choking on it, so by the time we got to the shot portion of the visit, he was already ticked. The shots were so sad, Heather was crying by the time we left. Now it was time to have some fun because the hard part of the day was over, or so we thought.
We had planned to go "Thrift Towning", which to me me means going to a bunch of different thrift shops to see what treasures we can find. And then I wanted to take her to the Stock Yards so she could see the cowboys herd the longhorns down the street. She loves that kind of stuff!
Although inconvenient, I made a last minute decision to go get my registration renewed on my car because it had already expired. This meant driving from Lake Worth back through Azle almost to Springtown, and then all the way back to Fort Worth when we were done. By the end of this, you'll know why this was a blessing. We realized we had both forgotten our cameras at home, so we stopped to get them when we came back through. By the time we made it to Fort Worth we only had enought time to hit one of the shops before we needed to be in the Stock Yards. We found some good stuff there and then headed on our way.
It was really nice downtown. There were lots of people walking around and the weather was perfect. I, however, had forgotten my camera in the car, so we decided that I would just copy Heather's pictures when we got home. We didn't have to wait very long to see the longhorns, and they were very cute as usual. There was one poor cow, dragging up the back of the group who looked pretty miserable. She was very pregnant and looked like she was having trouble walking. I felt bad for her! We walked through a couple of little shops before we decided to head out.
By this time Colin was really coming out of after shots sleep, and was needing to be fed. One of the thrift shops that I had thought about going to earlier was right on the way and had a pretty discreet parking area that was good for feeding the baby. We probably spent about twenty minutes in the car before going in. While I was feeding and changing the baby, Heather was trying on some of her new finds from the previous store, and she also had to change Jackson because he had poured water all over himself in the back seat. We were being completely nieve about the part of town we were in, we were too busy having fun.
Right as we were leaving the car, I noticed that her window wasn't rolled up all the way. I unlocked the car and rolled it up and we went in. The lady at the front desk told us that the store was closing in 15 minutes. So we hurried. Heather found a couple of thing, checked out and we left. As we were walking up to the car, Heather laughed and said "Jamie you left the window down." It took a minute for it to sink in, but my window was actually in my front seat. We had been robbed! They took Heather's purse with her credit cards, drivers license, the key to her rental car, iPod, and several other things that were in there, she had another bag that was full of her business info, her make-up bag, her cell phone charger, her contact case, hair brush, her camera, and I don't even know what else. I, fortunatly, wasn't missing anything other than my window.
I immediatly called 911 and Heather was freaking out trying to find someone that could get in her house to cancel her credit cards. She open the door to the car which sat off the alarm(I guess busting out a window isn't enough to set it off), and I couldn't find my keys to turn it off. By this time Colin was very unhappy and Jackson thought it was all a game. So, there was a moment where I was about to got completely nuts. Heather's husband wasn't home but her mom was able to get in and got the cards cancelled rather quickly. I called Jared to tell him what had happened and asked him if he could come up there. The cops finally showed up about ten minutes later not that they were much help. They were both nice, but in that kind of situation there's really nothing to do. They walked around the building and found some guys behind the building spray painting but they didn't have any property on them. They took all of our information and then they left.
By that time Jared had shown up for moral support and to take the kids home in his car. The rest of the night was spent trying to wrap our minds around the whole ordeal and trying to get organized. Making lists of what was missing and their worth, calling a lot of people that were really not helpful, and one more trip to Walmart for Heather to get some replacements of a few have to haves that were stolen.
All day Saturday was spent trying to figure out the rental car key situation. We woke up early that morning and my parents came and got me and Heather to go back to the scene of the crime and search around in hopes of maybe finding that they had thrown something down that wasn't useful to them. The rental car key was one of those things we were hoping to find. Well, we had no luck but we saw some pretty disgusting things as we searched around back allies in the slums of North Side. It took all day, but we finally found a guy at about 8:30 p.m who could cut a key for the car for less than half of what everyone else was quoting us, not to mention that he was super nice. We ended the night on a good note. However, Heather had to get up early the next morning and leave for Dallas.
I felt awful about not knowing that Heather had left her purse in the car, I swear that I'm not so dumb to know not to do that in North Side. I just really didn't know. So again, Heather, I'm so sorry! She felt bad about my window, but that was really a non issue for me. And if anyone ever needs a locksmith and you live around this area, Carlisle Locksmith is the best! And Heather, I promise your next trip down here will be a whole lot better.

And you have to thank the "thugs" for no pictures in this post, they stole the camera that the pictures where on.

Colin Smiles

2009-01-13T15:18:00.003-06:00

You'll have to excuse my baby talk, but he's always in such a good mood in the morning.

Colin talks!

2009-01-12T18:56:00.005-06:00

This isn't the best of video quality, but he's just too cute! The cooing at the end is Jackson from the bathroom, he loves to copy Colin.

Christmas is officially over

2009-01-06T11:35:00.006-06:00

That may not sound so good to some, but I am actually a little relieved. It makes me feel like a Scrooge though. We went into Christmas thinking that it would be very low key and sort of relaxing this year. All of the Abrahams (minus us) were in Utah, so we felt like we had a lot less going on this year. However, it didn't end up feeling that way. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with my siblings and their kiddos. First off, there were way too many people in that house. We had some really good food, of course, and got to watch all the kids open their gifts. Jackie gave all of the kids union suits with their names on the behinds, very cute! Can you find Jackson? He was the only one that would stick out his tush. Jackson also got a remote control four wheeler from his Aunt and Uncle, of which he still hasn't played with because there are no batteries and I can't seem to leave the house to get any. Jared got a meat smoker, grill thing! It was really nice, and I think he's pretty excited to use it. I got a mini crock pot and a pair of pinkensheers, and I'm excited to use those. Colin got a really cute onezie with his name on it, and a super cute stuffed Camel. I know Mom was stressed out the whole time, but we did have a good time, and are very thankful for all the great gifts. The next day was our day to be at home together as a family. It was kind of nice for it to just be us. Jackson had a real good time as usual opening his presents. He is very enthusiastic! He got a box of instruments from Aunt Heidi, a light bright thing from dad, a new Vtech game (he calls it the Vbox, like dad's Xbox, and now Grandma and Grandpa have a Wiibox), and he got his favorite, the HotWheels racetrack. Jared got a really nice dutch oven and a pocket knive and a new set of Scriptures (of which I don't think he's going to use now after Heidi went to all the trouble to have them sent to us, because he downloaded the scriptures to his new IPhone that his boss got him). Jared got me a new phone, an mp3 player, and a vaccuum cleaner that ended up not working and UPS has yet to come pick it back up. It was still a nice gift though. After all the gift opening, we invited my parents and brother Chase over to introduce them to Christmas Breakfast. Jared cooked for all of us, and it turned out so good! They really enjoyed it too. That was probably my favorite part of all of the Christmas gatherings, just relaxing around the house after Christmas Breakfast. A couple days later, on Saturday, we were having our usual big family gathering at my cousin D'Anna's house. That just so happened to be the morning I woke up with Mastitis. I felt pretty awful all day, and didn't really get to enjoy that as much as I normally would, but it was nice to see some family that I don't get to see very often. I also got see my cousin and her baby, who is just eight days older than Colin. Jackson had fun playing with all of the kids and opening more gifts. I took a few days, but I finally started felling better. Just in time for our annual AbraLutz White Elephant Christmas party on New Year's Eve. We and the Lutz's have done this for the past two years now, and always have such a good time. I have to give the Lutz's all the credit this year though. They were so great, she even came over and helped me clean to get ready for it. It just so happened that this year it was scheduled for the same night as the stake dance, so we didn't have a very big turn out, but he still had a great time. We played Catch Phrase, Guesstures, and Boulderdash. We had our gift exchange and everyone stayed till after the ball dropped. We had a a nice Christmas, but I am a little glad it's over. I am looking forward to this next year, watching Colin grow, watching the two boys learn to play together, and maybe getting back in shape a little bit. We'll see...

This pictures a little blurry, but it's almost a smile. I have been trying really hard to get a picture of a smile. As for Colin, he still continues to grow, and he is so strong! He can roll himself off a pillow and I often joke that he's going to start walking because he can support himself so well with his legs. He's gonna be a big boy!

His First Month

2008-12-26T15:22:00.002-06:00

I'm a few days behind, but Colin is a month old! I can't believe how fast it's going by. It's a little sad really, I feel like the holiday's have made it go faster than normal. Colin is a great little guy, and we have really enjoyed him in our family. He has learned how to use his lungs a little more than when he was first born, but he still isn't very noisy. He loves taking a bath, except for the couple of seconds between the cups of water being poured on him. I think he would be happier to be directly under the faucet the whole time as to have the warm water running on him continuously. He's a very sweet, cuddly baby and every now and then we catch a smile which always brightens any mood. He is chunking out very nicely. I have no idea how much he weighs right now, I just know it's a lot more than than where he started. I am beginning to think that he might be a morning person. He sleeps really well starting at about 6 o'clock. Well enough that I have to wake him to eat. I don't really know what happens in the middle of the night. Jared moved his alarm clock, so I never have any idea what time it is when I wake up in the middle of the night. All I know is that by about 7 o'clock in the morning, Colin's wide awake, and I'm still really tired.

He's turning out to be quite the cutie. In the beginning we thought that Colin looked just like Jackson, but that has changed a little now. I think that Colin has Jared's eyes, and my ears, and Jackson is just the opposite. I am excited to see the resemblances and differences in the two of them.

Jackson is adjusting to all the changes pretty well. He loves Colin, he just doesn't like that almost all of my energy goes into taking care of Colin and not him. I haven't quite found the balance yet. I definitely feel like Jackson has been put on the back burner, and that makes me sad. It seems like the few minutes I have are spent being upset with Jackson because he's doing something he's not supposed to be doing to get attention. Hopefully we'll get the hang of it soon. I do have to say that having a baby in the winter is a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. I am a whole lot more paranoid to leave the house than I was with Jackson. I am a little ready for it warm up, and if you know me, that's way out of the norm. I normally love the cold and am usually wanting about a foot of snow about now, but not this year. We've all been sick at least once since Colin has been home, all of us except for him. Thank Goodness! Anyway, it's been a great first month for our family, and I wish we could be in Utah visiting with everyone, but hopefully we can get together again soon.

Christmas Activities

2008-12-16T15:53:00.009-06:00

I have decided that this week I would have a Christmas activity for Jackson to do everyday. The weather has been too bad for him to go out, so I thought I could come up with some fun things for him to do to help keep him entertained. When I was little we had these christmas ornaments, and decorations that my mom had made. They were kits that she had bought, and made and had I always liked them. They are made of plastic, but when they're done, they look like stained glass. I did a little searching this year, because I thought that something like that would be fun for me and Jackson to do together. I found some on ebay, but they seemed really expensive. So, the other day I was shopping with my mom at Garden Ridge, and found some for just a few bucks. I was going to do them yesterday to start off the week, but we didn't get to them until today. So, here they are.

Here is what they start off looking like. They're just small metal frames.

Here's Jackson, filling in the frames. You get these little bags of tiny plastic pellets that melt into the frames when you bake them.

Now they're read to go into the oven!

And these are the finished product! The snowman is Jacksons, he did most of it by himself. I was actually suprised at how well he did. I thought for sure there would be a giant mess, but he did great.

And here's a really cute picture of Colin just because.

Colin's Baby Showers

2008-12-12T12:06:00.010-06:00

I wanted to do a quick post to Thank everyone who was so nice to through showers for Colin. We had two wonderful showers this week. The first was Saturday at my Sis-in-law's house. It was so nice to have the family together, and to get almost all the new babies together.

My cousin's daughter, Stormie, is holding her new baby sister Braylee. My Sister-in-law is in the middle holding J.W., my other cousin's baby boy. He was born eight days before Colin.

This is Colin and J.W. together for the first time.

This is Ma-maw, my Grandmother, with Colin.

And this is Sharia napping with J.W. Too Cute!

We had a good time and got lots of nice stuff, but mostly just enjoyed the time together talking. Thank you Sharia for such a nice shower.

Then the following Monday several ladies from church had planned a shower for Colin too.

There was quite a good turn out, and the food was great. As usual.

Jackson was supposed to be helping me, but he was too busy eating. Oh well.

Sis. Whitehead got to be the first to hold Colin.

This is the adorable cake Hollie made for the shower.

Thank you Sis. Yanda, Sis. Saline, Sis. Albright, and Sis. Brazell for everything you guys did, the shower was so great, and I had a really good time.

Pictures of Colin

2008-12-02T15:58:00.002-06:00

I am so far behind on posting. Skipped Halloween, Heidi's trip down here, and somemore I'm sure. However I wanted to post some pictures of Colin, he's changing so fast already. He's put on almost a pound in one week! I was being brave by slipping one in of myself, just notice the cute family, not so much me. Anyway, I am so proud of Colin, he is an awesome baby and we are glad he has finally made it here. We hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we do.

Colin is Here

2008-11-24T09:25:00.007-06:00

Warning: Cookies are known to cause happiness, stomach aches and early labor.

Who knew cookies could be so powerful?

Friday Jamie made "labor cookies" from a recipe she found online. She's been wanting to try anything to kick start her labor in hopes she wouldn't have another 9 lb baby to birth at her due date, especially since she was going into this thing as a VBAC. Well, we all tried one of the cayenne peppered ginger snap - like treats that night, but turns out Jamie had three to ensure their promised effectiveness. I woke the next morning and looked over at Jamie. She had a smile on her face and said "well, the cookies worked." She had started having some contractions that morning and we were pretty sure Colin was probably on his way.

By about 7:00 Saturday evening, Jamie was having very consistent and pretty intense contractions (she also had a couple more cookies to ensure progress) so we made the decision to go ahead and hit the hospital. We got there around 8:30 pm and after a long night of anxiousness, pain, soreness and exhaustion (Jamie had a pretty rough time too) Colin popped out and is about as perfect as they come. Just like his brother was. He was born at 9:40 am and was 7 lbs 8 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long.

We were so proud of Jamie for having the determination to deliver naturally this time after having the C-section with Jackson. She was amazing. She fought through the pain before her epidural so well as she wanted to make sure she did everything she could do to help progress the baby before any drugs. All the nurses and her doctor were so impressed with her focus and ability to deliver naturally especially as they are very hesitant and cautionary about VBACs. Right after she delivered Colin, I looked at her doctor and said - "Jamie, you VBACe'd the crap out of that baby" as a snub to his doubt he's had with her to do it.

Anyways, everything went perfectly and we're thankful for all the friends and families congratulations and support. We'll post some better pictures soon, but here's a look at Colin Jordan (yes, we changed it at the very last minute) Abraham.

The Joys of Parenthood!

2008-10-28T14:37:00.005-05:00

The last couple of days have been pretty relaxed. Jackson woke up yesterday morning with a slight fever and claiming, with tears in his eyes, that he "lost his yawn". Which, translated means that his throat was sore.

We stayed inside all day yesterday, so today I thought it would be fun to carve our pumpkin outside on the porch. I got him changed out of his PJ's, and found us a pattern online that I thought wouldn't be too difficult to carve. The carving kit I bought consisted of a small saw, and a scoop. He claimed the scoop, and told me that I would use the saw. As soon as I cut the top off of the pumpkin, he was out. He didn't want anything to do with mess inside. He wouldn't even come close to it, so he decided that he was going to go to the backyard and play.

Not two minutes after hearing the backdoor shut, I hear him screaming. I, still on the front porch, run through the house and out the door to find him under the trampoline with a can of bug spray (strong stuff, with a lot of deet), covering his eyes. He wouldn't come out, and I couldn't reach him without crawling under the trampoline. Usually that wouldn't be a problem, but right now that's not a very easy task. We run to the bathtub, and I start trying to rinse off his face, and his eyes with a washcloth and water. He's still crying. Then I found one of the medicine syringes that you use for babies. I put some water in it to try to drop it into his eyes.

Now, Jackson is not very trusting when it comes to any medical intervention. He doesn't like it when I try to clean his boo boos, he is scared of neosporine, peroxide, band aids, most anything like that. He doesn't mind taking medicine and vitamins though, because they make them taste so good he thinks it's candy.

With that, I knew it wasn't going to be easy to put drops in his eyes. I ended up having to pin him down in my bed to do it. He was crying the whole time, (which made it even more difficult because his tears made his eyes harder to hold open) and saying that he wanted to go "love his babies"(his many stuffed animals). I know this makes me sound like the worst mom, and I'm sure it was quite traumatizing for him, but I was really worried he was going to go blind or something, and I had no idea how much spray actually got in his eyes to begin with.

It's is so frustrating when you are trying to do something for your child to help them and all they do it fight you on it, and I am well aware that this is a conflict that all parents have with all of their children until they're not children anymore. It's just under different circumstances throughout the different stages of the child's development. Still annoying!

So, after all of the drama, I left him in the house and told him not to go back outside until I finished with the pumpkin (yes I still wanted to finish my Jack-o-lantern). When I came back in, I found him asleep in his bed with all of his babies. So, I think I'm done for the day. Just think, all I wanted was a fun pumpkin carving activity for me and Jackson to do.

I am really starting to worry about the thought of two boys. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for Colin to be here and for Jackson to meet his little brother. Jackson has just been really good lately at stressing me out and I know how multiple boys together can be. Granted, I know the joys that come from being a parent, and I know they will be two fold with two babies. I also know that there is no greater learning experience in life than raising a child, and no greater trial. I know that there is no greater blessing in life than to be a parent of one of God's children. However, will I be able to remember that when I'm trying to clean bug spray out of two, fighting boys eye's? Let's hope so!

Grapevine Pulling

2008-10-21T16:51:00.006-05:00

Today was the Zufelt's annual Grapevine Pulling Party. It's not really a big deal, this is only the second year in a row that we've done it. But it's pretty fun! This year was a little bit more difficult for me than last year, but I still worked hard. So, we get a group of sister's together and go out to this specific super thorny tree somewhere on their, I don't know, 30 something acres and pull grapevine out of it for Tony to decorate her horse pins for The Fall Fest. This year the lucky bunch was Tony, Jenni, Linda, and myself. Jackson had fun running around, dragging vines for us, and playing with all of the animals.

So, I probably did more standing around than anything, but still I was exhausted! After we finished pulling, Jackson got a tour of the farm animals. He got to see the horses, the chickens, the rabbits, the kitten, and, of course, Skip the dog. Skip would chase anything, and Jackson was highly amused. Jackson could through a clump of dirt and Skip would run and pick it up and on occasion eat it. However, I think his favorite was the kitten. He could pick him up and carry him around and the poor thing didn't seem to mind. He had a lot of fun, and ended up worn out, yea!

Thank you Tony for such a fun time! We're definitely looking forward to Fall Fest!

Bug's Life

2008-10-21T15:26:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to do a quick post about this cool catterpiller that we found outside. I found one last year too. I don't think this one is as big as the last one, but it's equally impressive. I think it's called a Luna Moth Catterpiller. It's not the best picture, but you get the idea.

Ahh, the Fall!

2008-10-17T09:07:00.022-05:00

I am so excited that's finally starting to feel like fall here. Jared left this morning wearing a sweater. I love sweaters! It made me a little happy. I decided yesterday to update the blog with something to celebrate Fall. Then I got a call from Grandma Abraham saying that there was a pumpkin patch up at her school, and to bring Jackson. It worked out perfectly. I gave Jackson a haircut, and got him looking all cute and told him we were going to go take a lot of pictures with all the pumpkins. We don't get too many opportunities to get really cute pictures, so I had to take advantage of it while I could. I hope you all enjoy the pictures!

Jackson picking out his pumpkins.

The sun was a little too bright for Jackson, or the pumpkin was too heavy.

Jackson and Me in the pumpkins. Jackson and Grandma trying to decide.

Superman trying to pick up the big pumpkins.

After experiencing the Pumpkin Patch, we decided to have Jared meet up with us after he got off work and go to the park. The park has a couple of reeally nice walking trails, and Jackson loves going for walks.

Jackson riding his race car, and 3 yr old Jackson doing the monkey bars with just a little help from Grandma.

Jackson was trying to show us how your supposed to workout on that piece of equipment.

We had a really fun evening, and Jackson passed out in the car before we could get home(Yea!)

We are excited for the cooler weather and the chance to get outside more without overheating. On top of that, I've been telling myself this entire pregnancy that when it starts getting cold and we start seeing all of the holiday stuff on all the shelves at the store, it would almost be time for Colin to be here, so bring on the Holidays!

Oh, Jared!

2008-10-06T09:32:00.010-05:00

Okay, so, I think everyone is aware of Jared's knee surgery by now. If not you can refer back a couple of blogs. His knee is looking great! He's having some trouble getting it to straighten out completely, so he's sort of getting in trouble from his physical therapist.
Well, this is the new situation. When Jared got home from work on Wednesday, he was changing out of his work clothes, he started to take off his knee brace that he wears everyday, and I noticed a red spot (kind of like a whelp) on his leg about five inches above his knee and a little to the right. He hadn't felt anything and it didn't seem like a big deal. We thought maybe it was just from his brace. The next morning when I looked at it, it had doubled in size and had a bluish color in center of it, and he said he was feeling lightheaded and anxious. Now I was getting worried! 8:30, I called the doctors office. I was told that they would pull his chart and give us a call when the assistant (Bonnie) got there. Our first thought was blood clot, probably superficial, but still. He went to work, and I spent the whole day trying to get in touch with his surgeon. Well, Thursdays are the doctor's surgery days, so he and his assistant were out all day. At some point I called back and was able to set an appointment for 3:30 the next day, and I was told later that I probably wouldn't hear anything from the Dr. until after 4:00 because that's when he usually finishes with the surgeries. Finally, I get a call back from the nurse in the office saying that Bonnie thought it was just swelling from the surgery and that she would see us tomorrow. We'll I knew that wasn't right, but I thought "Fine, they are just going to be surprised when they see his leg tomorrow." So, Jared comes home that night, his leg looking about the same (he had worn his brace all day). I drew some lines around it so that we could tell if the redness was spreading, and we went to bed. The next morning, Friday, he took a bath and it looked as though it had spread about a quarter of an inch around. I called the Dr's office and moved his appointment up to 1:15, and he took off work for the morning. We get there, they call us back, and we wait. Bonnie comes in first to access the situation, and was completely caught off guard by what she saw. She said "I have no idea, I have never seen anything like that". She said she was going to get Dr. Bothwell to come and look at it. She leaves and a couple minutes later we hear a knock on the door. Three nurses were curious and wanted to come in and look at this strange spot on Jared's leg. A few minutes later Dr. Bothwell comes in. He's a really nice guy. He's a tall guy with a fun personality, kind of like a big kid. So, the first thing he says is " What the heck is that!" We all laugh, but with a concerned look, he starts to look over Jared's leg. He's not sure what it is, but does determine that it's not from the surgery. He advises us to go to the Emergency Room to have it looked at so we can start treating it. So, we're off! Just down the street to the Harris Emergency Room. We pick up lunch on the way, and then we go get admitted. And might I add, that Emergency Room's gross me out! I was totally paranoid the whole time think that Jackson was going to contract some strange illness. Thank Goodness for those hand sanitizer pumps that they place on all the walls in there. So after being there for a couple of hour's, getting a room, and Jared changing into one of those lovely gowns, we finally see a doctor. He comes in with his two interns, and diagnosis Jared with none other than a Brown Recluse bite. Only one of the worst kinds of spider bites you can get. And I will also add that I didn't really like that doctor. Anyway, so he writes Jared a prescription for a couple different antibiotics, and about another hour later, we get to leave.
What an adventure! The next day Jared worked on my car and then went to help is friend work on putting siding on a shed. So, by the end of Saturday, that nice blue spot was black. He took it easy all day Sunday, so it hasn't changed much more, but it still looks pretty gross. He got online and looked up other cases of Brown Recluse bites, and got a little freaked out. They can get really bad, but I think that his will heal okay. I bet there will be a scar though, and it will probably be worse than any of the one's he got from surgery! These picts were taken on the same day, but you can tell how much more black it turned within a couple of hours. Yikes!

Well, we hope not......

2008-10-03T10:53:00.005-05:00

I found this website that will let you upload pictures of yourself and your partner, and it supposed to determine what your baby will look like. Apparently we're having and multi racial baby who's gender is a little ambiguous! Anyways, thought it was super funny and thought I should pass it along. Nicole & Nathan, we would love to see what your little one will look like.

Getting Ready for Colin!

2008-10-02T21:07:00.000-05:00

I don't think that I am the best about finding fun things for Jackson to do to keep him occupied, but yesterday while we were at Hobby Lobby getting a few things for YW I decided to buy Colin's wall letters. I had a really cool idea how to incorporate Jackson's letters and Colin's letters together, but I couldn't find the same kinds of letters. So that idea wasn't going to work. Instead I decided to let them have their own different letters. Today, I started a project for Jackson to help me with. We started painting Colin's name to hang on the wall above his crib. Jackson's letters are blue, so I let him decide what color to paint Colin's letters. You'll have to excuse him in his underwear, that's usually what he wears around the house. He had a real fun time painting, and even said "I love to paint!" I guess I'll have to find some more painting projects for him.

I just thought I would include a picture of some homemade snickerdoodles I made for Jared to help make his knee feel better ;) He said that they were "Perfect!" I guess I'll have to make them again.

The New Blog....

2008-09-11T21:35:00.000-05:00

So, we switched our blog. I wanted to have a blog that was a little more customized, I guess. Anyway, so here I am again saying that "I know it been a while since we've posted or updated, but we will be posting more shortly. We have had quite a bit going on, so at least we will have stuff to put up. For Labor Day, we (Jared, Jackson, Christy, Sydney and myself) piled into the car and drove to Athens, Texas to go the Fish Hatchery. Micheal and Sydney went a few years back and have been wanting for us to go, so we thought it would be a good time to. It's about a two hour drive I think, so it was a nice little road trip. We arrived to find out that it was closed though, but that wasn't going to stop us from having a good time. We ended up at Purvis Creek State Park for a day of fishing. We had been telling Jackson that we were going fishing all day because you can fish at the Hatchery. We could tell that he was going to be really disappointed if we didn't keep our promise, that's why we ended up at the park. It was a rough time fishing though. The boat rental attendant insisted that we could all fit on one paddle boat, even though we originally asked for two. So, if you can imagine what a sight we were with not only ourselves, but all our fishing gear, our bait (bucket of live minnows), and our lunches on one paddle boat. Hysterical!

We were so squished that I couldn't get any of Jared in the picture at all. Jackson was required to wear a life jacket, but as you can see, it was a little too big. He couldn't turn his head, and I think for a moment he fell asleep that way. For some reason, the two heaviest people (Jared and I) sat on the same side, so our boat was slightly tilted. Poor Christy had to do most of the paddeling by herself because she was sharing that job with tired, pregnant me, and at some point someone on the back of boat spilled some of our minnows. Even though we didn't catch a single fish (or get a single bite for that matter), it ended up being a really great trip. We all had a lot of fun!

We've got some good pictures of Jared's lovely knee that I'm sure everyone wants to see.
He's doing well, he returned to work yesterday all by himself. He hasn't had anymore sick spells, Thank Goodness!, and his pain has been minimal. We are so very thankful for the progress he is making, and just hope that he can return to his normal self soon. He has to start physical therapy next week, so hopefully that will make the recovery process even more quick, and the doctor said that the clinic he will be going to is one of the best around. He'll be playing volleyball in no time!!!

Today was the Day!

2008-07-02T14:02:00.000-05:00

So, today was the day to find out what this baby would be. Our appointment was at 8:30 this morning in Hulen. Even though we went to bed early, I still only managed about 4 and a half hours of sleep. I didn't think it would affect me so much, but my mind was racing all night. I was up before anyone else, at 5:30, trying to eat sugary things. Hoping to ensure that this normally docile baby might be bouncing around enough to see what we were look for by the time we made it to the doctor's office.
I, however, have known for a while now what this baby would be. Jared and Jackson have been telling me for a long time that it was a boy, but I knew it was a girl. This morning actually, when I was trying to wake Jackson up by telling him that "we were going to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl", he told me "It's a boy mom!" But everything has been so different this time around, and I just had that feeling. I even went as far to find some really cute girl bedding online that I wanted, but I felt I should wait till we had the ultrasound done.
We made it to the doctor's office, and met my mom there who had already been there for probably fifteen minutes or so. We hadn't been waiting long when they called us back. The tech was taking all the normal measurments, and I noticed that the baby seemed to be measuring pretty much on time. Not like before where it had measured a little bigger. So, I was a little relieved about that. Then finally she said, "I guess you want to know what it is." We of course said yes, and she started searching. It seemed to be hard to find, as the baby's legs were closed with one hand stuck between them, and it wasn't wanting to move. So much for the sugar theory! She pushed and bounced my stomach around trying to get some results when finally there appeared BOY parts. So yes, we are having another boy! We are super excited to think about another baby boy, and Jackson having a brother to grow up with. It did make me a little sad to know that I didn't have an excuse to go buy cute, girly things, but I love little boy's! I know how much fun it has been having Jackson in our lives, so I can't wait to meet this new baby boy. Now, we just have to come up with a name....

14 wk Ultrasound Picts!

2008-06-03T13:55:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm actually finally trying to figure out how this blogsite works. Jared set it up, so this is the first time I've messed with it. We are aware that we are really behind on updating and we apologize for that. In all honesty not a whole lot of really interesting stuff has taken place since the last post, but I will try to do a quick update.
I have finally moved out of the first trimester, and feel that on most days a lot of my energy is coming back. The first trimester was much more rough this time around which has had me thinking "Girl"! Jared, after the last ultrasound, I think is pretty certain it is a boy however after something that he said he saw. It really doesn't matter to either of us what it ends up being, but a girl sure would be fun to dress up! Considering space and money, another boy would probably make for a more economic situation ; ). That probably doesn't sound too nice, but you know what I mean. We have our next u/s in exactly a month to find out what we will be blessed with.
My cravings during this pregnancy have been pretty different as well. I have wanted more fruits and salads, but pizza usually sounds good too! I think I've had more aversions than cravings though, which is probably a good thing. My belly is already looking pretty big, people think I'm much further along than I actually am or that I'm having twins. I have to keep reassuring them that I'm not. I don't have any current pictures of myself to post, but I'll try to get some soon. Last week, when we had the u/s done, the baby was measuring a week big. Not too bad, but it does get me a little concerned that I'll be carrying another big baby. Except this time it will be through the summer. We had the first part of the screening tests done last week. They check for Down's, and several other things. I got a call this morning saying that my results came back great, but I still have to take the other half of the screening in a couple of weeks. So, it's looking like whatever we are having should be a healthy one.
Okay, so these are the new pictures of the baby! This is really the most exciting thing that's happened so far, so I definitely wanted to get these posted for everyone. We hope you enjoy!
I just wanted to add, the profile shots look exactly the same as Jackson's when he was the same size. Funny!

We’re starting our Blog out with a Bang!

2008-03-30T13:44:00.000-05:00