Carpenter Clan

catch-up

2008-11-27T17:58:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, sorry it has taken me so long to update, but life has been busy. We had Halloweeen with our cool punkins. Spongebob and Frankenstein! The boys really had fun doing this.

Clay and I went camping the weekend of Nov 14th. It was very cold! It got down to 35 degrees at night and only 45 during the day on Saturday with 30 mile an hour winds! Whoo--cold! The weekend before Travis and Tristan went camping and it was cold for them also. Travis actually got pretty sick that next week and still coughs sometimes. Here's me and then Clay camping.

Thanksgiving was great. We had 11 people total for some good eats, smoked turkey, briskit, potatoes, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, pink salad, macaroni and cheese, corn, leek and potato soup, spinach dip, cheese ball, pecan pie, buttermilk pie, sin cake, chocolate fondue with strawberries, marshmallows, pretzels, all yummy things. We all ate too much and were thankful for family, friends, jobs, and the ability to eat with everyone we love.

Hubby and me outside.

fun weekend and some other happenings

2008-10-26T17:17:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics from Cuboree. Clay and I went camping at Camp Wisdom and did lots of fun stuff. First of course was the Rocket space playground. A huge habitrail for kids. Of course Clay wanted to do swinging and flipping, some parents didn't like that idea.....Here's our camp area with Joe. Fun cedar trees to climb in.....

There were lots of totem poles around, this is just one of them......A cool old airplane to play around in...Clay loved jumping off the wing...again some parents didn't like that......he always seems to scare people when he does his jumping thing.....

We had a great time with all the crafts and bb guns and archery. They had a pirate ship with water balls to throw at everyone, a castle with a maze, and a nature center with a 10 foot Burmese python-which was eating two guinea pigs when we went up there :( We had a campfire that the boys did a skit in and then smores--yum!

Here is Tristan at his first orchestra concert. He plays the viola and is really doing well and likes it! He also made the A/B honor roll for the first 6 weeks of school! We are very proud of him and know he can make the good grades.

Here's one of our furry friends that live on our creek. They love to come up and eat the cat food and the bird food. Don't know why, but they like it. Isn't he cute? Ok, have a great week!

Long overdue

2008-09-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

Plano Balloon festival pics.........Clay and I rode down on our bikes and got to see a few balloons. These are our favs.
Yes, it has been a while since I last wrote. I have been so busy with work and cub scouts, gymnastics for Clay, training, training and more training for work and scouts. I am usually so tired on Saturdays after grading papers and doing the home thing. There's always something to clean up, wash, vaccuum, feed, sew, all those things a mom does without thinking. Teaching is going pretty good. I've finally learned 155 students names, who cares about grades and who really doesn't, who likes who, and what to do when they are just driving me crazy! It has been a realy learning experience. I have doubted my teaching skills and then been told that I'm the BEST teacher. What do you do?
The boys are doing good in school. Tristan is enjoying 6th grade, loves his Exploratory classes the most (Theater, Spanish and Life Skills), and Orchestra second. He can actually make some good noises with his Viola. Clay loves his teacher. He was a Music teacher before becoming a 2nd grade teacher and brings instruments to class, that's Clay's favorite time. Ok, have a great week, I'll try to update next week.

Anyone want to buy Boy Scout Popcorn? Gotta sell it--let me know if it's your favorite!

My first week of teaching

2008-08-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, my first week of teaching was great! I was kind of stressed because I don't get to be in my own room the first two periods, another teacher is in there 1st period and then I have meetings with my grade level during 2nd, and I didn't think I could get anything done without being in my own room, but I think I've figured it out. I can get things done, but it takes some planning. My feet were killing me by Wednesday, but now they are much better. I've gotta look for some good squishy shoes. I did have a student taken out of my class on Thurs, he was expelled and sent to special programs school, and two more were expelled for a week. It's sad when your students

make the wrong choices.

Yesterday, we went out to a skeet shoot with some family and friends and had a good time watching the shooting and shooting a little. I took some pics of the longhorns and other interesting things there. Beer Belly? Not on this kid.....Shooter extraordinaire....Please push me, please?!

Last post I totally forgot my birds, top is Charlie, a blue fronted Amazon parrot, I have had him(or her) going on 18 years! Wow, that's a long time! Then Whiskey is below, he(or her) is a double yellow head Amazon parrot. He is older than Charlie, and I got them pretty much the same time. They are really loud, but lots of fun. Singing and laughing and crying whenever I do.
Whiskey.....
Ok, have a great week everyone! I'm only going to update once a week, cause I am so tired after teaching all day I go to bed earlier now.....C YA!

my animals

2008-08-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post some pics of my animals. It was fun to take interesting pics of them. Two of my cats weren't as photogenic as my oldest one. So, here's Becka Lee our English Mastiff.

Here's our Molly Sue, chihuahua( Mexican cat terrier). Travis calls her that cause she has many cat like behaviors.Here's Rosie, 14 year old tortie(that's a color) kitty. I gave her CPR when she was a kitten. I found her on the street as I was riding my bike home from work(vet's office) and she has stayed with me every since.This is Oddball, he's just a kitty, but his brother is the kitty below with Molly. Quite the difference!Cosmo with Molly. He has such beautiful blue eyes, but kept closing them when I would take his pic.Our guinea pig, Buttercup. Very friendly and squeals with delight over alfalfa hay.Quentin the tarantula, going to my science class.Comet the corn snake, going to my class also. His eyes are blue because he is about to molt.Oscarina the tortoise. She really has a personality. Comes out when you talk to her..Red the Betta. I know original name, but Clay named him. We also have a Pac man frog that is at science class already. Forgot to take a pic of him. We have had just about any pet you could name except a ferret(too stinky for me), so if you have questions, let me know. Have a great week! We all start school tomorrow, so I know we will have a great week!

Some recipes

2008-08-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here are two recipes that my family just love and there are some of you that have asked for them.
Leek and Potato Soup
1 pound of leeks, 4-5 medium, cleaned and dark green sections removed, chop in half lengthwise and then chop in little slices.
3 TBS butter
big pinch of Kosher salt plus a little more for seasoning
14 oz Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced small. I have used fingerling potatoes and it works just fine. A small bag of them works well.
1 qt vegetable broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 TBS chives

Take your butter and melt it in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and a heavy pinch of salt and sweat them for 5 minutes. Decrease the heat to med-low and cook until the leeks are tender-25 min or so. stir occasionally.
Add the potatoes and the vegetable broth, increase the heat to med-high and bring to boil. Reduce it again to low, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 35-45 minutes. Turn off the heat and puree the mixture with either an immersion blender or pour it into a blender and puree it until it is smooth. I don't have an immersion blender so poured it into my blender and it all fits :) Pour it back into the saucepan if you had to pour it out, and stir in the heavy cream, buttermilk and white pepper, taste it and add more seasoning if you want. Sprinkle chives on it or some cheese and serve it, or you can chill it and serve cold. My family likes it hot and sometimes we put a little bacon bits on it, bacon makes everything better:)

Then for dessert you can make Buttermilk PIE
This is a true Southern dish.
1&1/2 cups sugar
2 TBS cornstarch
1/2 cup butter-melted
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 unbaked deep dish pie shell

Combine sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl, add buttermilk, butter and vanilla, mix well. Add eddgs one at a time, beating well after each. Pour into pie shell, bake at 425 for 5 minutes, thenreduce temp to 325 and bake for 1& 1/4 hours or until pie test comes clean. I also put foil strips on the crust of the pie shell so they don't burn until the last 20 minutes or so and then take them off. This is Tristan's favorite pie and usually asks for it for his birthday "cake" or whenever we're frying fish or something else way yummy.

Good luck and have fun!

overloaded with info!

2008-08-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was fun, but whew, there was a bunch of info to decompress. It was good that I was at this school for subbing for 7 years cause we were divided up into teams and we had to find different rooms for a scavenger hunt. Of course I got on a team with the new PE teacher who is young and very fit! We ran from one side of the school to the other and back and forth! I knew where all the rooms were and which ones we could cut through to get to the next place faster. Very fun and of course we won GOLD! (I love the Olympics!) We got to choose 3 different prizes from all the ones on the table. Very cool! And then today I had lab safety, lab safety, lab safety for science, although it was very informative and I heard from other new teachers that their class was soooooo boring they were doodling and couldn't understand why they were being lectured to when we are told not to lecture to students but to have them up and doing group work! One day and one week more of training. There is more to teaching than just getting up in front of kids and telling them stuff!
My boys are missing their mommy and want me to quit playing blog, so....don't forget to comment and let me know you were here. C YA!

Things I need to do!

2008-08-12T17:56:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow is my first day at school, all that wonderful new hire info. It will be a long day of info and more info and more info on how to teach and how to get along with everyone and still do my job! So here's a list of things I need to get done before my real first day on the 25th!
1: Finish my "ME" spiral for class.
2: Go through my big giant binders(3) and make sure things are in order again for class.
3: Get some lettering and calendars for my bulletin boards.
4: Go through the files left by the last teacher, who taught for 25 years, and revamp them.
5: Go through all the misc books she left and figure out what to do with them.
6: Go through all the pictures(3 boxes) for bulletin boards she left and figure out what is still good and what is not.
7: Get a small refrigerator for the room. I know, kinda weird, but I don't want to use anyone else's fridge.
8: Get my son's 6th grade schedule and make sure he has the awesome teachers!
9: Finish my "ME" spiral for class!

So, instead of doing these things I am trying to finish some books, play with the boys, do laundry, get Cub Scout schedule going, Vacation Bible Xtreme, take Tristan fishing with his friend that is a girl, keep Clay out of their hair by taking him to the skatepark, do breakfast, lunch and dinner and clean up from those, do more laundry, take care of the animals(that's a great post!), get the boys to the dentist, check my fav blogs and some new ones, and live life until tomorrow! I guess I should try just a little?

Pics

2008-08-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is a little late due to the AC going out upstairs where I have my computer and it was two days before it was fixed! Can you say "wow, 98 degrees in the house?!" Anyway, here are some pics.....So, we stopped in the state capitol(Austin) and took a look around. It was pretty cool. This is the floor and then the rotunda from the inside.Here's Tristan in the first of many lazy rivers. It was hard to take pics cause they would go by so fast, no, it wasn't very "lazy", and I didn't take a waterproof camera, so I was kinda stuck at how far I could take it. Schlitterbahn is HUGE! And if you are riding a tube thing, there's not much else you can do.

This was our first time to see Reece. She's 4 months old and quite the cutie!Here are Cade-4&1/2, Payton-7 and Clay(the weird face)-7. They had fun playing in the many pools all around.

Clay and Payton finishing a cool boogie board slide coming down about 4 stories high. They wanted to go again and again!

Here's all the kids. This was the first time they were all together. Reece and Tristan, Cade, Clay and Payton. All with Nana...And of course we had to go down to the Alamo(San Antonio) and see that. Then we went over to the Wax Museum....it looks kinda real--is it Tom Hanks? Tristan was trying to steal the box of chocolates!

We had a grand time. If you plan to go to the Schlitterbahn make sure you have two days to do all the rides, there are two parts to it and the West side has more stuff to do, the East side has some cool rides but it takes hours and hours standing in line for the slides, so be prepared! Have fun!

Dentist

2008-08-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the Schlitterbahn! We went on many, many tubing rides, slides and wave pools! We also had a history lesson going and coming back from New Braunfels, more pics and etc later.
Today the boys and I had dentist appointments. We love our dentist, but I can't stand it when they use that gritty stuff to polish your teeth! It feels so gross! I don't mind the machine sound or even the scraping off of huge plaque pieces, but the gritty stuff I could do without! Clay has one cavity-upper tooth, Tristan has two cavities-lower teeth and I have a space between my tooth and an old filling and need a crown on a tooth. So next week before school starts will be full of dentist time. YUCK! I know we need to do it, but who wants to spend time in the dentist chair? You're laid back with a light in your eyes, mouth open, lips getting cracked, trying to remember to move your tongue to the opposite side, but forgetting and thinking "Do they notice your tongue is moving all over", giggling, knowing they can't ask you a question cause you can't talk, thinking "Will they find that piece of beef jerky you lost in your back tooth and can't get it out? Or the popcorn you had last night and wow, here comes a kernal?" Hee, Hee! Ok, back to the grind of a house and two boys. Laundry, laundry, feed the animals that the hubby tried to feed while we were gone, but really didn't, groceries, cleaning(?), play a little.........catch up on blogs!

Wow, a week already!

2008-08-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

It has been a week since I wrote anything, not much going on here at the house, but here are a few things that we did do.....
--We made an awesome Leek and Potato soup and I didn't think to take pics until we ate it all. The boys ate it and didn't complain cause it was soup and there wasn't any meat in it. I'll try to remember to take pics next time. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know.
--We did a lot of playing this week. Going on bike rides to the pond/park nearby, going fishing, lego's, lego's, lego's, and we didn't go swimming at all! Amazing! Since we all have rec memberships now it doesn't cost us anything to go to the pools. I take snacks and drinks so the boys are happy.
--I got to finish two books this week, Jodi Picoult and Luanne Rice are really great authors if you like good books.
--I went up to my new classroom and tried to get it organized and put up posters, bones, little things to make it "my" room. The animals will go later, Comet the corn snake, Quentin the Tarantula, and Emmitt the pacman frog. I'm trying to think of something else, but can't think what. Clay went and helped one day and discovered roller chair racing. he loved riding up and down the hallways when there is no one around!
--We head to New Braunfels tomorrow to go to the Schlitterbahn! Woo--Hoo!
So, more things next week, have fun!

A couple things happening...

2008-07-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Krista who lives in Colorado came down to visit her sister and I got to see her! We have been friends since 8th grade! That's a long time, really! It was good to get together and talk. She is such an awesome friend, wife, and mom!

Clay and I went early Sat morning to "Meet the Troops" at DFW airport. It is such an inspiring time. The soldiers come out and all kinds of people clap and say Thank you, Welcome back! There were families there to meet their son/wife/hubby/daughter/dad/mom. It was amazing. Clay was standing at the end of the line and shaking the soldiers hands and one of them stopped and gave him this patch off of his uniform! Wow! I've gotta do some research and figure out what it is for, but it was so neat and awesome! Clay is even more interested in being in the ARMY or MARINES now. I highly recommend this to everyone!

Then we went to the Boy Scout National Museum and it was pretty cool. There was so much info on Boy Scouts and when it started, what you can do,
where you can go, all that good stuff. Clay's favorite
things were the lazer shooting, pinewood derby cars,
and finding the birds. Here he is with a wax figure of Baden-Powell.

Ok, that's it for now, everyone have a wonderful, blessed day!

Bubbles and sisters

2008-07-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Well, last week my oldest got a late birthday present from my lil sis Chickie. It was a giant bubble maker that my boys really loved.

It doesn't look like much but it makes the most fabulous bubbles! See...they're pretty big!

Anyway, she lives in Ft. lauderdale with her two precious girls, M & E.

Her 38th b-day!

She teaches Yoga to pregnant moms, and she is finally going to use her Doctorate she recieved back in 1999/2000? I can't remember when it was, but she is starting up her practice. She is also sooooo crafty. She makes quilts for little ones, potholders, fairies, crayons, all sorts of things. So here are some pics of her, her girls, and her crafts.

Chickie and M....

E, what a cute smile!

Fairies! yes, they are handmade!

Quilts.....they are so beautiful!

My boys and I, with my mom, took a road trip to see her last summer for a couple days and had so much fun at the ocean. She's my lil sis!

My boys with my mom and M.

Pics

2008-07-23T07:01:00.001-07:00

Some pics from our weekend!

Fishing Pier that Tristan fished off of right next to our beach Me and Clay
Clay found a coconut, so he stuck a straw in it's "mouth"
A catfish that Tristan caught in the ocean!
Boogie board fun!
Building my favorite drip and shell castle! Feeding the birds in the air...they can catch whatever you throw! We had about 20 flying over us trying to catch food. Of course we had to visit A&M Galveston. Tristan wants to me a marine biologist!Some weird things you find on the beach....a funky toothbrush, old fishing lures, dead crabs, dead fish, coconuts, tons and tons of shells, tons and tons of trash. It really amazed me how much trash there was washed up on the beach, and trash cans right there not even full! Clay and I spent about 2 hours picking up trash on our Monday early morning walk. People were just looking at us like we were crazy! But we put a little dent in the flotsom(washed up trash).
Shrimp and crabs... SHELLS! It was hard to walk barefoot in some places cause of the shells

My weekend.......

2008-07-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I had an interesting weekend.......we left early on Sunday morning to head down to Galveston island for hubby's conference on turf grass-don't ask! So, we get down there to check in at Moody Gardens Resort, yes, Moody Gardens, we are going to be in a beautiful hotel with the ocean/gulf right out the door, it's going to be awesome! Until....the check in lady says, "Well, you didn't show up Sat night so you have to pay for that night-$190+" Hubby says, we weren't registered for Sat night. CIL says someone called and added on a night and a roll-a-way bed, so you have to pay for it even though you didn't show up! WHAT!!!! Let me talk to your manager...CIL- I am the manager! Let me talk to a different manager--there isn't anyone higher than me here and I say you have to pay for the night! What!!! Do you believe in any customers? We were pretty obnoxious and loud and some people listened.....so in the end we had to pay, but we didn't stay there and we are taking this to our bank and to the higher-ups at Moody and will not pay for Sat night. Needless to say hubby was not in the best of moods for the rest of the day. We found another hotel, right down from the beach, and the boys and I had a great time hanging out at the beach while hubby had to go to the conference for a while. Tristan got to go fishing off the pier and caught some little catfish things. On Monday, the boys and I went to the beach the whole day. We rented an umbrella and two chairs(well worth the $23) and a boogie board and just had fun! Here are some pics from the weekend: something is wrong with uploading...I'll have to try later......

An Award!

2008-07-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, I got an award! I can't believe it! I would like to thank my lovely friend Amorette http://perezfamily4.blogspot.com/ She believes that I am deserving of the Arte de Pico award! I would also like to thank my family for letting momma have her "blogging" time!

So, here are the rules:

You have to pick some blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
*Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
*Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
*Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award. http://arteypico.blogspot.com/.

And, I get to pick some friends to give this award to also:

1) To Stephanie for always posting a yummy recipe, http://stephscafe.blogspot.com/

2) To Katrina for living the Jesus way! http://evolsidog.blogspot.com/

3) To Kat for making me laugh every day! http://mamakatslosinit.blogspot.com/

There are others, but they already have the award :) And if you want it, let me know and I'll tag you! Thanks again Amorette!

Go Green!

2008-07-18T10:00:00.001-07:00

Do you ever wonder what this world will come to when we no longer have any room for trash? Have you seen the movie Wall-E? Do you recycle everything? Have you started buying more ecologically friendly staples? You should! Katy Lin at http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-very-first-giveaway.html is doing a giveaway for laundry detergent from Lets Go Green.biz http://www.letsgogreen.biz/index.html (sorry, I can't figure out the shortcut thing yet). So check her out and let's go green!

wow, it's already Thurs almost Friday!

2008-07-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

This week has just gone by so fast!

The boys and I have done the fishing-it's a 4 pound bass!,

skatepark,

birthday for Joshua(2)and Maddison(1), my great nephew and neice, with bubbles!and swimming thing. Just ordinary boy things! I get busy checking out other blogs and forget to blog on my own! We're getting ready to go down to Galveston for 3 days and can't wait! We're staying at Moody Gardens Hotel (probably too fancy for these rednecks!), and we're going to go to the beach (of course!) and just hang out at the hotel.

Friday night we're gonna have a fish fry for our friend Katrina http://evolsidog.blogspot.com/. She is going to Tokyo, Japan for two weeks as part of iWitness ministries to spread the news of God and Jesus! I am so jealous of her travel, Japan is one place I haven't been. She has already planned a trip to Africa next summer, so if you want to go, send her a comment!

AND, MY HUBBY ROCKS cause he is going to take the boys fishing on Saturday to give me some time by myself to get everything packed and ready to leave EARLY on Sunday. He takes them way out in the boonies to an old friend's ranch. He has 3 tanks with lots of fish in them. This is a big deal because our youngest doesn't really do any one thing for very long, and fishing is a lllloooonnnggg and kinda boring thing to do. Our oldest loves being outside and could fish all day if he had enough water to keep himself hydrated. We don't have a boat, so they have to fish from the water's edge, but they have so much fun being little rednecks for a day!

Ok, have a great weekend and I'll try to post some pics next week!

My hubby rocks

2008-07-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

So, I was browsing blogs and happened onto Katy Lin's blog http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/ and loved her idea of My Husband Rocks so here is my story......My husband rocks because he really is pretty awesome. He works hard all the time on different projects, his latest was installing a sprinkler system for some neighbors up the street to make some extra money for our mini vacation coming up. He worked hard all day Friday and half day on Saturday and then when I asked him to please go get me some yummy ice cream he said "What flavor?" He went and got the most yummy Haagen-Dazs Reserve Fleur De Sel Caramel ice cream and Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. I was in heaven- caramel and chocolate! Two of my favorite things! He made my night and I didn't have to share with the boys cause he got them some special ice cream also-amazing, huh? Ok, more for next week.

feet

2008-07-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

More feet coming.......
Do you ever want to know where your feet have been? Or where you got your feet wet? Or do your feet look like your parents' feet? Why are toes the same size or some longer than others? Well, find out and let me know......Hee, hee.

Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday

2008-07-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday comes and I'm feeling bluish and don't want to do anything. I took Clay this morning to a skatepark in Allen, heard lots of boys say to my 7 year old, "How do you do that?" "Wow, how old are you?" "You get so much air when you launch yourself over the lip!" He amazes us with his ability to roll on anything with wheels. He started roller blading, skateboarding, biking when he was about 2 and hasn't stopped. The scooter is his favorite to do tricks with, but tricks come naturally to him on all wheels. When we got home the boys left for a waterpark with friends, and I'm left alone to sit and read or get my butt up and clean something(but who wants to do that?) I've got to finish going through my teacher binder to find out what I get to teach some 7th graders, but I just can't do any more right now.

I chanced onto a Max Lucado reading and thought I would share: Contentment: Satisfied? That is one thing we are not. We are not satisfied...We take a vacation of a lifetime...We satiate ourselves with sun, fun, and good food. But we are not even on the way home before we dread the end of the trip and begin planning another. We are not satisfied. Contentment is a difficult virtue. Why? Because there is nothing on earth that can satisfy our deepest longing. We long to see God. The leaves of life are rustling with the rumor that we will--and we won't be satisfied until we do. "Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks". Philippians 4:6
Thank you God for my husband, my two boys, my family and friends, for a house to live in and jobs to work. For all things I give thanks.
Have you given thanks today?

Turning 12 and having fun!

2008-07-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

Tristan had a great birthday! Here are some pics of the huge water slide bounce thing with his friends, and then later shooting off fireworks with his bro and Suzy-his friend that is a girl :)

Yes, it is a snake: Comet the 5foot Corn Snake.Clay really isn't sad, he's just pretending, really! They had so much fun shooting off the Roman Candles and the Artillery Shells!

Pretty fireworks huh?

He and his brother spent the 4th swimming at her pool with her sisters and playing games, and then we went and watched fireworks that the City of Plano put on. One thing about that, we live about 1 mile from where they did the big fireworks so we thought we would ride our bikes there, we all have bikes that work now, and thought it would be easier than walking.......well, it would have been easy if people would listen to who is behind them and which way to move(right/left) and not walking into our bikes! One guy said "I just walk around totally oblivous, not caring who is behind me"? Huh? I told him he needs to pay attention! Another guy said "You guys need to walk those bikes! There are people walking here!" Huh?! We are on bikes, you ride bikes! There were several thousand people there, but it was really a nice time, we picked a place with not too many people. They would stop right where they parked their cars instead of walking a couple hundred feet to a not so crowded spot. And the ride back home wasn't too bad 'cause we just rode on the wrong side of the street where there weren't any cars! Got home safe and sound!

I was watching the Style Network and they had the Messiest House in the US and oh, I just felt sorry for those people. They have to have a mental disorder to not even try to throw stuff away. So today, Travis and I cleaned out the little closet under the stairs! Whew! There was so much stuff in there you couldn't even walk in and look for something. I was embarassed.....so, everything out and then put stuff back in order or toss it. Now, I need to go through our other closets.....there are too many and oh, so much stuff! One day at a time!

July 1st!

2008-07-01T09:59:00.000-07:00

I love July! Here are my reasons:

: it's my first son's birthday month

: it's hot most of the time

: we get to shoot off fireworks!

: so we can spend a lot of time in the pool!

: it's only a month (or so) until school starts!

: we get to shoot off fireworks!

I love July!

Rockin' Sunday

2008-06-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

Today at Chase Oaks, Pastor Jeff talked about how flawed Paul was and how we are all flawed also, but God loves us anyway and uses our weakness for his power! I really liked his message. He talked about how everyone has a counter-balance person in their life, and Travis is my counter-balance. He is such the Type-A personality and I'm really not, but we have to work on our weaknesses and make them positives. My hubby really rubs me the wrong way sometimes, but that is who he is, and I love him for that. We were watching the "Bourne" series, I just love Jason Bourne-he can fight anyone!-anyway, Travis was saying that he wants to be that scary and I said you already scare people with how you talk and deal with people, he doesn't think so! He will understand someday.....

So....this week is Tristan's birthday! He's going to be 12 on the 3rd of July! I really can't believe that he is already 12, it seems that not so far back I was watching fireworks out the window, holding him up so he could see them on his 'Birth"day, or he was walking around in Travis' big boots, nekid(2yrs old), and thinking he was so cool, or he was playing goalie f0r the first time(6ys old) and so nervous, or just starting school, now he's going into 6th grade and way too cool to be homesick for his mom at a week-long Boy Scout camp. I missed him even though he didn't miss me, just the food at home. We'll have a big water slide bounce house and ice cream cake with our annual trek out to Lavon for shooting off fireworks! So, I'll catch ya later.......

wacky wednesday

2008-06-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

Clay, Becka and Molly
Clay being silly

last two weeks

2008-06-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been quite interesting the last couple weeks. The boys and I had Cub Scout Day Camp, here's a pic:

Then the boys went to Dry Gulch Church camp and had a really good time.

Tristan got his birthday gift a little early cause he was going off to Boy Scout Camp at Lake Bridgeport and needed a BIKE!

So, we've been biking and swimming, and just hanging out. We went to see Kung Fu Panda-all of us thought it was hilarious! Tristan, Clay and I went to this mountain bike trail in Garland that goes on and on and on! We rode for a while until Clay's tire got a hole in it and then it was walking back to the car....long walk. We saw some wildlife: copperhead snake-scary, turtles, ducks, lizards, birds, and lots of mud! We had lots of fun though!

We have also decided to leave Four Corners Church. It was a really hard decision, but we have found a new church already: Chase Oaks Church off of Legacy in Plano. It is much closer and have already gotten our boys interested in some things for the summer. So, if you need a new church home then come see us!

Quote of the day!

2008-06-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves.

By: Dale Carnegie

Gotta get your tissue!

2008-06-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

I found this on another blog and thought it was awesome! Don't forget to get some tissue!

Freaky Friday

2008-06-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it is Friday the 13th. My boys are gone to church camp in Oklahoma. The house is very quiet, so I'm playing my music very loud and just having a day off. It's weird, I love my boys and when they are around my life is never slow, there is always some argument or some new thing they want to show me. We had Cub Scout evening camp this past few days and it has really been fun! Tristan helped our little den and received his First Class Boy Scout badge on Wednesday. We made bug catcher boxes and there went all the bugs! Clay is forever bringing me new bugs he thinks the kids will love in my science class "Cause they are gross MOM!" He's the one who is always outside riding his bike, skateboard or scooter. Tristan works diligently making new "guns" or going fishing. The first day of summer there was a note on the door saying "Gone fishing, bringing back supper!" Pretty funny. They both are always going down to the creek and fetching something else from down there, wanting me to go creek-walking. This was a favorite activity when I was young with my little sis. We would just take off in shorts and a tank walking down or up the creek, swimming when necessary, usually just wading through yucky mud that would swallow your feet. But it was so much fun! We never thought of snakes, turtles, spiders, all those things I now know are there and make me kinda crazy! We have all kinds of animals in our creek, raccoons, coyotes, possums, armadillas, owls, alligator snapping turtles, red ear sliders, water snakes, frogs, toads, foxes, ducks, even badgers for a few months! Whew! Back to right now..... Ok, I'm going to try to clean up the house while the boys are gone, get their old toys and clothes together to give away. That's a job, and never very fun.
Kari Jobe's Revelation Song is on right now and I just love it! Praise to the King of Kings! You are my everything! Holy, Holy, Holy, Is the Lord God Almighty! Who was and is and is to come! And I will adore You! Wow! Amazing that God loves us so much and we Him! Love those songs! Ok, have a great day on Friday the 13th!

A few of my flowers

2008-06-04T14:12:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show off some of my flowers in my front yard. I love trying to devise new ways to put more flowers in my yard. Happiness=flowers!

Thursday.......

2008-05-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

Well today is Tristan's graduation day from 5th grade. I really can't believe he is already graduating. He is such a sweet boy and growing into a wonderful young man. I don't miss those days of diapering, nursing, diapering, sleeping, diapering, nursing, etc. He has passed his TAKS, done pretty good in classes and not had a bad week at school in a really long time. He really enjoys outside activities like fishing, fishing, and fishing some more, then shooting, shooting, and shooting some more. He also enjoys art and trying to make his brother scream at him--love that sibling rivalry. Good luck Tristan in Middle School! Love ya, Mommy

Also, today is the day that my mom left for South Korea again after being here in the states for 5 months, the longest she has been here in 4 years. They have been an interesting, learning time.

Memorial Weekend

2008-05-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

It's Memorial Day Weekend and we've had fun. Travis and I celebrated our 21st anniversary on Friday by going to The Keg for dinner! It was so yummy! Travis had New York strip steak and I had a sirloin and crab legs. They were so good, we highly recommend going there for great steak. We can't believe it has been 21 years together, it seems like yesterday we were getting married, buying our first car and moving to San Diego.

We've now been married more than half our lives. WOW!

Saturday we took a drive to Gun Barrel City, then went over to Katrina and Vickie's house to BBQ and swim. The boys are natural fish swimmers. Here's Clay doing a dive:

He is so fun in the pool. Loves going down slides and doing flips, handstands,etc. Tristan loves just swimming and flipping around in the water. Slides are good fun, but swimming is better.

Thanks to all those men and women who gave their lives so that we might have the opportunity to have a free life.

A Job!!!

2008-05-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I had my interview on Friday at 4:00pm. I thought it went great, that they liked all my answers and I would hear something by Monday......well....I didn't hear on Monday, I talked to the Science Dept Chair, she said for her I was a go, but the principal would have to tell me, so I subbed there again on Tuesday and at 2:30 he stops by my room and says, "Hey, you're here, will you check with me out on the student porch after school?" I was so nervous! Anyway, he said "well, I'm going to recommend you to HR, you're in for the Fall teaching 7th grade Science!" I was so happy, I almost hugged him, but I just said Thank you very much! So now I'll have to think Science, Science, Science! If you have any cool Science things that you're not using, send them on...... More later....... Summer's coming!

2008-05-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

This week as gone by so fast it seems. School is almost out and the boys can't wait for summer to be here. Clay and I went to the Dallas zoo on Thursday with his first grade class. We had a great time seeing all the new animals and enclosures they have. We all agree that the elephant, giraffe, hippo enclosure needs to be redone to be more natural. I really miss the San Diego Wild Animal Park with all the animals roaming together, getting along and more "free". All the little girls in Clay's class wanted to be in his group cause he is sooooo cute! I had to work overtime trying to keep them from touching him all the time!
Thursday night Travis and I went with Katrina and Vickie to see Rev. Horton Heat and Backyard Tire Fire at the House of Blues in Dallas. We had such a good time. RHH was awesome and BTF was pretty good too! We stayed pretty late(11:30) and The Rev wasn't done- maybe next time we can stay til the end.
Friday, I had an interview for a science position and I thought it went really well. The questions that the principal and asst asked were ones that I didn't even stumble on.....just answered the question with no "ums, likes, ands, etc". Then Tristan and Travis left for a canoeing Boy Scout camping trip down the Guadalupe! I hope they are doing just awesome! Pray that Travis has a positive time with the boys. My Saturday was full with Cub Scout Day camp training, two birthday parties, and just Saturday stuff to do- laundry, yard, groceries, misc. errands that I don't have time for during the week. We also got a new guinea pig friend. Her name is Buttercup Bacon Carpenter, of course Clay named her. He likes those long names. I suggested Reeses Peanut Butter Cup with Bacon and Biscuits Carpenter, but he didn't go for that one! :) Well, Becka and Molly really liked her, wanted to really smell her hard, but she was safe.
Ok, time for bed----have a wonderful week! Jesus loves you!

Mother's Day

2008-05-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day was really great for me. We had a whole weekend of fun. On Saturday we went down to Dallas Market Hall for the Boy Scout Show. Clay's favorite thing was the zip line and Tristan loved the snakes.

Clay had a gymnastics show on Sat night and he did awesome as usual.

On Sunday, my hubby gave me a beautiful necklace that my friend Heather made, Tristan and Clay gave me a bow so that I can shoot with them now. Yes, we do shoot both bows and guns. After church we came home and relaxed for a few hours and then went to Genghis Grill with my mom, Trav's mom and dad, and Katrina and Vicky. The food and friends and family was great, but service was not so great.

Anyway, we came home and had a pinata and cake

for Katrina's birthday! Everyone got a chance to

hit the pinata, and some of us had some really good hits! It was fun!

God has really blessed me with a wonderful husband and two handsome sons, family and friends. It amazes me all the time how God works in our lives even if we don't think about Him all the time.

Another day

2008-05-08T19:36:00.000-07:00

Well, another day goes by. A day of getting lunches made, dogs, cats, birds, turtle fed, coffee made, boys up and ready for school, kiss for hubby to work, off to two elementary schools and me to subbing at one of my favorite schools, dealing with all the hoopla of being a sub, having an appreciation gift from a kid at school, working out, making Tristan do his homework then Clay do his, getting dinner started, finding out from Mom that she'll be going back to South Korea, writing a recommendation for my friend Katrina, finally eating dinner, watching my favorite reality "Survivor" and wondering how stupid you have to be to believe 4 women that are after your immunity and giving it up to one of them and thinking you're not going to be voted off!, watching another favorite "CSI" and all the hilarious comments!, letting the dogs out to potty, putting the boys to bed and another load of laundry-does it ever end?, then the end of "Lost", and now blogging. I need to go to bed.......maybe some quiet time with the hubby and then bed.....

Birthday, jury duty and more!

2008-05-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

Travis' birthday went well. We had friends and family over for burgers and dogs and lots of other munchies, even homemade ice cream! Yum! A good time was had by all. Here is Travis with Molly, she wanted to see what all the fuss about turning 41 was about. She is always so curious about things.

On Sunday after church we went to a RoughRiders baseball game. That was fun even though we all got a little sun. Clay really wanted to catch a foul ball, but none came close :(

Our seats were pretty good, and there were people we knew behind us.

Monday is scout night for me and Clay. We are decorating the bowling pins for the Scout show on Saturday. It's a huge deal at Dallas Market Hall, about 150-200 packs and troops from all over come and show their stuff. Today, Wednesday, I had jury duty for Plano, and actually got picked for a Class 1 Misdemeanor trial! This older man got caught speeding with no license and he thought he was innocent! He defended himself and really was pretty clueless. He should have just paid the fine, but he wanted other people to feel sorry for him. I did feel for him, but he was still guilty of driving without a license and speeding!

That's it for now, talk to ya later!

2008-05-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot earlier that today was Travis' birthday! We had lasagna and peanut butter cookies! He got a new awesome grill, but it took us over 2 hours to put it together! He loves it though. As we were getting dinner ready Clay was outside doing his tricks on his scooter and guess what? He wrecked! It was a pretty bad one, road rash all up his right side from hip to armpit-ouch! When I figure out how to add a picture I'll put one in. For now, it's late and I got to get some sleep..........

2008-05-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Here are my awesome boys!

We went to the park yesterday after school and took pics for my Mother's day gift. It was a beautiful day, little windy, but sunny and warm.

This is a poem that Tristan wrote:

Love is something that you spread,

not hate, throw away or get rid of.

You give it to people, like when

you love someone, like a girlfriend or boyfriend.

You give it, not throw it away.

LOVE IS IMPORTANT!

I thought that was really good for an 11year old. He thinks he is almost a teenager, but he still has a year to go! He is my fisherman, shooterman, lover of the outdoors! I love both my boys so much! Clay is so active and happy. He loves to ride his bike, skateboard and scooter, loves doing tricks on them! He's getting better and better! Later :)

My first one

2008-05-01T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my first blog. We'll see how often, and how cool I can make it.