CAMPER!

I know, two blog posts in two days.  It's crazy... I'm crazy!

But, I wanted to share with the world our fun new car game.  I'm not expecting this game to catch on.  In fact, I'm sure most of you will scratch your head and say... "oooooookay...."

The origin of the game began like this.  Randy wanted a camper top for his truck for quite a while for all of our weekend traveling, etc. (soccer gear, chairs, camera, ice chests etc.) and I agreed a camper would be a great idea.

So, he found one on Craigslist and drove to Dallas to pick it up.  It was exactly what he wanted... except it was WHITE.  His truck is black.  So, we had to make plans to have that fixed.  Goodness knows, a big ol white camper top on a black truck was not gonna cut it.

He had the camper vinyl wrapped in a carbon fiber design and it's really cool!

But here's the thing... ever since he got his camper, the girls and I have been noticing campers on trucks.  And you know what?  There are a lot of mismatched camper tops.  A lot of "old school" camper tops on newer trucks and quite a few "redneck" camper tops out there.  Don't believe me?  Keep your eyes peeled and you'll find them too.

Here's what I'm talking about.

(As you will note, Randy's truck is the black truck with the camper and the three bikes hanging off of the FRONT of the truck.  While this doesn't fall into the "redneck camper" catergory, it does fall into the general redneck category to which, Randy is proud... and offended... all at the same time.

So, the game is this...

• 1pt for spotting a camper on a truck
• 1pt for spotting a mismatched camper
• 1pt for spotting an "old school" camper (which is usually ALSO mismatched)
• 10pts for spotting a "redneck" camper (believe me, we've each spotted at least 2-3 of them!)

Let me just say... we've gotten into some LIVELY games in the vehicle over this.  We plan to play it on our road trip to Yellowstone... only this time, we're really going to keep track of the points.  Everyday.  It will be fun and I'll be sure to keep you posted on who wins.

Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'...

It's already June 10th.  Heck practically June 11th from where I sit.  Did y'all know that?

Goodness, it's been a busy couple of days... Randy's in Taiwan, heading back tomorrow and we've been busy with our summer vacation planning.

But, in the middle of all of that, we've had lots of fun.  Been swimming, biking, running and hitting the local parks.

Randy bought us girls mountain bikes about a month ago and already twice this week, I've loaded the bikes in the back of the van and we've hit the biking trails around town and the nearby town.  LOTS of fun.  I never thought I'd enjoy bike riding so much, but I truly have.

Last weekend, my friend Cyndi and her kids Joey, Suzie and Elizabeth came for a visit!  We were so excited to see them.  Even though, they only live in Houston, we still don't get together but about once a year.  Sad, I know.

Anyway, I've known Cyndi since her oldest was 6 months old, so not only do we go way back, but the kids go way back as well.  What's nice is that their friendship (much like Cyndi's and mine) is seamless and we all pick up where we leave off every time we get together with them.  That's the mark of a true friendship!

Some exciting news on our front... Elisan made the TOP soccer team in her age division.  In two years, she has worked her way up from the third team to the first team.  That is virtually unheard of around here... but I tell you what, she has put forth the work required to make the leap she made and we are incredibly proud of her.  Her new coach is a fellow by the name of Wolfgang Sünholz a former professional soccer player.  (He even played with Pelé, probably the most famous Brazilian footballer of all times, back in the 70's.)

Speaking of Elisan, for posterity sakes, I wanted to publicly commend her for a fabulous school year.  This year, Elisan received the HIGHEST AVERAGE award for 5 of her classes - Math, Science, English/Language Arts, Literature and History.  At one point, they just asked her and another boy to just stay on the stage as they passed out her awards!  Talk about a proud mama moment!

Kyla was in the school's talent show the last day of school.  She was part of a trio of girls who danced and sang on stage!  She was so cute and I'm very proud of her for getting up there and performing.  (She says she suffers from "stage fright".... um, okay?)

And finally, I leave you with this... we had a free weekend morning and I brought the girls out to have their (better late than never) Spring pictures.

My girls are growing up... sniff, sniff.  (And, yes, they are wearing a smidgen of make up.)

Last Day!

Wordless Wednesday

School's out Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday... sort've

My girl was awarded the Bible Memory

medal and certificate for her third grade class.

Way to Go!

Y'all, bear with me...

Seems like every year about this time, I'm compiling a huge blog entry to memorialize a combined 2-3 weeks of busyness.  This year is no different.

So, y'all, bear with me...  Plus, there will be a lot of "Proud Mama Moments" (or PMM for short)

April, our school had their annual Jog-A-Thon.  Such a fun time for the Elementary and Middle School kids.  Elisan and Kyla were amazing... by running NON-STOP for 30 minutes.  PMM for sure!

Next up, Kyla had her "Heroes of the Faith" presentation at school.  She chose Joni Eareckson Tada as her hero.  Joni was in a diving accident at age 18 and broke her back, rendering her paralyzed from the neck down.  Despite it all, she became a world renown painter (painting with a brush in between her teeth) and has a world-wide Christian ministry called "Joni & Friends".   Kyla has been working on this presentation since January, which included research, illustrations, writing, oral presentation and publishing a book regarding her hero.  PMM! (Here's a picture of Kyla giving her presentation, along with a photo of her with her classmates dressed as their hero.

 

This girls' last regular season soccer game was in San Antonio and my brother and his family joined us for the game.  The girls were happy to see them and they both played well that day.

April 30th was our ACAA District Track Meet for area private Christian schools.  It was fun coaching the team again this year, and although the girls did not bring home the first place trophy this year, they did bring home the third place trophy, which in my opinion is still AWESOME!

Discus Girls

 Elisan throwing the discus. As tiny as she is, she did well

in this event... placing 10th out of 21 girls.

Elisan's throw: 33-04

800M girls

This was not a favorite event (800M) for Elisan, but she did

her best and that was all I ever wanted!

Elisan's time: 3:29.51

Elisan and a teammate from Elisan & Kyla's soccer team!

Summer attends one of the local private schools as well.

400M girls

Elisan's time: 1:30.49 

Lining up for the 1600M

PROUD MAMA MOMENT!

Elisan placed 5th place in the mile

with a time of 8:06.24.

Kyla's class went on a field trip to visit the homestead of early Texans dating back to 1850.  It was a nice fun field trip... not overly exhausting... just right!

 I love this picture, not because of Kyla but because of the two

silly boys sitting next to her!

 Here's Kyla climbing a pole to ring the cattle bell.
She was totally going for it,

until the tour guide made her climb down. 

Here's the whole class in front of the home.  

And finally, the Jog-A-Thon "Hummo" Ride is awarded to the kids who raise over $300 for the school's fund raiser.  PMM!

 Third Grade went to Gattiland for Lunch.

Middle Schoolers went to Starbucks for
an afternoon pick-me-up!
(I chaperoned this group and was able to
go along for the ride!)

Just to give you an idea of who busy this month is for us...  Here's what is coming up for this month:

• Award's Chapel (Elementary)
• 6th Grade Drama Presentation
• Awards Night (Middle School)
• Select Soccer Try-outs for both girls
• 2 Soccer Tournaments
• Finals & End of School Parties
• Randy squeezing in an overseas business trip

And once school is out, we have two weeks to recover from school before we hit the road on our family vacation to Yellowstone!  

Whew... makes me tired just thinking about all of it!

Oh, and check this out....

Traffic to my blog has been going crazy these past few weeks because of a simple Teacher Appreciation freebie download I blogged about a couple of years ago.  It's kinda funny how one simple idea took off like it did.  I suppose that's the beauty of Pinterest for you.

Blog Brain Dump

Y'all.  I'm tired. It literally takes every fiber of my being to drag myself out of bed.   As usual, this time of year (mid-April to the end of May) is our busiest season of the year.  And let me tell you... I will be so happy when summer break finally arrives.  I'm tired.  The girls are tired.  Randy is tired.  We're all just tired.

So, yeah...

I am coaching 5th and 6th grade track again this year.  For the record, I love coaching track.  It's so much fun and I truly enjoy seeing these kids find an event they love and do well in.  But, goodness, I'm at the school 4 days a week during their PE times this year and needless to say it's chaotic.  In case you didn't know.... we live quite a ways away from school, so oftentimes I will just stay at the school until it is over because well... the cost of gas is nuts and burning that much gas going back and forth from home to school multiple times a day... it just ain't worth it.  So, my house and laundry are suffering the most these days.  Plus our diets... because we have had to eat a lot on the road, which is YUCK... but you do what ya gotta do.

I have one more full week of track practices before our meet and then, it will be May 1st and that's when the real chaos begins with end of school stuff.

Like I said before... summer can't come soon enough.

And, then there's soccer.  Soccer everyday... soccer on the weekends... soccer games 100 miles away... indoor/outdoor practices...  we are the family that lives and breathes soccer right now.. which is kind of embarrassing.  I mean... we have become the family that most people, "tsk, tsk" about.  Part of me wants to say... just wait 'til your kid is old enough and you are running them around to their various practices, meetings, events, etc.  And, it doesn't just have to be sports related.  It can be orchestra, drama, dance, chess club, Girl Scouts, etc.  Ours just happens to be soccer.  So, hold your "tsk, tsk" for now.

But, y'all, as crazy as our life seems right now, I know looking back on it, perhaps the only thing I wish I would have done differently was NOT complain about it... because truth be told... this is just a season of life and I know I will miss it once it's over.  (Sniff)  Makes me want to have more kids so I can relive it.  (Did I just say that out loud?)

My Elisan has been such a joy lately.  She's becoming so mature and interesting to talk to.  I pray that the joy of these pre-teen years are an indication of what her actual teenage years will be.  She's so easy to get along with, doesn't give us a lick of trouble and is just a true blessing to us.  I am immensely proud of her in every area of her life.  I know there are times when she gets frustrated or feels "wronged", but I pray that these times will build up her inner strength rather than tear her down.

Stepping onto my soapbox... I think a lot of what we are doing at home... no cell phones, no texting, no Facebook, no instagram, no sleepovers, limited television and music influence has made a big difference in how she behaves with us and in public situations.  Now, I realize... as she gets older, we'll have to loosen the reigns a bit and allow her more privileges, but for now... it works for us.  Plus, she's too busy with school and soccer (and too exhausted in the evening) to even think about the stuff her friends are consuming themselves with.  And too busy to spend time with kids who may or may not be the best influence on her (in actions, words and attitude.)

And Kyla Mae... she's just so darn cute and funny and happy... but I will add sassy to the mix.  Kyla is a bit more impressionable and I've seen it affect her this year.  She's glommed onto one particular girl this year, who by all accounts, is a nice enough girl, but who most certainly has "attitude" with a capital "A".  I've had to call Kyla out on several things that she has said or mimicked in direct relationship to this child's behavior and let her know that what she is doing is not acceptable.  Y'all.  This has been hard to do.  Because NEVER have I seen such an influence attach itself to my child.  I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, these two will be separated next year in the 4th grade.  I need to start sending up prayers NOW for this.

In soccer news, Kyla and Elisan are both doing so well.  Randy and I could not be happier with how they both are progressing.  Kyla is definitely talented in all things soccer and has potential to be a great athlete.  Elisan still has to work hard, but I know that her hard work will eventually pay off.

I leave you with this.... Kyla invited her third grade teacher to her soccer game last weekend and SHE CAME.  Miss Hurt has been such a blessing to Kyla this year and we're so blessed to have her a part of our lives.  Miss Hurt is an amazing Christian woman, who is passionate about God and His children.   Her expectations are high and all of her students strive daily to meet or exceed her expectations.  They love her just as much and she loves them.

Wordless Wednesday...sort've

Got bracelets?

Wordless Wednesday (sort've)

From soccer "stud" to soccer "dud"...  in a matter of seconds.

Soccer Sisters

There is no greater fun that watching both of your girls play soccer for the same team!

This Spring season, Kyla was asked to join Elisan's team by the coach and Randy and I jumped at the chance to do so.   I mean, how convenient is it to have both kids on the same team, rather than running in two different directions because of game conflicts.

Kyla is 9 years old playing on Elisan's team of 11 year olds.  Don't think for a minute that I don't get worried seeing my baby out there with those big girls, but honestly, she's holding her own and doing very well.

Elisan is even happy to have Kyla out there with her because they trust each other and know what the other is capable of doing.  It's definitely been a neat experience watching them flourish on the fields together.

Sadly, this will likely be the last opportunity for them to play together for a while, so we're enjoying this season as much as we can and taking LOTS of pictures.

Middle School Fashionista

Y'all, I'm going to have to start a "Middle School Fashionista" segment on my blog in honor of my 11 year old.  She can put outfits together that are remarkably cute and work well together.

Take this outfit for example... gray leopard print jeggings, neon green AERO henley, purple undershirt, denim vest (recently was a jacket, we cut the sleeves out last week) and shiny slip on shoes.

Had I put this outfit together for myself, Randy would disown me... but Elisan puts it together and she looks adorable.  What do you think?

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend, but not ONE single picture to prove it.  Isn’t that sad?  What have I become?  I’ll tell you what… I’ve become a horrible blogger.

So, Easter weekend… Both sets of g-parents came into town for the weekend.  We are not set up to accommodate both sets of grandparents at one time, so we had my folks stay with us one night and Randy’s folks stay with us the next night. 

On Friday, Randy’s folks took the girls for the day and treated them to bowling, lunch and shopping.  Fun was had by all!

On Saturday, Kyla Mae had a soccer game and afterwards, we loaded up and headed down to San Antonio to my brother’s house for a crawfish boil.  Crawfish are pretty much the GOLD standard of Easter meals for my family.  And, my brother cooks them the best.  Not too spicy, but just spicy enough. 

We enjoyed the day there, but headed back that afternoon.  Sunday morning, the girls woke up to a basket full of future cavities… um, I mean, candy.  Then we headed to church.  Our church put on an illustrated sermon and it was really good. 

Afterwards, it was business as usual ‘round our house… with lunch, laundry and bill paying.  Oooooh, the fun of it all.  Oh, and I snuck in a nap while Randy took the girls on a bike ride around the neighborhood.

So, that’s about it for us.  A whole lotta busy family activities, crawfish and not one single picture.  Sigh…

Oh, the pressure...

It's been a while since I retired my "Goodwill Gal" blog.  In fact, October 2010 was my last entry.  I'm still shopping at Goodwill and Salvation Army and STILL finding amazing deals all of the time.  But, I think I put too much pressure on myself trying to find an amazing deal to write about on my Goodwill Gal blog.  So, that's why I retired it.  Who needs unwanted pressure?

But, still... from time to time, I find myself wanting to blog about my really cool finds! So I would like to start a blogging segment about it again.  It may be once a week... it may be once a month.  HECK, it might just never get off the ground...  (sigh...)

So, without further introduction...

Here's my latest really cool find at the Salvation Army.  I was doing my weekly walk through of the local Salvation Army when I came across this chair.  I sat down on it and immediately phoned Randy to tell him I was buying a chair and to not be alarmed when he got home and I needed help unloading it.

The price?  $160.00  

Y'all, this chair is awesome.  It's firm, the frame is sturdy, the leather is in great shape and the style is timeless.  There are no markings on the chair to indicate the brand, other than this horse head on the base.  (If anyone knows this brand, I'd love to hear from you!)

Bonus... it matches our leather sofa in our living room.

Pretty awesome deal, wouldn't ya say?

(We also purchased Elisan's bedroom furniture from the Salvation Army.  The S.A. is a great place if you are in the marked for gently used furniture.)

All it takes is vision!

Y'all, Randy has requested that I update the garden planters I blogged about back in January.  He accused me back then, that I didn't see his vision. 

Guilty, as charged.

But y'all, look what I had to work with.  Would you see raised garden planters from this?  I mean, c'mon... I don't normally lack vision.  I'm a visual person.  

So, today, I submit to you... the finished raised garden planters... ready for a Spring garden.  Randy is clearly proud of his handiwork... or proud of my lack of vision.  Whatever the case may be, his raised planters turned out pretty well.  He even has some neat features that will come in handy.

See the metal poles sticking out along the sides of the planters?  Those not only hold the wood in place, but they will also serve as means to stake up plants or create a green house effect.  Imagine taking a flexible piece of plastic pipe and bending/attaching it to the pole on the opposite side... making an arc shape.  He could do that all the way down each planter and drape plastic over the planters (green house) or tie up plants that need a little bit of extra support.  Pretty nifty.

He also created a drip line irrigation system that extends to each planter.  As you can see, each section has an irrigation soaker hose around in.  Beats having to stand there with a water hose... plus, the slow drip will ensure a good soaking when needed.

He planted a little bit of everything!  Squash, spinach, red onions, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, herbs, carrots, etc.  And some of it has already begun to sprout!

The added bonus... I think Kyla may have inherited Randy's garden green thumb.  She's taken a big interest in the garden and is excited to see the new growth each day.

I think Randy did a great job with the planters and I can't wait to reap the benefit of the fresh veggies!