This is what Daddy and Viv did while Mom was gone. It was a great father/daughter day. Vivian asks to ride the pony and daddy does what she asks. Sucker.

He also lets her climb up to the hay loft. Umm....good idea, Dad????

Argh- lets get rid of the binky, shall we?????

Ally's birthday present!!

Al decided awhile back that she wanted to "redo'" her room for her birthday. I was all for it, since her room was a little dated. When I asked her what color she wanted to paint it, she said, "HOT PINK!". I asked, "Hot pink like bright and bold, or hot pink like soft and elegant". (There was no leading in that question, right??) She said she wanted it bright and bold. I told her that that color was hard to pull off, so we would have to see just how bold we could get it. We, then, went to visit Al's cousin over Christmas break, and she had a hot pink room!! It could be done without blinding whoever dared to enter!! So, we picked a color called, tropical smoothie, and went to town......

LOVE IT!!!!!

When I was checking out at Home Depot, the cashier asked me, "Are you painting ALL the walls that color?" I took that to mean it was too bright and overwhelming, in her opinion. I did get a little nervous at that point, but there was no turning back. I was so pleased with the outcome! And, yes, that IS the desk I refurbished. I finally got those "after" photos posted - only 5 months later......

I think I have a picture of Al's bedroom, before the transition. Our digital photos are a freaking mess, all unorganized on two different computers. (Anyone as unorganized as me????) If I find some, I will post before and after.

I will NEVER say that my husband is not romantic, ever again. (Well, at least for awhile :) For Valentine's Day, he took all the old, dusty disposable cameras we've had in our basement, from our wedding 12 years ago, and had them developed. I had long given up on those cameras. It was popular, then, to put these cameras on the tables - to let the guests help document the reception. We had some of them developed, but had quickly moved on from "honeymoon stage", to "new parents" very soon after the wedding. They got lost in the shuffle of life's transitions. We moved those cameras to 5 different houses since then. Imagine my surprise when Eric shows up with 13 packets of photos, last night!

As we were looking through some of the pictures, laughing at how young we all were, and remembering some of the people that we haven't seen in years, we came across photos that brought tears to our eyes. We've lost several people in the last 12 years, and there were their smiling faces in those photos!

I will share some of them, just because I want to. Very, very happy memories of the people we love so!




Here is a great picture of my beautiful sister in law! I love this picture of her.

This is McKenzi. She became my "mother's little helper" once I had the kids and Eric was off to Marine training. Her dad was also a Marine(you all know Jeff :), so she would come stay with me and help me. She is now driving and will be graduating from high school soon. WHAT?! But, wasn't it only yesterday, that she was dancing around at my wedding reception, wearing my veil????

Here is another they-grow-up-too-fast, baby. Payton is a toddler, here, but is now getting his learners permit and dating girls(sort of). Really?! Not even a little bit cool, him growing up like that. How dare he???? ;)

This is my friend, Katie, and her mom. MaryAnn is one we lost way too soon. My heart caught in my throat when I saw this picture.

Grandma and Grandpa. I was lucky enough to have them around, still, when I got married. Sure, there are photos in my wedding album, of the whole family. But here, they are dancing!! :) This is a very sweet picture - what a gift!

Thank you, my love, for not listening to me when I said, "Geez, I'm sure those cameras aren't even salvageable, anymore. Just throw them away." There is nothing money can buy that would be more special than these memories.

* But, don't let that stop you from surprising me with a Jeep Wrangler one day. Ha Ha!

So, here it is. The Beast. The Grizz. Pig. Haven't decided on a name for it, yet, but no matter......here it is. Sitting in front of our house. Yay..........


All kidding aside, I think this new family addition will be fun for us. We haven't been much of a "camping" family - I guess I still don't see the attraction, but it will come in extremely handy at the Cowboy Mounted Shoots. It's rough on the outside and rough, but not without potential, on the inside. Once it warms up a little, I can start cleaning!!!!

Hey!! Remember me??
I have severely neglected this blog, lately. It's not so much that I don't have the time, but more about me not having a whole lot to say or share. Crazy. I know, right? We are busy enough with basketball and guitar lessons, but I am so enjoying the peace and quiet for a while, that I'm a little afraid to talk about it, for fear it will go away.



I will spare y'all from the obligatory Christmas photos of the kids opening gifts. I think we all were very pleased with the holiday.

I did want to share one photo, though. This is Vanilla sporting a beautiful, new, hot pink, blanket!! This is what was on Ally's wish list for Christmas. We don't normally put blankets on our horses, so we told her Vanilla probably didn't need one. Well, Vanilla is getting old and has also developed some skin issues, so it turns out, Ally was right. Vanilla,the diva that she is, seems very happy in it.

Volleyball!!

I know, I know....more photos of my kids playing sports. This is different. This was my sport, when I was in high school. I was able to help Ally, giving her pointers and advice. It was something I knew about and didn't have to keep leaning over to the person next to me, asking questions. You'd think I'd be more knowledgeable about baseball and basketball by now, but somehow, I am NOT an expert. Anyway, Al had a lot of fun and says she wants to do it again next year!

Mavericks Football.



This year, after the regular Highland football season, the coaches all voted for 3-4 players from each team to play for an all-star team. I distinctly remember talking to a dad whose son did this last year and being very grateful we were done, while they still had 3+ weeks of football. Don't call me a bad mom just yet. I realize this is a great opportunity for Max and would never interfere.....however.......it was A LOT of football and a part of me was mourning the loss of freedom I had been dreaming of. Of course I'm being dramatic. After all was said and done, Max has a blast, Eric and I were very proud, and the kids got to swim in a hotel pool. It was all goooood.



2 weeks of practice and two tournaments. Max was able to hang with the guys he pounded heads with for 2 months.

The kids had a blast playing in the hotel pool. Eric's mom was in town, so we all headed to Troy, OH for tournament # 2.

The best part of this experience was that Max was able to play receiver, instead of QB. He isn't in love with the QB position, so when the opportunity arose for him to get back to catching and running, he went for it. He ended up with 5 TD's throughout the Mavericks play and loved every minute of it.

The boys seemed to all have a good time and will call each other friend......until next September ;)

Great action shot, right??? Eric took about a bazillion photos of the two tournaments, so trying to weed through all of the shots was excruciatingly slow. This one stood out, though.

I do a lot of grumbling about how much time, energy and money Max's sports require. I should really stop, because he may end up paying for some college with this stuff.....God help us. He's a great athlete and a great kid- a perpetual biological ball of energy. I'd much rather him be involved in sports than riding the streets getting into who knows what. So, I will vow to complain less - out loud, anyway. If you see me muttering under my breath, I am not talking back to the "voices", I am grumbling to myself. At least that's what the voices told me to do.