Another Busy Week!

It shouldn't be as busy as last week, but we have a lot going on this week still. Actually it's not so much as a lot going on but a MAJOR thing going on. . . . . it's something I haven't talked about or mentioned here before now, and I was deliberately waiting til nearer the time before I did mention it. What is IT, you ask?

IT is Lasik Eye Surgery!!!!!!! I am having Laser Eye Surgery tomorrow morning at 11am. I still can't believe I'm actually going to do it. I've said for years I would NEVER have that done. Fear being the main reason I was always hesitant. But over the past year my contacts have not been working so well for me. If you remember I changed to Mono Vision lenses last year so that I could try to see up close (while I'm knitting and reading) and also see distance. They just weren't working well for me and a few weeks ago Jason commented about having my eyes 'done' (meaning corrective surgery). It got me thinking and I started to research it a bit more. These days it's very noninvasive and from what I've heard no pain whatsoever, just a feeling of pressure on your eyes. So my decision was made a few weeks ago. The only reason I've waited is so we can pay for the treatment using an insurance plan through Jason's work which allows it to be tax free.

If I don't post tomorrow it's because I'll be resting my eyes as much as possible :-) In the meantime, here's some more pictures taken from last Friday night.

Kristen is somewhere in the center of all these kids on stage! I can see her when the picture is enlarged but you'd probably have a hard time unless I circled her!

She loves these big bouncy slides!

Corndog? Not so much, she'd rather have more 'Candy Floss' (as we call it in England).

End of a busy week!

VBS is over, and what a fun week we had. Last night was the finale where the kids sang on stage and then there was a 'carnival' afterwards.

Oooooh that cotton candy was SO good :-)

Now I have to catch up with a little housework and laundry today. I'll post more pictures on Monday! Have a great weekend.

Still VBS!

Just a quick post to let you know I'm still around. VBS is every morning this week and we're out of the house by 8am. In the afternoon I just haven't gotten around to adding a post because there wasn't much to write about other than the fact that we'd been to VBS!

I'm just waiting for coffee to brew (7.10am) and we'll be headed out again in about 40 minutes. I wanted to clarify something - Darylynn mentioned something in her comment about being surprised that they didn't leave it till the last week? I'm not quite sure what you meant Darylynn, so I thought I would just explain a bit. . . . . VBS only runs for one week, Monday thru Friday, 8.30am to 12pm. The theme as I said is 'Amusement Park - the ride of your life with Jesus! On Friday at 6pm the kids all gather in the main building and do a 'show' for the parents, singing all the songs they've learned and doing all the actions to it too. Immediately following the show, at about 7pm we will have the 'Fun Fair/Amusement Park 'party'. It is the finale and I know Kristen can't wait for it.

Last year they had some bouncy castles and play areas and food after the show, but this year they're doing more, with more kiddy rides, and the food is all Fairground stuff like cotton candy, corn dogs, icecream etc. I hope that explains a little better.

I will try to take some pics today and post later tonight.
Have a great day ya'll - coffee's ready :-)

It's VBS Time!

Yesterday was the first day of VBS (Vacation Bible School). This years theme is SonWorld (where you can have the ride of your life with Jesus) and Kristen had a fun time. I found THIS LINK for more info on the 'theme'. You can also listen to the music we're hearing this week. 'Choose Jesus' is the main song that the kids will be starting off with each day. It's already playing in my head over and over!

This week I will be helping out in the kitchen preparing the kids snacks. Yesterday the kids had 'trail mix' so it was already put together by the girl who is in charge of 'snacks' and our job was to make the snack for today - which was, a rice krispy treat car! Basically we took a rice krispy treat bar and using frosting glued candy pieces on (life savers for wheels, m&m's for decor, and a gummy bear for the driver!). We only had to make 500 of them!!!!!

Here's Kristen with her SonWorld t-shirt on. She can't wait for Friday now because the church is having an amusement park set up after the kids 'show' in the evening. There'll be rides and bouncy castles, cotton candy (candy floss for my brit friends) corn dogs, popcorn, ice cream.... yeah, you can tell why she's excited :-)

So yesterday, the first days' message was "Choose to Believe".
The memory verse was 1 John 4:14-15 The Father has sent his son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in him, and he in God

My Choice: I can believe that Jesus is the Savior that God promised to send.

I think it's gonna be a fun week!

Successful Shopping!

Still in the mood for shopping (despite my unsuccessful search for a swim suit this week) I went out again on Saturday and this time to the 'outlet mall' that's just about 20 minutes from us. And I'm happy to say I had some success in finding something. Not swim wear mind you, but I really didn't go looking for that again.

Sadie has put me in the mood for Fall Fashion and I'm trying to think ahead and think what I would like to wear this year. Most years I find myself in 'cheap' jeans and t-shirts and never have a clue what to wear if we ever go out in the evening (not that we do much, but it would be nice if I had something in my wardrobe to wear when I need to). So with that in mind I went looking yesterday for some 'classics' to start my new wardrobe off with.

As you can see I ended up with a lovely pair of shoes that go great with my skirts, capris and my jeans. And they are super comfy. It's not easy for me to find shoes that are comfortable from the get go (unless I'm willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money, which I never am), but these babies were on sale at Anne Klein - originally $75 reduced to $59, but with a further 40% reduction, making them only $36. A bargain for sure.

I've tried to take a few shots of them so you can see the detail, and also a couple of shots with my tootsies stuck in them :-) Just don't look too close at my 'badly in need of a pedicure' feet!

I also bought a really nice pair of jeans from AK that feel good, look good and were on sale also. So that's two essentials to start off my new wardrobe - nice shoes and a good pair of jeans. I was also looking at some white classic shirts (short sleeve or sleeveless) but I didn't really have too much time. I told Jason I'd be home after a couple of hours as we had other errands to run. BUT. . . I know where I'll be headed the next time I want a shopping spree, and I think I may be just as successful the next trip out :-)

Today is the start of VBS, so I'll be gone most of the morning with Kristen. Will update on how our first day went later.

Shopping is Hard . . .

. . . . not to mention no fun when you can't find what you want! Yesterday I decided it was time for a trip to the mall. I've stayed home every day since Jason left (other than a trip to the grocery store) so I thought it would be nice to get out for a couple of hours. I went on a mission - to find new swim wear! Yes, just the thought of it gives me shudders too. And long story short I wasn't successful.

I don't know why, but over here they insist on selling bikinis and tankinis separately, and I can't for the life of me ever find a top and a bottom (that I like) to match. If I see a top in my size, then I usually can't see the bottoms in my size. And half the time there aren't even any co-ordinating bottoms - they all just look like one big mess on the hangers (imho)!

But I did buy Kristen some new swim wear (typical, you find something quite easy when you're not looking for it). We passed the Disney store and Kristen wanted to look in. Their swim wear was on sale, so I got this cute two piece for her for just $10. Also picked up some new flip flops for her too.

And for me. . . . cos I was not coming home empty- handed! I got some nice smelling foam soaps from Bath and Body Works. They're for around the house, but still, it felt like a treat for me.

The scents are 'Wild Honeysuckle', Midnight Pomegranate' and 'Warm Vanilla Sugar'.

Tonight is book club at my house - yay, I'll actually get to speak to adults!!!

Still no pics!

I took Kristen and Connor to the pool yesterday and still forgot to take the camera. So, it's more oldies for you today :-)

First pic, taken July 2002, Kristen is about 20 months old. We were camping at a place called Roaring Point in Nanticoke, MD. We only stayed two nights I think because the weather got too hot! But Kristen loved being in the water and on the sand.

And what a difference a year makes....

This is Kristen in June 2003 (2 1/2 years old)! On a beach in Maryland. This was one of those 'spur of the moment' days when I decided to just get in the car, with a couple of beach towels and drive to the beach! Just me and my little girl :-)


So, still not much going on here, but I hope you're enjoying the 'trips down memory lane'.

A Bullet Proof Post!

I thought I'd do a quick 'bullet' type post like Sadie sometimes does. . . because honestly, I really can't think of what to write about!

Reading - nothing at the minute. I just finished reading The Glass Castle this week and we'll be discussing it at our Book Club meeting on Thursday.

Feeling - relaxed. I love these lazy morning - no school run -stay in your jammies - take as much time as you like drinking coffee days!

Wearing - yup! still my jammies ;-)

Cooking - not much! With Jason out of town I'm not planning on spending much time in the kitchen. Kristen had a mini pizza for dinner last night, and I had sushi (California rolls from
the grocery store)

Drinking - Folgers coffee! (yeah, I'm no coffee connoisseur, that's for sure)

Knitting - well yes, of course I am!

Thinking - about Fall Fashion (Sadie's a bad/very good influence!)

Kristen - being a sweetheart - taking her to piano lesson this morning at 10.30 (hmm, then I wonder if we can slip by the mall on our way home?) ;-)

Wishing - you all a lovely day!

What to blog - what to blog. . .

. . . that is the question! I feel uninspired of late when it comes to posting here. I haven't been doing much in the kitchen so I've nothing to write about in that regard.

Our date night on Friday was fun. I had Sushi!!!!!!!!!! There is a new place that opened up near our 'new' cinemas. It's called Hayashi. What's nice about it is they sell other foods, not just sushi which is why I could get Jason to try it (he hates any type of seafood so there was no way he'd want to try sushi). The only sushi I've had are the california rolls that you can buy at the supermarket. I've never actually been to a place that serves 'raw fish' :-) I tried a plate of assorted sushi, including a spicy tuna sushi roll. I liked it. And it was fun eating with the chopsticks. After dinner we went to the movies and saw Ironman - I liked that too.

On Saturday I popped over to my neighbors for her baby shower. I don't really know her very well and I knew nobody there, so after an hour and a half I 'slipped out' as my inlaws were at my house, having brought Kristen back from her sleepover. It was much more relaxing being with them than a room full of women (and children, I might add) that I didn't know at the shower.

Yesterday I went to the 'new' church with Kristen. Jason had to leave for Denver and he'll be there til Thursday. Kristen is really enjoying going to the kids church so I want to try and be a regular attender as much as I can. If that means going to church on my own some weeks because Jason doesn't want to, then so be it. I like the messages the pastor has at this church and Kristen likes it too, so that's two good reasons for going.

So today is the start of our 'summer routine'. I've printed off a chore chart for Kristen to use and earn herself some 'pennies' to spend over the summer. She hasn't been getting an allowance because she really hasn't needed one. We buy her whatever she needs (and wants - to a certain degree!). Today I am going to do a 'weekly home blessing' - the flylady way! Kristen will do some of the chores from her chart (like make her bed, wash her bathroom sink, pick up toys and clothes etc. After that we have the day to do what we want, which will probably consist of Kristen playing with Connor and me knitting :-)

Hope you all have a lovely start to your week.

Date Night!

Kristen is going to Grandma's for a sleepover tonight and Jason and I are having ' a date' :-) So, because I still have no new photos to share (forgot to take the camera to the pool the other day!) I thought I'd add our wedding pic - another blast from the past (taken over 11 years ago) and give you all a little giggle.

Actually this isn't as funny as some wedding photos I've seen (I'm talking about those 70's pictures when your hubby had hair longer than you)! Yeah, I'm talking to you Nenna :-) Our wedding pics were taken in 1996 in CA. I was 33 when I married Jason and he was a mere 'baby' at 25!

I'm not sure where we're going tonight or even 'If' we're going. I had thought about getting something in to eat and dining out on our balcony once it got dark. Trouble is it doesn't get dark til nearly 8pm and I don't really want to wait that long to eat dinner. So we might go out to dinner then come home and relax on the balcony once it's dark. I love sitting out there with candles lit and the butterfly lights on. We have a movie to watch too which is always relaxing for us. Jason leaves on Sunday for Denver, to work for a week. Tonight is a much needed 'date' as he's been working a lot lately and I feel like we haven't sat down in a while and just enjoyed each others company.

So, whatever you're up to tonight, or over the weekend, I hope you all have a fun time.
Happy Father's Day too, to all the guys out there.

Blast From The Past!

As I suspected, I don't have much to blog about this week because we are just pottering around the house! Yesterday was uneventful - Jason worked from home, Kristen amused herself because Connor and Emily weren't home, and I just did laundry!

There isn't much to blog about today either, and no pictures to post, so what I thought I would do is look in my archives for a photo to share. This picture was taken 7 years ago today! Kristen is just over 6months old and this is probably her first 'teething biscuit' she's trying (I'm assuming it is because that's probably why I took the photo!). I thought Darylynn would find this cute because Ryan is just a little over this age now (he was born in October right Darylynn? Kristen was born Nov) Unlike Ryan though, Kristen didn't have teeth at this age - she didn't get her first tooth until she was 13 months old!!!

We just got back from grocery shopping and Kristen is playing on the Wii with Connor. I've told them I'll take them to the pool in a little while. I should take the camera and get some photos of them both - that way I'll have something to blog about tomorrow!!

Have a great day - stay cool!

It's not strep. . . . .

. . . . which is good news at least. Last night I could hardly sleep again because of my sore throat. It just seemed to be getting worse, kind of like it did around this time last year. That time though I felt much much worse because we'd just flown home from Florida and the pressure in the airplane had made my ears really blocked and my head felt like it was about to explode, not to mention the severe throat pain I had too.

Last night my throat just seemed to be so dry and like it was scratched really bad. I felt like I didn't sleep all night. Jason came home around 1am from the concert and I never even heard the garage door go up, so I must have been alseep some times. I did hear him come to bed at 2am though, and after that I felt like I was awake all night. I woke up around 6.50 and despite feeling really tired still I decided I would get up and try to get some quiet time on my own. What do ya know? Kristen was already up - again! She said she got up at 6am! I don't know how she does it when she seems to be awake til after 9pm each night.

Anyway, I just felt miserable when I did get up this morning, and I knew I couldn't go through another day with the pain in my throat, not to mention the pain in my nose and face which was getting worse too. I was thinking I probably had a sinus infection. So at 7.45am I decided I'd head to the 'emergency care' doctors that opened at 8am and where you could just walk in and not have to make an appointment. Long story short, I now have 10 days of antibiotics to take. Tonight my throat doesn't hurt so much so I'm hoping I will sleep a bit better, but my nose is fully blocked up. The dr didn't say for certain if I had a sinus infection but he did agree that I needed some meds if things were getting worse and not improving over several days.

I hope I feel better after a good nights sleep. Thank you for all your well wishes. I'm sure I'll be right as rain in a few days :-)

Sick!

Errr, that would be me - that's sick :-( Yesterday I got what I thought was just a tickle up my nose, and then my throat got scratchy. I had been planting flowers in my 'window' boxes on the balcony ( see pretty pics below) and I thought it might just be allergies that were bugging me. The pollen count was high and I thought being so close to flowers was perhaps what was causing the 'tickling/itching feeling.

My nose was getting stuffed up and I couldn't stop sneezing, so I finally sent Jason out to get some allergy meds (which we had ran out of!). Later in the evening, the sore throat just got worse and I had to admit I didn't think it was just allergies any longer. I went to bed feeling pretty tired and very stuffed up and during the night my throat just got worse.

It's Sunday afternoon now and my throat is still very sore. My face and my head ache too, whaaaaaa whaaaaa whaaaaa - I hate being sick. I hope I'm feeling better by tomorrow. Stuffed up noses I can cope with, it's the sore throat I hate.

But don't my flower boxes look pretty? :-)

We went back to the 'new' church today and met my mother-in-law there (as Papa was out of town). I really liked listening to the senior pastor (who wasn't there last week) and thought his message today was great. He started a new series called 'Rocked'. Basically talking about what happens, or what to do "when your world is rocked". He's reading from the book of Job as he talks on this topic. I really would like to go back a few times so I think next week I'll be going again and perhaps visit with my inlaws (and celebrate Father's Day) on the Saturday. Jason has to leave on the Sunday to go to Denver for work. He'll be gone a week.

Speaking of Jason, he's gone out tonight (it's not very often he does that to be honest), to see THE CURE in concert!!!!! Apparently this tour sold out within 15 minutes of tickets being released. I can honestly say The Cure has never been my kind of band, but they are one of Jason's ALL TIME favorites. So I hope he has a really good time tonight.

OK, I'm jumping off here. Its 5.35pm and there's just me and Kristen hanging out. Her friends are not home, so she's just watching tv right now. I'm gonna go sit with her and keep her company!

I scream, you scream. . . .

. . . we all scream for ice cream!!! Of course Kristen didn't actually have to 'scream' for ice cream - I was more than happy to take her to 'Baskin Robbins' to celebrate the 'last day of school' and the first day of summer break :-)

Kristen picked a seasonal ice cream called "America's Birthday Cake" and I had a 'pralines and cream' cone. I'm not a big ice cream eater to be honest but this is probably one of my favorite flavors when I do eat it. I can't remember if we went out for ice cream on this day last year, but it sure is a fun tradition to start and I think we'll be doing it again next year.

After the breakfast party at school that morning I was actually able to sign Kristen out at 9.30am! I told her it was a little too early for ice cream, I didn't even think the place would be open, so we went home for an hour before heading back out to Blockbuster for some movies and games, and then to the ice cream parlor at 11am. There were other kids there that had just gotten out of school, so we weren't the only ones with a 'sweet' idea!

And here's some 'close-ups' for you!




Enjoy your Saturday!

My Little Graduate!

I didn't get many pictures of Kristen at the graduation today because I was too busy trying to video tape it too for her Daddy to see! Here she is outside the school holding her award!

The kids all get an award for something different, based on what the teacher thinks/sees in them I guess. For instance some got an award for honesty (an ethical principal of the school) or being a great helper or most improved reader etc. Kristen got two awards, one for using ALL ethical principals and the other was for 100% attendance. She has not missed one day of school this whole year :-) Quite a difference to last year when she missed nearly 2 weeks total because of tummy bugs and stuff that were going around.

And here she is with her 1st grade teacher ~ Mrs. Ballesteros. After the awards I went up to her classroom to take this picture and Ms. B (as the kids call her) thought I was going in there to take Kristen home! When Kristen heard this (and there were some other kids leaving right then, it was only 9am at this point) she wanted to leave with me too. I said no, I didn't think she could, but then when I realized that Ms. B had just said it was ok, I thought "why not". I told Kristen to pack her stuff up and you should have seen the smile on her face :-)

So we 'snook out' early and went to the grocery store to get some fruit because I'm taking in fruit kebabs for the breakfast tomorrow. We have one more day to go! Tomorrow is 'last day of school party' which is really just breakfast for all the kids left in class (quite a few have left for vacation already). The kids will be released around 11am, so after that I'm taking Kristen out for ice cream to celebrate the start of our summer holidays. I'll take the camera and try to get more pictures for here (and the scrapbook)!

Summer Fun!

Julie asked if it was hot in Austin already! The answer to that is a most definite YES! I don't think we had a day last week where the temps were below 90 degrees, most days it was mid 90's. This week's forecast shows the same, today it will be 98 and could possibly be 100 in some places. And the extended forecast on yahoo shows from Sunday - 97, 96, 95, 94, 93!

I know we have a community pool but I can't get to it every day (and I don't intend to even try) so I went out last week and bought Kristen a little paddling pool for the back yard - just something she and Connor can splash about in now and then. The picture below is Kristen, Connor and Emily playing around in our backyard last Saturday evening - believe it or not this is around 7.45pm and the sun was still bright and hot! It's round about this time of year that I miss the pool we had in our custom home!
We had put up the canopy (something we bought years ago when we went camping,) earlier in the day to give the pool some shade. I hate the idea of the kids being exposed to too much sun, no matter how much sunscreen they have on them, they still get tan marks and I just don't believe it's good for them. So for quite a while they had shade, but later in the evening they obviously didn't. I've already emptied the pool of water and put it away, I shall take down the canopy today incase it rains! And may get it out again on weekends when the kids play out a lot.

I think I mentioned a little while ago that my in-laws have offered to take Boo when we go to England so he doesn't have to go in a boarding kennel. And I am SO happy about this, I just hate the thought of my little boy sitting every day waiting for us to come take him home. I think Boo is going to have a fun time ~ here he is with 'Papa' last Saturday afternoon.

If I don't post for a couple of days don't be surprised - there's just a few things going on this week like 1st grade graduation, and end of school class party! Have a great day!

It's Finally Here!

The last week of school - that is! Some schools finished last week, but Kristen doesn't break up until this Thursday. I'm actually looking forward to the summer break this year, more so for the fact I will not have to get up at 6am every morning :-)

I remember last year at this time thinking "oh my goodness, what am I going to do with a 6 yr old for 3 months"?!! It was her first full year at school - kindergarten - and I had really gotten quite used to having the days to myself and not having to entertain a little girl 24/7. Back then we used to live on 3 acres and Kristen didn't have the opportunity to play outside like she does now in the cul-de-sac we live in. So she relied on mommy a lot to play with her and entertain her. This year, she has her good buddy Connor to play with. Emily I think will probably be going to her grandma's house throughout the summer as both of her parents work.

I do want to try and get up relatively early throughout the summer. My aim is to get up at 7am and get to the gym again 3 mornings a week. I prefer to do this before Jason heads out to work so I don't have to take Kristen with me. I know it's only 30 minutes or so, but I would prefer her not to have to sit in the 'nursery/kids room' with the other kids. They are so young and chances would be very high I think of getting sick should one of them be sick (you know how kids just ooze snot and drool and Kristen has a nasty habit of still putting her fingers in her mouth, no matter what she's touched!) Urghhh, call me paranoid but that's how I feel. And anyway it helps me keep some kind of routine if I'm still getting up at a decent hour.

This weekend has flown by like a whirlwind. We had my inlaws over again on Saturday and Jason's friend/work partner. It was a nice visit but we'd asked them to come at 2pm (which in hindsight may have been a little early) so they had all left by around 7pm. Which was ok really, meant I could relax and put my feet up still in the evening.

Yesterday we went to church with our neighbors (Connor's parents). They have asked us a few times to go to their church to see if we liked it. Some of you may know I try to go to church regularly with my inlaws and take Kristen to kids church, but Jason - well Jason sometimes needs his arm twisting ;-) Cheryl has told me often how great the kids ministry is at church and the main reason I wanted to try it out is because Kristen's Kid's Church has just ended for the Summer! If we continue to go to the church with my inlaws, she has to sit with the adults every week from now until September. And I'm sorry to say, but half the time I don't know what the pastor is talking about, so I hardly think Kristen will get anything out of it other than practice in sitting still and being quiet! Good traits to have I will agree, but I'd like church to be fun for her too. Anyway, we went along to Celebration Church, and I have to say I REALLY liked it. We'll be going again next week because the main pastor was not there today, although I did like the executive pastor that spoke in his absence, I would still like to hear the 'main guy' speak. I've seen videos on their website and really like the messages he gives. I'm going to watch from the beginning the series he did back in February - called Wii :-) It's all about us - we - marriage, you get the idea.

Sorry about the picture-less post - I'll be back later with some fun shots! Will it be food? Ha! you'll just have to wait and see.