Priceless Keepsakes

My grandparents have always been crafty. I look back now and can recall wearing some real fashion disasters that my Nana made for me back in the 80s, but back then I loved them. Nana is the seamstress/painter and my Papoo does incredible woodwork. The little details and intricacies of their work never cease to amaze me. Here are just a few of my treasures from them:

But one of my absolute favorite pieces is this unique take on a traditional Advent calendar. This hung in our house every Christmas for as long as I can remember.

My siblings and I used to fight over who got to hang what on the tree each day. It's quite large (about 3' x 2') and the wood is also quite warped from being stored in the attic for three decades.

I inherited this calendar a few years ago, and each morning on my way into the kitchen, I feel like a kid again as I hang the corresponding day onto the tree. The same anticipation is there, the excitement of counting down the days until Christmas.

This year though, there's also a bit of anxiety that goes along with this cherished piece. The tree seems to be filling up quicker than usual ... only 10 shopping days left? What?!? Seriously, where did the time go?

Wordless Wednesday

Day of the Dads

Father's Day was so fun. I really enjoy having everyone over to our home. The first time I volunteered our place for a get-together a few years ago, I was nervous about fitting 12+ people in our less than 1500 sq. ft. house, but no one ever seems to mind. Luckily we all like each other and don't mind sitting close! And a big backyard helps, too. We grilled brats and had lots of other yummy food and played ladderball, even though it was scorching out. What a great day!

Hugs on Command

Our dog Leyla may not be the most obedient or know a lot of tricks. She barks at people on walks, and jumps up on company. She's far from perfect. But she does have one specific talent that overshadows her shortcomings ... she can HUG on command. It's a crowd-pleasing talent that makes her even cuter than she already is. I finally caught it on video on Mother's Day. The lighting is not the greatest, plus she blends in with the dark shirt, so I'll try again soon. She loves my brother Ryan, so she had a lot of hugs for him.

"I want something to be wrong with me!"

Daisy's eye is almost completely healed, and we are so happy. After three additional trips back to the vet, more ointment and some inflammation medication, things are looking good. The multiple-times-a-day-treatments should cease completely by the end of the week ... whew! She is acting like her old, happy self again $500 later.

Leyla is just glad that Daisy is not getting as much extra attention anymore. Oooo, can you say jealous? Watching her get so jealous reminded me of a similar situation many years ago ... with humans, not animals.

When I was in fourth grade and my brother was in Kindergarten, we both had accidents at recess on the same day. I fell on the hardtop that made up the playground (when I had to go to school at Oak Park Mall for one year due to asbestos at my elementary school). I cut my knee open and had to get five stitches. My brother fell off the monkey bars while imitating the Gibbons that he had seen on his zoo fieldtrip that day and broke his arm.

Both my brother and I were propped up at home later that evening, and people were stopping by with balloons and Get Well cards, our parents were waiting on us hand and foot and everyone was showering us with attention. All of a sudden, my sister, who was five-years-old, started crying. Everyone turned to stare at her, and my mom said, "Honey, what's wrong?" And between sobs my sister said, "I ... I want something to ... to be wrong with mmmeeeeee!"

If Leyla could talk, I have no doubt that's what she would have said, too!

Cable Guys in Disguise

Time for another funny story. This one comes via my mom. She just recently moved into our former house that had been a rental house for the past 15+ years. She was super excited to finally get digital cable and a DVR for the first time ever. Not long after everything was hooked up, she started having problems. Her cable would go in and out, and then she would only get a blue screen. A guy came out once to fix it. Then one Friday, I tried to set her DVR for her to record some of her favorite shows, and while I was doing that the cable went out for another time. She called the cable company AGAIN, and they said they would send someone out the next morning at 10 a.m. to look at it.

At 9 a.m. the next morning, her doorbell rings. She opens the door to find two men with clipboards on her doorstep.

Mom: "Oh, you're early, great! Come on in!"

They take one small step inside.

Mom: "Thanks for coming out on a Saturday, I really appreciate it. The T.V.'s right over there." (motions to the T.V. a few yards away)

The two men hesitantly take a couple more small steps into the living room and stop.

Mom: "It's this T.V. right here. Yeah, I've really had a lot of problems with my cable, I sure hope you can fix it."

The two men still haven't moved more than three feet from the door, and my mom is now wondering, why aren't they going over to look at it?

Mom: "Um, you're with the cable company ... right?"

Man #1: "Um, no ma'am, we're with the local fire department, and we were hoping you would help us out today and sign our petition."

At this point, my mom bursts out laughing, and soon the hunky firemen are laughing, too (that's right, she said they were lookers). Then the second firemen chimes in:

"But you know, as firemen we've been known to fix lots of things, so we can take a look at your cable box if you'd like us to!"

... which just makes my mom laugh even harder.

They then proceeded to try and give their pitch as to why they were actually there, but failed miserably because they were laughing so hard. My mom was embarrassed, mainly because they were hunky firemen, but at least she gave them some entertainment on what was sure to be an otherwise very boring day for them. I wasn't there to verify their hunkiness, but I like to imagine that this is what they looked like ...

Remembering ...

I called my grandpa today to wish him a happy 86th birthday ... 86 years ... pretty impressive, huh? I couldn't help but be reminded of what we were doing on his birthday last year. Burying his son. His son. My uncle. My mom's younger brother. Uncle Randy was admitted to the hospital one month prior for a few complications. Things took a turn for the worse rather quickly, and soon his major organs started to shut down. We lost him on February 19th and buried him on February 24th. Here's how I remember my uncle:

Naked!

Did that post title make you do a double-take?? Now that I have your undivided attention, I have a funny story. About my grandma. And I can tell it to you without worrying if she will be embarrassed, because she's never touched a computer in her life, and will certainly never visit my blog. Plus, I really don't think that she would mind me telling you anyway, because she is one of those great people who have no problem laughing at themselves.

So, my Grammy and my mom were grocery shopping in H.E.B. the other day. My mom was waiting her turn in line at the deli counter with several other shoppers. My Grammy walked about 20 or so feet away to pick up a bag of pita chips. (Please pause for a quick plug for Stacy's Pita Chips ... "They are delicious, try them today!" ~Jenna B.) She was debating on three different flavors ... Parmesan Garlic, Tuscan Herb and Simply Naked. She called over to my mom, "Sharon, which kind do you want?" My mom replied, "I don't care Mom, get whichever kind you want." My Grammy debated for a little while longer and then called back to my mom, "I think I'll just get naked." The deli workers behind the counter, all the shoppers waiting for their cold cuts and probably half of the store turned to stare at the 83-year-young grandma who just announced to them all that she was going to get naked. She then realized what she had said, and burst out laughing. Oh, what I wouldn't give to have been there!

And here's my pretty Grammy ...

Christmas cubed ...

Three great Christmases again this year! Our route consisted of Seguin, then we hosted at our house, then a few days in Tyler. Some running themes were: a tacky Christmas sweater, a crazy gift exchange and The Tooth Fairy vs. Santa Claus!

She did it!

The day after we got back from our Lake Tahoe trip, my sister graduated from Texas State with a bachelor of science degree in math (yes math ... yuck!). It was a wonderful, celebratory day shared with lots of family. So proud of you, Kelsey!

Thanksgiving x 3

We had three wonderful Thanksgivings again this year! The weekend before Thanksgiving we headed to Tyler for two nights to be with Kent's family. We had fun playing in the leaves with our nephews, and we all enjoyed a boat ride on Sunday. Kent tried his hardest to break his streak of not catching any fish every time we go to Tyler, but to no avail. He's a good sport, though!

My aunt and uncle hosted all of my dad's family on Thanksgiving day in Austin. The weather was perfect ... we sat and chatted around a chiminea and later played Loaded Questions, which was a super fun game. I have a feeling our laughter from the board game often overpowered the football game that the guys were watching, but oh well!

Kent and I hosted my mom's family the day after. We played our traditional game of Yahtzee and RELAXED! We were pretty worn out by the third Thanksgiving.

We are so thankful to have such wonderful family, and are also thankful that so many of them live close enough that we get to see them multiple times a year. Here are some pictures, most of them being from Tyler.

A Weekend of Birthdays

Kent's 35th birthday was on Friday, which was perfect, because he now has Friday's off from work (he now works Monday-Thursday, usually 6:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. w/ a 30-min. lunch). We had planned on a sushi dinner with friends, so we headed over to their house around 7 p.m. Little did Kent know that I had arranged for one of our limos to pick us all up! I couldn't think of one single time in the last 18 months since we started our business that Kent actually got to sit IN THE BACK of a limo and just enjoy himself. We've taken limos out a few times for family surprises and get-togethers, but Kent was always the one doing the driving! He was super surprised, and we all enjoyed a bottle of champagne on the way to A-Tan Sushi Bar in N.B.

After dinner it was off to Liberty Bistro for dessert and drinks, where Kent had his all-time favorite dessert, Pot de Crème.

Saturday night was my mom's birthday. The whole fam headed over to McAdoo's in N.B. for some delicious seafood.

The birthday girl!

Yes, there is a story behind this strangely cropped photo. Some members of our party were feeling a bit self-conscious after their large meal, and I was told that I must crop the photo in the appropriate place before posting. :)


It was a great weekend!

Flooding and Gruene

We are very thankful for all of the rain that we have been blessed with lately. In fact, we had so much rain at once, that for a while, we had lakefront property! The water got just above the deck, which is a good 18" inches off the ground.

If we only had a boat ...


We had dinner in Gruene on Saturday night at Mozie's with my mom, sis and a bunch of our dearest family friends. Mozie's is a restaurant/bar right across from The Gristmill and Gruene Hall. It's the longest, skinniest building I've ever seen. Kent measured (the engineer part of him couldn't help it) and said it was no more than 12 feet wide. Very cramped quarters, but we didn't care because we were surrounded by people that we like. ;)

My pretty Momma.

Birthday, BBQ and a Celebrity

My brother hit the big 2-5 in July, so we gathered up some family and friends and went to The Salt Lick to celebrate. Yes, this happened over a month ago now, but I thought it was still post-worthy. Here are some highlights of the evening. Keep reading to see which celebrity we brushed shoulders with that night!

My sister and I on the looong (but totally worth it!) car ride to The Salt Lick in Driftwood.

Here we are with Kyle Chandler! He was eating with his family, and Kelsey was the brave one who went up to him when they were leaving and asked if we could take his picture. He was super nice and oh so cute. If you don't recognize him immediately, he stars in the TV show Friday Night Lights as the coach. He's also been on Grey's Anatomy, King Kong and a show in the 90s called Early Edition, which I had never seen, but Kent used to watch.

Here's a stalkeresque photo that I snapped from our table earlier in the night, when we were still unsure if it was really him. My zoom works really well!

Kelsey jamming out on Mike's "guitar" which was a plastic container that can be filled with your drink of choice!

We headed over to J's Bistro in San Marcos after dinner for a couple of hours of sing-a-long with the piano.

Happy birthday, Ryan!

Weekend on the Lake

We had a fabulous weekend on Lake Placid with family! The weather was perfect, and the house that we bartered a limo ride for was a hit. It's a spacious 6 bed/4 bath house with a huge backyard and at least 80+ feet of waterfront. Eric and Grant really liked jumping off the sun deck over the boat dock, over and over and over again. Kyle is still too little to jump, but I bet he'll be ready next year. He enjoyed watching the many boats and jet skiers ride by. Here are some highlights of the weekend:

What a view!

Kyle playing catch with Uncle Kent.

Check out that form!

Eric and Uncle Kent enjoying some R&R.


We took the dogs (of course!), and since they had never been allowed to roam without a fence before, we were a little worried. But they did super, and the couple of times that they started to go into the neighbors' yards, we would just send a kid after them and they came running right back, because kids frighten them! We're not quite sure what their aversion is to short people. They never came close to growling or biting, just ran in the opposite direction or hid under Kent or I! Too funny.

It was hot, so Kent took the pups toobing.

Leyla was extra hot since she wears a black bikini, so she got in to cool off. Kent said her little legs were swimming frantically eventhough he never let go!

Tina and Kyle ridin' the gator.

Kyle knows how to relax!

Kent is extra relaxed!

Yea, bubbles!

Kirk caught a little perch, and Leyla wasn't so sure about it. She was much more interested in a frog that joined us at dinner later that night, and chased it all around.

Nice catfish, Kirk and Eric!

Seriously, how cute are my nephews?!?

The whole gang: me, Kent, Kent's mom Claudia, Kirk's wife Tina, Kent's brother Kirk, Eric, Kyle and Grant.

Hope to do it again next year!