Tagged!

I got tagged by my friend Emma a while back to write 7 random things about myself that no one knows! I am just now getting around to it! I have been wanting to be tagged and now that I have been, there is no way I can come up with things that nobody knows! After playing 2 truths and a lie so many times, and I've known Emma so long... oh well, I'll give it a shot!

1. I went a over a year without eating one of my favorite foods, CHOCOLATE! I just had some at the end of September while in Durango, Co because we were celebrating our anniversary (a month late) and the waiter brought out this gorgeous amazing dessert that happened to have chocolate on it (on the house). I ate some. I wish I had a picture of that dessert to show you. You wouldn't blame me for eating it if you could see it. Besides, what better way to celebrate 8 years of wedded bliss than with chocolate bliss?

2. I used to want to be Daisy Duke when I grew up. I did the whole shirt-tie thing in the front to show my belly and accentuate my (non) chest.

3. I love to watch Tori and Dean.

4. I have a very strong internal alarm clock. I can tell myself I want to wake up at a certain time and I will. I don't have an alarm clock on my side of the bed- don't need one.

5. I have moments of brilliance between the hours of 2 am and 5 am. Any other time I am fairly useless. If I happen to wake up during these hours, I get my best ideas, I know the words to songs I've heard only once or twice, I can remember forgotten names, etc.

6. I wore braces twice! The first time I had them I was in the second grade and it was only on the front 4 top teeth. I think it was to correct a seriously sideways tooth that probably turned as a result of a fall I took as a toddler. The second set of braces was on almost all my teeth. I got them off my freshman year I think. You would think such a momentous occasion, I would remember!

7. I sometimes get on spanish kicks where I become a little fixated on spanish. I will have to look up words all the time to find out the spanish translation and I'll try to make up spanish sentences. I even sometimes talk to myself en espanol, but I'm seriously not good at speaking spanish.

Wow, that was really hard! I have to tag somebody now. I tag Heather, Leslie, and Meredith Liner

City Slickers

We went downtown for a couple quick snaps and a little puddle jumpin' . I happen to have the rain boots in the back of the car and they just love jumping in puddles. Kyle seems to always find MUD puddles. Here's a shot I got after he was finished with his boots.

Brothers

I took the boys to "the tractor park" the other day as a bribe for allowing me to take some pictures of them. They call it the tractor park because there is an old, as in antique, tractor there for kids to pretend to drive. My boys L.O.V.E. it. Some strong winds were blowing in and it looked like it might rain so I used all my best mommy/parenting techniques to get them to leave the beloved park smoothly. I asked them if they wanted to leave now or in two minutes and they of course said in two minutes. When two minutes were up, I told them to slide down one last time. Barrett did, but Kyle refused. (He seems to be going through a rebellious stage right now which is giving me nightmares--I'll save that for another post.) So I used my Love and Logic and pretended like we were going to leave him if he didn't come down. I said, "Okay, see you later, Kyle!" Barrett started freaking out and saying "No, I want my Kyle. I need my bwudder! Don't leave him Mommy!" I felt like a horrible mom now because Barrett thought I would actually leave Kyle at the park all by himself! But I did think it was so sweet how Barrett stood up for his "bwudder".


I think this picture is so representative of this story and so many like it that happen all the time!

Warmth for your heart

Did you see this news story about an Aledo High School girl who has Down's Syndrome getting elected homecoming queen? I have a soft spot for kids with Down's but I think everyone would enjoy this story.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/101208dnmetqueen.39be68a.html

Here's a few quotes from the article:
By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News myoung@dallasnews.com

Never has the selection of a homecoming queen sent so many tears falling so freely.
Kristin Pass, an 18-year-old senior with Down syndrome, became Aledo High School's homecoming queen Friday to a joyous standing ovation and the flutter of a thousand tissues on a remarkable night for an amazing young woman.

"Kristin has a lot of friends – she likes everyone. It doesn't matter if you're tall or short, pretty, not pretty, smart, not smart – she likes everybody. She has great friends. And Aledo is a great community."

"She's just the neatest kid in the whole wide world," added her aunt, Chari Hust of Houston, "and everybody sees that."

She was so thrilled, her mother said, that she took her crown to bed with her.

"She's real proud of it," her friend Meaghan added.Kristin and her family, including sister Kendall, now a freshman, moved to Aledo when Kristin was in the third grade. She was embraced by the people in town through good times and bad, including the death of her dad, J.T., two years ago.

Kristin doesn't care what's on the outside, Meaghan said. She's friends with everyone, and everyone admires that.

"She's the person we all want to be," Meaghan said

For the past 8 years something has been missing from my life until now.

Really. Great. Mexican. Food. There are very few things I miss about living in Houston, but I do miss the Mexican food. There was a humble little restaurant in the town of Katy where we lived that had salsa you could drink and yummy green sauce too. And the food…yum. After you ate, you would waddle to counter with your ticket and pay—that kind of place, but the food was sooo good you couldn’t believe it. This restaurant was called Los Cucos. Sound familiar? Well, we just ate at the one that just opened in Plano. All I can say is Halleluiah! My Mexican food prayers have been answered! Cody and I were making noises that are normally reserved for the privacy of the bedroom. Okay, it was mostly me, I could not control myself. I will be better next week and the week after and the week after that…

Now I just need to get my other favorite Mexican restaurant from Houston up here and maybe a little closer to me. It’s called Lupe Tortillas. I’m off to start my letter writing campaign!

Happy Birthday, Cody!

These photos are from our trip we took to Durango, Colorado in September. I am just now getting a chance to look a them!

This is a silly little poem to wish you a very happy birthday,
And to tell you that you are the best in every possible way.
Some women think they’d be fine without their man,
But I’m no fool; you’re needed and wanted as a part of this clan.
You’re a great role model, better than a sports figure or rock star.
You teach the boys about manners, family, and to work hard.
“It will make you strong like Daddy” I say when there’s a food that’s getting the snub,
And before I know it, they will have joined the Clean Plate Club.
They watch and pick up on every little detail of what you do,
And in a battle against Superman, their money would be on you.
You never complain when sometimes you have to listen to the game rather than watch,
And your groans aren’t deafening when one of the boys accidentally elbows your crotch.
You’re a man who does dishes and laundry and looks good in jeans.
Who in the world ever heard of such a thing?
You get OJ when I’m sick and change diapers even when I’m not.
You vacuum the floors--In my book, that makes you hot!
You fix the stupid computer and kill big ugly bugs,
And you’re always there with open arms when I need hugs.

I am the luckiest girl the world. I love you.

One more cheesy line I forgot to put in the poem (to go with this picture): You fill my heart with the sound of music!