My little corner of life

Austin

2011-08-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

We are officially residents of Austin, TX! (Or ATX as the cool kids and hipster bloggers say.) The movers arrived at our new home a week ago today and the past week can best be described at boxes, boxes, boxes! (With a side of taking and picking up Claire from week-long Camp Travis, which was planned long before our move.)

We are in Cedar Park which is about 15 miles north of Austin and west-northwest of Round Rock. It is hilly and less developed than Austin with a great (Leander) school district. Our neighborhood is a planned community, much like our neighborhood in Houston, but not quite as big. It's adjacent to a city park, Brushy Creek, where there is a creek that is actually more river than creek, even in this Texas drought summer. There are trails, pavilions and a splash pad for kids, but the best part is there is a kayak and canoe rental place to explore the creek. We are excited for that outing!

Jack started back at work last week and is excited to be with the rest of the staff and in a more productive environment than our house. And with the house being about 90-95% set up and out of boxes, we are all feeling a bit back to normal. On tap this week is registering Claire and Anna for their schools, taking Claire for a sports physical so she can tryout for her school's volleyball team the first week of school, and hanging out with Meghan's bff, Natalie!!! Natalie is on the road to Austin as I type this and we are all excited to welcome her to our new place. (Natalie is also going to UT and will be moving to the campus here in about 3 weeks, so this will be her 2nd home when she wants to get away for a home-cooked meal or free laundry!)

We miss all our friends and neighbors in Houston, but it is really nice to be on the other side of this move....finally. We are excited to explore this new city and experience some new things. School is making the girls a little nervous (and I certainly can understand that having moved cross-country when I was in 6th grade), but they are acting like champs and embracing it with smiles and mild trepidation. (Taking Meghan to UNT, 3 hours north of Austin, in a short 3 weeks is a whole other post!)

Here are some pictures of our past week.

Meghan in her near-empty Houston room.

Anna checks out the moving van as the boxes are ready to load up.

Our garage filled with boxes and containers.

We loaded up two of these trucks with our belongings.

Meghan made this sign for our garage to hang the week before we moved.

Our "home" while waiting for the movers was the Cedar Park Candlewood Suites. All 5 of us plus the dog and 3 cats were in this room for three days. Here is Jack on the recliner while watching "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC. (4 girls overrule 1 guy when voting on what to watch on the only tv...sorry Jack.)

Here is the motley crew now, including Lucy, our fat cat.

Here is Jack trying to do some work in the kitchenette area.

Jack and me in our new kitchen.

Boxes everywhere.

I'll post some more pictures of the house in a few days. We love it! It is quite different from our old house and we are enjoying some unique things about it. Okay, it's time for me to get rid of that other 10% of boxes around here!

A change is (FINALLY) a comin'

2011-07-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the lack of posting this past month. It has been a weird summer and I didn't really know how or what to post on this little o' blog of mine. The best way to describe June in one word was stagnant. Our house sat on the market for most of the month with countless showings and no interest. I had hoped to be knee deep in boxes right after Meghan's graduation on June 4th, but instead we did little but keep the house in pristine condition and on alert for the next last-minute house showing. Finally, we received an offer at the end of the month. It was not an easy one though. Initially we turned it down because the sellers had some weird conditions, such as a 3 week option period, where they could back out within 21 days for any reason at all. Unheard of in residential real estate where the option period is usually 7 days....just enough time to get the house inspected and uncover any problems. A week later though, we were renegotiating the deal with much better terms. SOLD!

If June was stagnant, than July could only be it's polar opposite: frenetic! We traveled to Austin and toured 10 homes on a Saturday. Of the 10, only one fit the bill for us and we quickly placed an offer on the house after returning to Houston that weekend. We countered a few times, only to have the owners actually have a change of heart and actually withdraw their house from the market! This, with 3 1/2 weeks until we closed on our Houston home and were essentially homeless. When our realtor gave us the news, I panicked. Distraught is putting it mildly. I went into our bathroom, shut the door, and sobbed for a good 20 minutes. Nothing else we had seen that weekend even came close to what we wanted, and I was starting to think maybe we would have to rent something just to get the girls into a school district by mid-August. But a couple new homes came on the market and we headed back to Austin the following weekend to search again. The first house we saw, I had completely dismissed online. It looked nice, but had no dining room. We never use our dining room, but we do have nice furniture for it, and I do like the option of having that room. It had very ornate vanities in the bathroom that weren't quite my style either, though the claw foot tub was nice, admittedly. We went to see it though because the upstairs had everything the girls wanted: a media room (in addition to a gameroom) and two full bathrooms upstairs, including a private one in one of the bedrooms. As we sat outside looking at the nice, but unassuming exterior, Meghan asked "Why are we even wasting our time on this house?" My first thought after entering was, very small entry and yep, no dining room. But then we walked further in and I realized I was walking on dark, wide-planked hardwood floors. I noticed the HUGE granite island in the kitchen with gorgeous cabinets; the sink, granite, and cabinets in the laundry room; the built-ins in the study, with granite counters. I spent so much time downstairs looking at all the extras that the girls had seen the whole house and were shouting for me to come see the upstairs.

It was in a word: AWESOME. A wet bar off the gameroom with sink, wine refrigerator and hardwood floors, a big gameroom and an even bigger media room with projection screen theater. The 3 upstairs bedrooms were also big and Claire had already claimed the one with the private bath (being the oldest full-time kid at home, she got first pick.) The back yard had a covered patio (and by covered, I mean cedar-planked) and a huge backyard that backed up to greenbelt. Nothing behind us except live oak trees as far as the eye could see. The girls and Jack were sold, but ever the realist, I wanted to see the other houses on our list. By the time we had driven to the next house, our realtor had called the agent on that house and found out there were two other interested parties. Well, we spent our time at this next house writing up a contract on the one we had just toured! We offered more than the asking price, determined not to let this one get away from us. Long story short, we found out that afternoon the house was ours!

It has been a whirlwind since. We are closing on both our Houston home and our new Austin home this Friday in Houston. Movers come tomorrow and Thursday to pack us up and load us out. After closing on Friday, we will say our last good-bye to Houston, our home for 12 years, and head west to Austin. I will have lots more updates and pictures when we get moved in. In the meantime, here is a link to our new home. It is even nicer than the pictures, and we are very excited to call it home.

Wish us luck! See you all on the other side!!
Tracey

We need our summer song!

2011-06-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

Help! It's June 10th already and we don't have a summer song yet at the McAfee house! If you don't know what I am talking about, go here. It should be a song that's current because we listen to the radio a lot, both at home and in the car. When it comes on, we shout "summer song!" and blast it.

Meghan and Claire were kinda feeling Edge of Glory. Honestly though, I am completely over Gaga. She is so overplayed on the radio and her new stuff is just eh for me. They weren't entirely over the top about the song either, so it's a NO.

Anna and I, on the other hand, like Bruno Mars' Lazy Song (excepting the one lyric about sex that makes me cringe.) Love the music......very beachy/summery. And if you can't be lazy in the summer, when can you be? Meghan and Claire are just eh on that one though. And we have to all agree on this song. It's no fun if summer song comes on the radio and a couple of us are "great....summer song.....okay." See what I mean?

The one song we all love is Adele's Rolling in the Deep. Love that girl. Love her cd. Love, love, love. But, it's already being played to death on the radio. And a heartbreak song isn't exactly summery, even if musically, the song kicks you-know-what. My favorite to blast in the car currently though.

So anyone have any other suggestions? This one is kind of important because I am sure it will be the song that we identify with our move to Austin this summer. IF we move to Austin this summer. This house selling thing......it's going to fray my very last nerve. But, that is a subject for another post! Right now I just want to picture my summer song blasting while I float in the pool with an iced tea in hand. Ahhh.....that's better.

Birthuation Festivities!

2011-06-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Not only did Meghan graduate from high school this past Saturday, she did so on her 18th birthday! It was a fantastic day filled lots of smiles and happiness, and maybe just a couple tears. It is so cliche to say, but where did all the years go? Meghan is 18 now! She will be off to college in just a few short months. I can barely wrap my brain around it just yet.

My parents came to visit and watch their first grandchild walk across the stage in her cap and gown. Graduation was held not at her school, but downtown at Reliant Stadium, where the Houston Texans play football! We had lunch afterwards with Meghan's best friend, Natalie, and her family at Hillstone, which was new to us. Very good! Then to cap off the day, we had a small gathering of good friends to celebrate the gradu-birthday. Meghan was so happy all day! It was a very joyous occasion.

Here are pics from the day:

To celebrate Meghan's birthday, I created a candy table instead of having a birthday cake. We had ordered a sheet cake for her graduation and we certainly did not need two cakes. And Meghan LOVES candy. We had been viewing different candy tables on Pinterest for a long time, and I knew she would love to wake up to one on her birthday. She was thrilled!

Claire and Meg on the drive down to Reliant Stadium.

We've arrived!

Klein ISD graduates all four high schools here on the same day. Klein Oak's ceremony was 12 noon.

Excited!

Anna, Meg, and Claire

The processional....Meghan is between the two people in the foreground.

The entire graduating class of 2011....888 kids!

Throwing the caps in celebration.

Meghan walking out.....the short one. :)

Meghan and best friend, Natalie.

The girls. Can't believe our oldest is a high school graduate!

Family photo!

Meghan and Natalie at lunch afterwards. So happy!!! Meghan celebrated with a filet mignon. :)

Back home again after lunch. I had to get a picture of Meg in front of her candy table.

Her birthday gift was a birthstone ring from James Avery to replace her class ring that she probably won't wear much longer.

And her graduation gift from us was a Vera Bradley laptop backpack with some "how to survive freshman year" books. We also snuck a check in one of the pockets hoping she won't have to call home and beg for money right away. :)

Cake time at the little party we held for the girls. Yes, we served the infamous Costco cake!

Meghan and her friend, Jace. They have been buddies since they were 1st grade and kindergarten students. Now Jace is a high school senior!

It was a fantastic day! Big smiles and lots of laughter and high fives! I didn't get too emotional, but I was bursting with pride. And now I am really excited for Meghan to go to the University of North Texas and begin the next chapter of her life.

Moving to Austin

2011-05-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

So, the move. We are headed to Austin, TX where Jack's job has relocated. This all actually started last summer when Jack told me it was a possibility that the company he works for would be moving from Houston to Austin. The idea was exciting because Austin is a pretty cool city. It's younger, hipper, and smaller than Houston. It is home to University of Texas, giving downtown a college feel with funky shops, fun places to eat and a vibrant nightlife with lots of live music. It's also a much more "outdoor" city with two big lakes and lots of parks and trails. On paper, everything about this move from Houston was YES, YES, YES. But the reality is that we have two kids that are going to have to attend new schools and make new friends. (Meghan will be college bound to UNT so she is not affected so much.) The cost of housing is a lot more in Austin than Houston as well. Our realtor told us it's generally $50k more for equivalent housing! Crazy! And, while Houston the city has never held that much appeal to me, the people here are A+. I have made wonderful friends that I am going to have a hard time leaving behind.

However, even with those issues, we have been pretty excited and open to this move. The kids have been great....a little hesitant and sad to leave friends, but excited about the possibilities ahead. So while Jack's office did indeed relocate this past March, we put our house on the market and prepared to move once the school year finished. (Jack is working from home with occasional trips to Austin until the big move.)

I wish I could say that we are knee deep in packing boxes with Meghan's graduation just a week away! Unfortunately though, that's not the case. Our house is STILL for sale. It's been over 10 weeks now. We have had lots of showings (I think today marks 33 or 34) but not a single offer yet. The market is really picky. Our house is showing very well, but we have a small yard that is entirely pool. There is no grass in the back at all, and well, that has been an issue...more so than Jack and I ever thought it would be. Our pool has all the bells and whistles and our landscaping is very nice. But, we've learned that people want grass....if even just a small amount for dogs, kids, whatever. So we dropped our price last week to entice someone to live without the grass, but we are still waiting. We haven't even begun looking in earnest for a home in Austin because we need to get this one sold first. (Seriously, how do people swing two mortgages anyways??? I mean, how do you even get qualified for two mortgages in this age where banks have really tightened their belts. Unless these people just have the cash, in which case, how on earth do you have that much cash??? Really.)

So, here we sit wishing we were preparing for graduation AND the move at the same time. We would like to get over to Austin as soon as possible this summer so the girls can settle in a bit and get used to their new home and neighborhood before school begins in August. At this rate, it won't be in June. Big sigh. I'm trying to be patient, repeating the mantra that everything happens when it should. If I am being truthful though, I am anxious to get this move done. In the moving words of the Black Eyed Peas, LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED, okay???

My little corner of life: post rapture

2011-05-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm still here. Are you? If this rapture really happened, you all have been as bad as me apparently.

So how to spend the first post rapture day? Well, I have updated this neglected blog and am going to make an attempt to post more often. It's not like there has been a lack of activity to blog about. Did I mention we're moving to Austin? Meghan is graduating from high school? We survived not one, but two proms? It's high time I start documenting some of these big events & life changes.

There will be more to come!

It's the Dad Life

2010-08-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

I laughed....

And the school year begins...

2010-08-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

Anna, my 4th grader

Claire, my 7th grader


Meghan, my (sob!) high school senior

Good luck this year my smart, beautiful girls!

Summer Songs

2010-08-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

The unofficial end of summer is upon us here in Texas. School starts on Monday, and with it comes the end of late nights and lazy days. Sigh. It went too fast. It always does.

The girls and I have had a tradition for the last few years to pick out our song of the summer. Whenever we hear our song (usually in the car), we have to turn it up LOUD, shout "summer song!" and sing along at the top of our lungs. It's fun because when we hear a song from a past summer, we immediately remember the summer it's from and reminisce about it. Like, when we hear Metro Station's Shake It, we all go: "Awwww, remember when mom turned this up super loud on the home stereo to wake us up at 5 in the morning to head to DisneyWorld with our camper?" That kind of thing. It's fun. And it's a riot when all four of us are in the car and our song comes on and we are bouncing around singing. So anyways, I thought I'd share our songs so far:

2007: Hey There Delilah by Plain White Ts

2008: Shake It by Metro Station

2009: I Got a Feeling by Black Eyed Peas

and drumroll.............

2010: California Gurls by Katy Perry

(Yeah, we know, everyone else picked it as the song of summer. But the McAfee girls did it back in May! We are cutting edge like that...ha.) A couple disclaimers about this song: 1) The video is a little out there. Anna hasn't seen it, so please don't think I run a free-for-all, hippy-dippy summer camp around here. 2) Meghan never got fully on board with this song...she would probably like you to know that. Oh and 3) Claire can sing Snoop Dog's rap part in it's entirety. I know...lyrics! But, I still love it.

And as long as we are talking about music, I have a current obsession that I just have to share with you. You all know the Blues Brothers, right? And remember Hanson? Put them together and you have this super awesome song and video that I can't stop watching. Really, just try not to bop your head and smile while watching:

DisneyWorld 2010!

2010-08-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this spring, we began thinking about what we wanted to do for our summer trip 2010. Last year we flew to Southern California and went to Disneyland, Sea World, San Diego Zoo and Huntington Beach. We decided that it was time to camp again and Jack and I began talking about a week in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. Having never been to Tennessee before, we sent away for the big Tennessee tourist book and poured over the pages. We figured it would be a good two day drive from Houston with the national park being on the eastern side of the state. We also figured Pigeon Forge would be a good place to base our trip. The more we investigated though, the more this area seemed like Branson, Missouri which is where we camped summer 2007. We loved that trip! It was so much fun. But, Pigeon Forge shares many of the same attractions and parks as Branson, and we just didn't feel like rehashing that trip again, only much further away. While the Smokey Mountains attracted us, we would much rather see them in the fall when color abounds, as opposed to oppressive summer. It didn't take Jack long to voice a second opinion: DisneyWorld. (Except said in Jack tone: DisneyWorld! DisneyWorld! DisneyWorld!) As soon as that option was on the table, the girls expressed their agreement and it wasn't long before I was begrudgingly booking another week long trip to the World. (Mind you, I love DisneyWorld as much as the rest of my family, but we did Disneyland the summer before, and DisneyWorld the summer before that.) I just didn't want a lackluster vacation because we have become so accustomed to Disney.

Well, I should not have feared that, because it was another absolutely magical, fantastic trip. We are just a Disney family, I guess. The magic is always there and we never fail to have anything other than a near perfect trip. I had booked a week at a Disney's Beach Club Resort in the Epcot resort area. We had never stayed there before, but it accommodated the five of us in one room and I had read good things about it. Well, we were blown away by this resort complex. The pool, Storm Along Bay, is the best and biggest of all of Disney property and it lived up to it's reputation. Our room was spacious and beautiful as was the resort itself. Epcot was less than a five minute walk from our room! That was awesome! There were movies on the beach at night and the Boardwalk hotel (with actual Boardwalk and accompanying entertainment were just a 10 minute walk around the lake. In short, we LOVED it. So much to do and see. It was hard deciding whether to go to the parks, or hang out at our resort.

We visited all four parks that make up Walt Disney World....some more than once. We ate many great meals and took the girls to see La Nouba one evening. Everything was wonderful. Yes, it was hot. And yes, the parks got quite crowded at times. But by getting to the parks right at opening and taking advantage of Fast Pass, we rarely waited in any lines longer than 5 minutes. We went back to Storm Along Bay every afternoon and/or evening and cooled off in the gigantic pool complex. It was so much fun. Try as we might, we just can't not have fun at DisneyWorld. It holds magic for us and we get to all act like kids. Jack was on a giddy high the entire week and that was just contagious.

Our arrival at Beach Club

The lobby of Cape May Cafe restaurant

A giant rainbow when we first arrived!

The grounds and a very small part of Storm Along Bay

The lobby of Beach Club Resort

About to wake Anna up on our first full day! She slept on the daybed.

A little of the room decor. Claire is grabbing something out of the fridge in the room.

Our first day: Magic Kingdom of course! First castle picture of the trip.

Jack floating in the lazy river part of the pool

Claire and Megan hanging out

Anna coming out of the wading pool. It was huge and only about 2 feet deep...great for playing and sitting in the sand bottom.

The girls lounging

More pictures of the pool area

Looking back at our hotel from the pool

Another pool picture


and another

Another pic of our room...Jack and Meghan ipad-ing & texting

Claire and Jack in front of Jack's favorite place.....the quick food shop at our resort

Anna with her Angel and Stitch purchase with CB

This is the view of our resort's courtyard at night

This is the view from the courtyard looking across the lake to the Boardwalk Resort

and this is the view of the Yacht & Beach Club Resort from the Boardwalk

Anna ran into Baloo during our day at Animal Kingdom...

...while her sisters rode Expedition Everest (the first of 4 times that day!)

The girls in front of the Tree of Life

I think I will leave the animal pics for a separate post, but these tigers were amazing!

The Jammin Jungle Parade

Mickey!

Meghan enjoys her refreshment in "Africa"

Claire checks out the Stitch pins. I cannot tell you how many she has collected!


You may have noticed the lack of captions after the first day. I have somehow messed up the formatting and I can't figure out how to caption the rest of the photos. I will try to figure it out (Honestly, I am the only person alive who can't blog on a Mac.)

Wicked

2010-08-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July doing something a little different this year. Instead of bbq and fireworks, we ventured downtown to the Hobby Center to see the touring production of Wicked that evening.

We loved it! The music, costumes and sets were all fantastic. And the story, which is really the back story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, is so clever and original. I will never look at the Wicked Witch (Elphaba) the same way again.

The girls really enjoyed the show! Meghan had been to one previous Broadway production show when I took her to see Mama Mia at the Hobby Center, but that was probably 7-8 years ago. Claire and Anna had never been before, and all three of them loved not only Wicked, but the theater experience. One thing I do have to give Houston is that the quality and quantity of theater productions in this city is amazing. I believe I read somewhere that Houston is second only to NYC in terms of the number of theater seats this city has. Pretty impressive. I wish we took advantage of it more often. But it isn't cheap, that's for sure. Taking a family of five to the theater for one evening is akin to a month's worth of groceries! Totally worth it to see Anna's impression of Galinda's "Toss Toss" though. Girl has got it down PAT.

I shall now rename this blog the Kris Allen blog

2010-08-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

So Kris Allen has been touring all summer with his band and one of his stops was Galveston, TX, about an hour south of Houston. Of course, I jumped on those tickets right away and the five of us drove down on July 3rd to see our second Kris Allen concert. (We saw him perform at Six Flags San Antonio back in March. I know, I know....dragging my family all over Texas to see Kris Allen perform is a bit fangirly. I admit it. But, our girls really love him too, so it's a very family-oriented obsession.)

The concert was awesome. You must see Kris Allen live sometime! He is such a great performer and every single one of his songs sounds better live than on his cd. (This is a huge compliment because I love his cd.) Plus, he covers Michael Jackson, Allison Krauss, Radiohead, U2 and The Beatles just to name a few. Seriously, who does that? And he pulls every cover off originally and convincingly. Plus, as Meghan would say, his band is "tight." Simply put, they are a talented, fantastic band.

Okay, so the concert was amazing. When it ended, we headed out of the venue and heard some people shouting over to the side and went over to investigate because Kris is known to come out to greet fans after his shows. It was his tour bus! (A gigantic Prevost....that bit is for my parents.) There were about 40-50 of us just waiting outside the bus and after a few minutes, Kris stepped out with his tour manager! It was so exciting. The crowd basically mobbed him, but he was so gracious and patient with everyone. The girls and I hung back a bit because dragging my family around for concerts not withstanding, I do not like acting like a crazy fan. Also, I'm not into autographs, so I was just having fun watching him do his thing. But after about 20-30 minutes (and Jack standing around semi-patiently), the crowd died down and we were able to get in line and get a picture with him. So we got this nice family shot above that Jack took! Thanks Jack!! (Ignore my deer-in-headlights eyes. I believe the entire time, I was repeating, "I can't believe this, I can't believe this...") It was a quick encounter, but he was so nice. Claire asked him for a hug and he said "Sure!" and gave her one. Seriously, he signed and took pictures for everyone who wanted (and that number quickly grew...probably well over 100 people.) So yeah, I love him more than ever now.

Unfortunately he's not coming back to Texas on this tour but I believe he's playing Atlantic City this weekend. Who's in???

Midsummer Afternoon's Blogpost

2010-07-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

End of July already? No way. I dread flipping the calendar over to the next month. Back to school month. Back to scheduling life down to every minute month. Back to....eh, you get it. Does anyone else dread it as much as me? Aren't moms supposed to be happy when their kids go back to school? Not me.
We have had a somewhat, uneventful summer punctuated by some really fantastic events. (Is that an oxymoron?) The girls have had lots of unstructured time and we have had a lot of lazy days. (Is that not the purpose of summer?) Lots of sleeping in, tv watching, book reading, and internet surfing culminating in late nights where I am usually the first to bed.

But amidst the monotony have been some fantastic times:

+ A Kris Allen concert that would have been fantastic in it's own right, but then: WE MET HIM (visual proof coming shortly)

+ An awesome evening at The Hobby Center downtown to see the touring production of WICKED

+ Another fantastic weeklong vacation at DisneyWorld in Orlando (It's official, we are that weirdo Disney family. Yes, we realize there are other places to vacation. But. the. magic. it. is. inescapable.)

I will blog separately about these things. I just had to get them out there. To remind my daughters that we HAVE done some fun things this summer. (Yeah, it's getting a little long in the tooth around here. Maybe I should scratch that paragraph above complaining about the S word.)

Also, I've played around with the blog design a bit again. I dunno....too busy? I like the colors and the design, but I'm just not too sure yet. And, I am not even going to go there about the whole lack of blogging thing. Just. You know.

Has this place been condemned?

2010-06-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

My poor little dust-covered, neglected blog. I just spent some time sprucing things up around here hoping it will spur me to rekindle my blogging efforts. Stay tuned.

FRUSTRATION therapy

2010-04-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

I love my oldest daughter. She is smart and witty. She is fun to hang out with. She is not, however, a neat freak. Not. Even. Close. On any given day you can walk into her room and it will look like this. That basket of clothes on the floor? Um, not dirty. They are clean. And they were (past tense) folded when I handed the basket off to her. Sigh. I could get mad. I have in the past. Yelling might have occurred. But yesterday, she was at school and I just didn't have it in me to get angry. Sure, my pulse was raised and my blood pressure probably was too, but I walked away.

As I was picking up the family room, I spotted something Meghan got in her Easter basket. It's called Crayola Color Explosion. I thought I would try it out and it's pretty fun. The markers are clear, but when you draw with them, they expose the patterned paper underneath. Before I knew it, I was breathing normally and in a much calmer state of mind. I took my pretty drawing back up to Meg's room so she'd have something nice to look at when she got home from school.

Hey, it beats drinking at 10 in the morning. And though I have not confirmed, sources say the basket of clothes were put away yesterday afternoon. Little victories.

Easter 2010

2010-04-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Scenes from Easter 2010:

The traditional Easter egg dying above. The not so traditional mini-marshmellow Easter sheep below.

I got this idea from my latest issue of Southern Living magazine. I can't find an online picture, but trust me when I tell you ours are the amateur version. We amused ourselves so much making these that we topped our homemade carrot cake (thanks dad!) with one:

The bunny brought way too much candy and other assorted goodies on Easter morning.

The pool was 73 degrees on Sunday. Anna was the only one crazy enough to swim before we had an early Easter dinner.

Here are the girls dressed up for our late afternoon church service. Below, are the goofy shots.

and a couple more nice ones:

The girls had Easter Monday off and my parents stayed to visit one more day. Today, I am back to an empty house. Dangerous being in an empty house with three Easter baskets filled with candy......just sayin.

Okay, I know this isn't a music blog....

2010-03-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

...but please indulge me yet another concert/music post! I do not go to concerts all the time, even if it does seem that way based on my blog lately. But, we did attend another concert (the 3rd in three weeks) that I just have to share with you guys. It was my VERY FAVORITE artist currently. My family may tell you I have a bit of an obsession with him, which may or may not be true: Is dragging your family 4 hours across the state to attend a concert considered a bit much? I didn't exactly drag them either. It was Spring Break and we went to San Antonio with friends to spend a day at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and well, there just happened to be this concert going on there that evening......

OK, OK......... it was KRIS ALLEN (current American Idol winner)!! I love him. You'll probably remember last year when I blogged about how much I loved him on AI and how I voted for him, even though it goes against everything I believe in to be that vested in a tv show. When I found out he was playing a show in San Antonio, it was pretty much a given that I was going to get there to see him some way. Conveniently, it was during Spring Break for the kids, so we drove over to SA with friends who wanted to spend a day at Fiesta Texas. Meghan, Claire and I were the only ones who really cared about the concert, so everyone rode rides while we enjoyed the show. By the way, Kris Allen opened for One Republic, so he wasn't even the main attraction. Anyways, long story short, the concert was awesome!! Kris is very talented, as is his band. I love live music, and they did not disappoint. Meghan and Claire were awesome concert buddies.....just as excited and into the music as I was. It was so much fun with them. And we were all really impressed with One Republic too. They were just fantastic and so talented. They played cello, violin and a really cool organ in addition to the usual guitars and drums. Meghan had a couple of their singles from itunes, but we bought both their entire cds when we got home.

Okay, I could go on and on, but I won't! (Even though it appears as I look above it's too late for that.) I'll leave this post with some pictures we took:

After the concert, I said to the girls, "Let's just pick a band and follow them around all summer and be groupies." They were totally for it. :) Concerts....especially outdoors, are just the best.

Happy Belated Birthday Becky!

2010-03-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

One of my dearest friends, Becky, had a birthday last Friday and I just wanted to acknowledge it on my blog. Becky and I have known each other since our oldest kids were just babies. (Over 16 years ago!) I love Becky. We raised our kids from babies to toddlers to preschoolers together over lots of laughs, occasional tears, and many bottles of wine. She is so dear to me, and even though our friendship has been long distance over the past 10 years since we moved to Texas, she is one of those people that I can talk to and it feels like we were together just yesterday. So, a belated Happy Birthday to you Becky! Lots of love!!

The weekend: a little volleyball/a big rodeo/ a giant concert

2010-03-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

Finally! I think I have figured out the photo thing between Blogger and the Mac! Sorry for the delay, but I now have pics of our weekend a couple weeks back. Claire had a volleyball tournament and do I have a picture of her spiking the ball? Making a great pass? No, I have a picture of her tailgating with her teammates during a break in matches. Priorities, you know?

So after the tournament, we headed down to the Houston Rodeo which is a 3 week extravaganza held downtown each spring. It is one huge party for the city of Houston with a fair, livestock show, rodeo competition and live concerts every day for 3 weeks. We scored tickets to see the Jonas Brothers. Unfortunately, traffic was HORRENDOUS (McAfees do not do very well when stuck in traffic not knowing where to go. Reference the Disneyworld Vacation 2008 post), so by the time we found parking, we only had time to scarf a quick corn dog before entering Reliant Stadium for the rodeo and concert. I bought these tickets from ticketmaster the moment they went on sale back in January and still only managed to get nosebleed seats. Thank goodness for the jumbo-tron because as you can see, we were up in the heavens. Still, we had a lot of fun watching the cowboys wrangle steer and ride broncos.

Then the fireworks went off to start the Jonas Brothers concert. Demi Lovato opened for them and we all thought she was pretty bad.

The JoBros though, actually surprised me. They were really good. The girls had a great time (even Meghan who voted for Black Eyed Peas tickets over Jonas Brothers). Jack tolerated the whole thing fairly well.

In a nod to the rodeo, Nick, Joe and Kevin put on cowboy hats and sang a Keith Urban song. The crowd (70,000 plus) loved it! They were really fun and sounded great. I definitely came away more impressed with them than I was going in.

And a last picture of the girls outside of Reliant Stadium after the concert. A long, but fun day.

The weekend: John Mayer concert

2010-03-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun weekend! It was exhausting, but so worth it! John Mayer was in Houston on Saturday evening. We bought tickets on a whim. (I might have whined a little bit that day about having to go to JoBros the next day, but not getting to see one of my very favorite artists when he was in town THAT VERY NIGHT.) We scored really good seats: 18th row on the floor, in the center. He was playing the Toyota Center which is where the Houston Rockets play, so it's a huge arena. The concert was FANTASTIC. I have been a John Mayer fan for such a long time. I love him. I know he has said some controversial things lately, and I frankly have shaken my head over some pretty immature, egotistical things that have come out of his mouth. I am still a huge fan however. (Room For Squares is one of my top five favorite cd's ever.) This concert marked the 4th time I have seen him perform now, and he just gets better and better. He is such a talented guitar player (unequaled for his generation?) and such a gifted songwriter. I was on my feet and mesmerized the entire concert. Thanks Jack for making me buy the tickets! What a great night!

Spontaneity Rocks! (As does Mayer)

2010-03-07T04:59:00.000-08:00

OMG! Jack and I saw John Mayer perform last night. It was a last minute decision to go, and I am so glad we did. Floor seats.....18th row, smack dab in the middle. We have been to four of his concerts in Houston now, and just WOW. What a musician. Will share more soon (with blurry phone photos), but right now it's an all day volleyball tourney for Claire, then straight down to the Houston Rodeo for some fried food, cattle, bulls, and oh yeah...these guys will be there singing. I think they're called the Jonas Brothers or something?

Update again soon!
Tracey

LOLs

2010-03-06T07:55:00.000-08:00

If you are ever in need of a pick-me-up, I thought I would share three websites I have bookmarked that never cease to provide me with a good, proverbial LOL. Sometimes they even provide me with the elusive ROTFLMAO. In no order of preference:

Awkward Family Photos

At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me. Then, I burst out laughing. My sides; they still hurt. You have to go to the site to read the caption. I swear, every third or fourth entry on this site is downright hysterical.

Cakes Wrecks

This site captures pics of....well.....exactly what the website is called: cake wrecks. The funny thing is, these cakes are all professionally made. You have to go to the site to read the captions along with the pictures. I've spent way too much time guffawing here over cake tragedies.

And lastly, a site you probably have already heard about, but is so mind-numbingly, atrociously, head-shakingly funny that I must include it:

People of Walmart.com

Oh my gosh. The funny on this site. I always tell myself, "Okay, just one more page and I'm done." But I can't help myself and before I know it I've clicked through 20 pages of images....each one more absurd (and hysterical) than the next. Plus, it makes trips to Walmart now a bit of a sport, armed with my camera phone and a heightened sense of OMG alert. Ahh, People of Walmart, you're the best.

Okay, big day tomorrow, so expect another post soon. I won't entirely give it away except to say:

Meghan, Claire and Anna - meet Kevin, Joe and Nick.

Report Card

2010-03-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

Let's see how those New Year's goals are holding up, shall we?

1. I ate half a loaf of sour dough bread (with real butter) last night at dinner. Need I say more?
2. Yes! Two rooms in two months...Anna's room and Claire's room. Did not snap before & after photos though.
3. Heh
4. Um, no. Hasn't happened.
5. Yes and no. Yes = Becky and Alix. (Hi girls!!!) No = Sharon (Shame on me.)

Who does that? Openly declaring your goals, ignoring them, then abandoning your blog. That is some stuff for the analyst's chair, no? I've always loved this particular explanation for not doing something: I am not afraid of failure, I am afraid of success! Haha....yes, that's it! I am afraid of the awesome bikini body I would have while showing off my beautiful redone house and super awesome quilts to my wonderful friends....both real life and in blogland. Sigh. That's got to be it. I am so afraid of actually accomplishing these goals, I'm just ignoring them. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Truth is, I really like to blog and am sad I haven't been doing so the last couple of months. But I am going to blog with abandon. Meaning, I am going to abandon these goals. Or maybe not the goals (hello...seriously...swimsuit season is like 6 weeks away in Houston), but my efforts to chronicle my success/lack thereof on my blog. I may do it, but I may not. I am just not going to tie my blogging to these goals any longer.

So, sorry for that false start to blogging in 2010. Let's begin again and have fun. Like, you want to know some of my favorite things currently? I am loving this stuff:

TV: Modern Family

Please tell me you are watching this show. I have not laughed so much and so hard at the television screen since Arrested Development (RIP) aired on Fox several years back. Go watch every single episode you can. Do it. Right now.

Music: Stars Go Dim's debut cd "Love Gone Mad"

I was in Hollister last December buying Christmas gifts for the girls when this song came on the store's playlist. I immediately LOVED it. Jack was with me and I had him ask an employee what it was. Turns out it was "You Got Me" by this group I've never heard of called Stars Go Dim. I came home and promptly bought it on itunes and it has been heavily played ever since. I just bought the entire cd about a week ago, and it's really good.

Internet: The Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, has been around quite some time and I have even had her website listed on my sidebar since I started blogging. However, lately, I have been having a love affair with her and her website all over again. I love her recipes and photography but most of all I love her writing. I am endlessly entertained by her stories of life on a cattle ranch. I told Jack yesterday that she is the Oprah of the internet. If you are one of the two people who hasn't heard of her website yet, go here. You won't regret any time spent with P-Dub.

Food: Candy Jar Ice Cream from Blue Bell Creamery

If you live in Texas, you know the only ice cream worth eating is from Blue Bell Creamery. If you don't live in Texas, sorry for you life because this is the best ice cream ever. EVER. Sorry to be obnoxious about it, but it's really true. Blue Bell has a seasonal flavor called Candy Jar. If the name isn't enough to convince you, here is the description from the container: "Rich caramel ice cream containing all of your favorite candy pieces - peanut butter cups, chocolate chunks, peanut brittle, chunks of caramel and chocolate crisp pieces." Seriously, this may be the single greatest reason I am still trying to lose 15 pounds. YUM.

It feels good to be back to blogging. Let's do this more often, okay? Until May then! (haha...just going for some self-deprecating humor there.)

Haiti

2010-01-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity. ~Tolstoy

Did you know that by texting "Haiti" to 90999, you can donate $10 to the American Red Cross? All proceeds go towards their Haitian relief fund. The $10 will show up on your next cell phone bill. It could not be easier to help.

My 2010 Goals

2010-01-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay with this post. I have been having technical difficulties with blogger and my new computer (did I mention Jack bought be a shiny new MacBook Pro from Christmas?) It's January 7th, so I think I am right under the wire for writing down any resolutions for the new year. Any longer and I might as well just wait for 2011!

So without further ado, here are my goals for 2010:

1. The obligatory "lose 15 pounds".

So far this week I have not done much to further this cause. I walked/jogged 1.75 miles on Monday, had an hour long tennis drill yesterday and ........ATE EVERYTHING MY GRUBBY PAWS CAME ACROSS. The exercise part is always much easier for me than controlling what I eat. I know how to eat healthy....I just gotta do it. I will be using this book a lot.

2. Update the house

We have been in our house 10 years now and it's starting to show. Right before Christmas we had the entire house painted with a nice warm beige (much darker than the off white it has been the prior 10 years) and it really looks good. My goal now is to do some other things in each room to update them and give a new fresh, look. Unfortunately wide-planked, distressed walnut floors for the entire downstairs are not in our budget (hello, college breathing down my neck). However, there are some other things I can do to each room to be happier with them. I think I am going to concentrate on one room each month for this entire year. If I spread it out, it is easier on my time and our pocketbook. We have 14 rooms in the house. I am happy with my dining room and Meg's room will only be her room for another 18 months, so I won't make any big changes there. So that leaves 12 rooms for 12 months. I will blog about each room as I go so you can see my updates. I am really hoping I stick with this one!! It would be nice at the end of the year to walk into any room in this house and breath a sigh of contentment.

3. Blog more often!

I have already blogged about my renewed commitment here and why it's important to me. I am really going to make an effort to post lots more. You may have noticed the blog looking kind of plain lately. I want to do a makeover here too. I am not sure if that will involve me learning more about blog design, or simply me stumbling across a pre-made template that speaks to me, but I am looking to spruce things up here too. In the meantime, please forgive the lack of pretty.

4. Spend more time on my creative endeavors
Rather it be my first love: quilting....or making gift buckets, or even learning how to use my fancy camera, I want to spend more time creating things. Making things makes me happy! I have no idea what I will do with all this stuff I want to make, but just making them gives me joy. I have so much beautiful fabric (now that is a post waiting to happen!) that I can hardly stand it. I need to let the dust bunnies lie some days and just go upstairs to my little table and do something that makes me happy! Call me out on this if I am not blogging about projects every so often!!

5. Keep in better touch with friends

This ties back to blogging somewhat. It is such a great vehicle for keeping people updated on my life. But, I need to be better about letting specific people know when I am thinking of them (much more often than my lack of communication communicates). I tend to put that kind of stuff off, and I need to realize that writing a two line email that says, "Hey, what's up? Thinking about you." is sometimes just as good as a 6 paragraph diatribe about everything and anything in my life. As an aside, I don't know if Facebook fits into this or not. What does everyone else think about Facebook? If you have thoughts, please leave a comment! I am so on the fence about this and I would love to hear your opinion. There is good (easy way to get quick updates from lots of people) and bad (OMG...friends coming out of the woodwork. And I use the term "friends" loosely....high school acquaintances I can't quite remember, my daughter's friends...Hello, you are 12....no you cannot be my friend... etc. ) So yay or nay on Facebook?

OK, I think that does it for my goals. Those are the big ones anyways! I really hope putting them out there in blogland forces me to stick with them. And if not, well, the poster above says it all. After all......planning is the fun and easy part. Now I have to work on the doing!

What you missed....

2010-01-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

Before I close out 2009 I am doing a pictorial review of the last half of 2009 (the half where I fell off the face of the blog-o-sphere) to bring everyone up to date with our year. Starting in August...

First day of school! Meghan starts her junior year at Klein Oak High School. Big milestone for her....she drives to school now. And I clutch my chest and hyperventilate until she texts me that she made it to school okay. (Well, that just lasted a couple weeks. Now I just hope my prayer of "Dear Lord, let her make it to school safely" is answered every morning.)

Jack and I broke down and bought a "third family car" (family car because Meghan drives it and Jack and I put gas in it) this past summer. I was sick and tired of making the 40 minute round trip trek to her school several times a week. Normally she rode the bus, but with her tennis and yearbook schedule, I knew she would be missing the bus as much as she would be riding it. So far the car has been worth every penny of my time.

Claire and Anna on the first day of school. Claire starts Doerre Middle School (6th) grade and Anna is my sole Hassler Elementary student (3rd grade). I have seriously had a kid at that elementary school for as long as it's been open (10 years). I should be their most valued-customer. Like, I should have my own parking spot, free PTO membership and priority conference times.

Anna has Ms. Cook! Ms. Cook had both Meghan and Claire and rounds out the McAfee trifecta with Anna. We love her. Seriously, the most creative, demanding (in a good way) teacher at that school.

Claire rides the school bus for the first time. In the background of this picture you can probably make out a light brown building. That is the elementary school. Lucky ducks, aren't we? Claire was excited to ride the bus, and as I have found with Meghan, is getting a whole 'nother education riding that thing to school. (Claire Bear.....do not sit in the back with those worldly 8th graders.)

Claire gets braces and Dr. Gilliam gets richer.

(note: Meg was dressed for nerd day at school in the above pic, minus the 3D glasses she popped the frames out of and wore to school.)

Homecoming in October. OMG....the homecoming mum that I have tirelessly poked fun at for 10 years since moving to Texas, rears its' ugly head in the McAfee house. Meghan and her boyfriend exchanged mums at our house the week of homecoming. Meghan's is worn as a halter? necklace? albatross? and Trey's is worn as an arm band. Somewhere in there is a fake mum (Meg's has 3 actually) surrounded by umm....stuff. The kids wear them to school all week, and to the football game. Ironically, the mums are not worn to the dance, which thank the Lord, because then this would be covered up entirely:

Meghan and Trey dressed for dinner and the homecoming dance. They actually attend rival high schools, so they got to go to both Meghan and Trey's homecomings one week apart. (Look at that height difference.....and Meghan is wearing two inch heels.)

The McAfees do Halloween!

Dorothy can have her wicked witch of the west......we have the cutest candy corn witch of the south.

I love Claire's costume! She wanted a homemade costume this past Halloween, and I found this one on the Family Fun magazine website. It's a jellyfish!

We went one step further than the magazine did though and added a string of battery powered white lights. Here she is (with Meghan) all lit up. She got lots of compliments.

Jack celebrated another birthday in November. When your birthday falls the same week as Thanksgiving, odds are your birthday cake is going to have a turkey on it.

IT came to live with us. After living two weeks as a stray in our friend's front yard and repeated "no thank you, we do not need another cat" refrains, the threat of calling animal control was what it eventually took for me to lose my mind and give in. I was reminded of my stupidity just this morning (6am, to be exact) when I heard a crash upstairs and found Anna's hamster's cage in pieces on the floor and a stunned hamster wondering what the hell just happened. Kitten (Mabel, Little Bit....Little Shit....IT has many names) was the culprit. Uh, I hate that cat.

The only pictures we have of Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's in Bandera, TX is of Anna skipping along their street. You will have to take my word for it........the food was awesome and the company even better (shout out to special guest, my Uncle Paul who came in from Arizona.)

And I close out my recap of the last half of 2009 with this picture of Meghan. Don't ask me what she's doing. I have no clue. She's goofy, that one. We all are actually. And that is our goofy 2009.

Looking forward, I hope to be back on the blog later today. I have my designs on 2010. I have goals (dare I say, resolutions?) to share. Because if I share them, that makes me accountable, right?

2010-01-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

Still playing catchup on the blog and I can't close out 2009 without a birthday post! Claire turned 12 (and I turned old) on December 30th. We shared a great day together. We went out for pedicures and then I took her to the mall for a shopping spree. (She is far more into clothes and shoes than she was last year....I think middle school has a way of doing that.) She came home with jeans, t-shirts, shoes and the cutest plaid pea coat ever. (Gotta get a pic of her in it....seriously so cute, we got home and Meghan said "Uh, I am stealing that to wear to school".)
Here is the birthday girl with her purchases:

We just hung out that afternoon. Claire played some Band Hero with her sisters. Jack got it for the girls for Christmas. I was doubtful they would like it, but honestly, they have been playing it every day and love it. (Score Jack!)

We had dinner at a hibachi restaurant that evening. It was the five of us plus Meghan's boyfriend, Trey. (Claire's best friend couldn't make it, but Claire was excited that Trey could come.) Afterwards it was home for cake. Claire LOVES cookie cake, so in honor of her new rocker status with Band Hero, we got her a guitar cake.

I am not a big fan of frosting-laden giant cookies, so my sweet husband, made my very favorite cake from scratch! It was a three layer carrot cake. Is he not the best? Yum...it was good!

We had a great day together. I love sharing my birthday with my sweet, middle daughter.

Love you, CB! (And yes, Maisy and B....I love you both too.)

Holiday Highlights 2009

2009-12-31T06:29:00.000-08:00

With my new commitment to blog again comes a mad scramble to catch up on the events I have missed blogging about. Our Christmas season was a whirlwind! Seems a lot of people felt that way this year. I am having a hard time believing it came and went already. But I have pictures to prove December actually happened! Here are the McAfee holiday highlights in pictures:

It snowed again in Houston this December! Anna is seen trying to make a snow angel on the hood of our car. (Silly Houston-born kid. She doesn't understand the concept of snow angel making.)

Here is Anna at her school Christmas concert. (On the end in the green pants.) She auditioned for and got the role of the coveted "Elf #5", complete with two-line speaking part. She outshone every third grader in the cafe-gym-ma-torium that evening. Needless to say, we were very proud.

We could not keep our newest pet out of the Christmas tree this year. Yes, I said new pet. Don't ask. Let's just say I have more compassion than brains.

Ahhh....sisterly love on Christmas Eve following our church service.

A family portrait. And the first of several holiday photos that have convinced me that those P90X dvds need dusting off. Did I not have a waist at one point in my life?

Sorry mom! My parents visited us for Christmas and I got several nice shots of the girls with my mom. Unfortunately for her, I chose to use the goofy one. Bonus points for mom though. My dad was in jeans and a t-shirt in 2 seconds flat after coming home from church, therefore declining any photos.

Once again, the obligatory top-of-the-stairs on Christmas morning photo of the girls.

OOOOO......Santa was here! And he ate off of Anna's homemade Christmas plate.

Further proof that Santa visited the McAfees! Anna must have been a very good girl.

These two have got to be two of the biggest Glee fans on earth. No matter that they have downloaded almost every Glee song recorded within 2 hours of an episode airing on tv, Santa thought they should have the cds.

What? She put it on her Christmas list. I just called her bluff.

Not to be outdone in the gag gift department, Claire gifted Meghan with the new Susan Boyle cd. It will fit nicely in her music collection, right between the All American Rejects and Lady Gaga.

And as quickly as it came, Christmas went! As always, we were very blessed. We enjoyed my parents' visit, ate our weight in all kinds of goodies, and spent lots of time together watching movies, playing Wii and just laughing and talking. Oh, and yanking the new kitten out of the Christmas tree. Next year I am asking Santa for my sanity back.

For my family

2009-12-29T21:03:00.000-08:00

Um, I stopped blogging. Not intentionally. I began sorting through summer vacation photos back in July to post my recap of a most excellent summer trip to Southern California. I became entirely bogged down by the sheer number of photos I had taken and my complete inability to edit them down into a reasonable post length. So, there the post sat as a "draft" in my blog account. And then I refused to blog anything else until I posted that entry. And that turned into weeks, which turned into months, which turned into......where the hell did 2009 go?

Jack and the girls have gently reminded/chided/harassed me the entire time about blogging again. And unfortunately, I just never made it a top priority. Why spend hours on a blog entry about a family vacation that perhaps only my family will see? My audience is not exactly far reaching, and there are more productive ways to spend my time most days. But then, I kind of had a revelation about this little blog o mine. Though I am not entertaining 100s (10s?) of followers like dooce, for instance (her audience is actually far larger than that), what I do have here IS important to the 10 or so people that follow me. This digital journal matters to the people who matter most to me. And, so I renew my commitment to my "little corner of life".

And because my most ardent supporter (read: the one who emailed and commented on a regular basis for me to blog again) has a birthday tomorrow, I thought it would be fitting to blog again on her Birthday Eve. So CB.....this one's for you.

(And Meg, Anna, Jack, mom, dad, Aunt Edna, Cousin Eddie.....this one's for you too.)

Post in Progress: Southern California Summer vacation

2009-07-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaack!

2009-07-25T06:14:00.000-07:00

Wow...can't believe it's been a month since my last post. Summer is flying by here! We just got back from an awesome summer trip to So Cal (The OC as I referred to it the entire time) and I have lots of pics to share. I will be working on that post next, but here is a preview of our GREAT time:(The girls with Robbie and Danielle Peyton.....awesome friends and former neighbors who now live in Huntington Beach,CA)

As soon as I sort through the 900+ pictures I took, I will have a trip report for y'all. Since we got back, I have been busy with all the post-vacation stuff there is to do...laundry, bills, grocery shopping....you know, all the stuff that drives one to go on a vacation in the first place. However, I've also made time to watch ALL 5 Harry Potter movies with Claire (with guest appearances by Meghan, Anna and Jack during certain movies). Phew!! What a task. Four different directors on the first five films and not a one could get the movie under 2 1/2 hours? Are you kidding me?

Claire had not seen them (I've seen the first 2) and wanted to watch them all before going to see the one out in theaters now. (As an aside, I can never remember the names of any of these movies so I make up my own. For example, movie #4 would be Harry Potter and the hot guy who plays Edward Cullen in the Twilight movie.) Anyways, we watched #5 last night (Harry Potter and that Annoying Woman who Likes Pink Alot) so we are all caught up on the series! I think we may hit the movie that is in theaters (Harry Potter and the Record Breaking Opening) this weekend sometime.

I will leave this post with the single most awesome thing I have seen this week (and yeah, that includes all those HP movies.) Apparently this youtube video is the hottest thing currently, and I can see why. I LOVE IT. Now, which daughter of mine can I get to do this in the future? Enjoy.....because I TOTALLY did.

I got nothing: redux

2009-06-23T05:11:00.000-07:00

Picture, as promised, of Anna's retainer. Pretty cool, huh? Anna asked them to throw some silver sparkles in the mix too. You know, just in case the hot pink/bright green combo wasn't doing the job of adorning the roof of her mouth enough.

Goodness, why do I feel I am teetering on a slippery slope here by posting a photo of Anna's ortho apparatus? I mean, what's next? Wanna see a picture of the inside of my dirty oven? How about the weeds in the backyard? I need something exciting to happen! Something cool and blogworthy! Otherwise this is just another boring blog from someone who thinks her cats are cute enough to post countless pictures of for everyone to oooh and ahhhh over. What? Did someone mention cute kitties?

My mission today? (and if you are thinking clean that filthy oven or pull the weeds, well, you just don't know me that well.) Find something... anything to blog about our summer so far. And it can't be about the weather. (Hello high temp of 101 tomorrow!) I am determined. Let the quest begin.

A before and after

2009-06-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts of late. I guess the lazy days of summer are to blame. Not much exciting going on. Lots of sleeping in, staying up late, swimming and Wii Mario Kart lately. I have to share these pics of Anna though. After 11 months, she got her braces off on Monday. She looks so different! Two days later we were back at the ortho though for her retainer. She pretty much has to wear it 24/7 for the next year. I have to get a picture of it to post. It actually looks like a watermelon (yeah, if I didn't see it, I wouldn't be able to picture it either.)

As a parting gift, her orthodontist handed her a card and told her it was a gift for being such a good patient. Inside was a $15 Target gift card! Part of me thought, "What a cool idea and a nice gesture. Then another part of me thought, "Hey where is the gift for the parents who decided to write a check in full a year ago (for a measley 8% discount)? I want my Target gift card too!" OK, I am selfish, yes, but really, I could do some (minor) damage at Target with my own $15 gift card. Where's the love Dr. Brown??

OK, one more thing.....Jack and I went to go see Hangover last week. Oh. my. HILARIOUS. It has been such a long time since I have seen a movie strictly for adults. And boy, it deserved the "R" rating.....but, it was so damn funny. We LOVED it. It was terrific! Jack was laughing so hard I actually had to shush him a few times because he was so loud! So, leave the kiddos home and go have a date night with your spouse/significant other. It is the most fun I have had at the movies in quite awhile.
P.S. Stay for the end credits...it is a MUST.

Sweet 16!

2009-06-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

As promised, pictures of Meghan's 16th birthday yesterday! Cannot believe my oldest is 16 and now driving! That was the first order of business yesterday: standing in line at the DMV (which Texas calls DPS...'cause you can get gun licenses here too......dear Lord, love Texas) to obtain the driver's license. Thankfully, she had already taken both the written and driving test through her driver's ed class last fall, so all we had to do was present the proper paperwork, fork over the cash, and her temporary license was placed in her freshly minted 16 year old hands. The next thing we did was grab some bagels for breakfast, make a surprise stop to pick up the cake pictured above (Meghan was so surprised!) and then back to the neighborhood where Meg drove to get Natalie.

Then more surprises arrived for Meghan:

a gorgeous cookie cake from our dear friends in Minnesota, the Mustas (Meghan and Nate were babies together!!!! Now they are both driving......Nate gets his license next month!!!)

an adorable birthday box from Grandpa & Grandma Sowerby. It had a teddy bear, cookies, candy and chocolates. (Please ignore Claire's hair as she was acting goofy, but DO take note of how tall she is compared to her older sister!)

Jack arrived home with an armful of beautiful flowers for Meg.

More kids arrived for pizza and cake (but I can't show them because I don't do that sort of thing unless I have parental permission.) But that cute girl with Meg and Natalie below is Nat's big sister, Nicole. Love Nicole. Love Natalie. Meghan is such a lucky girl. She gets to spend a day with them at the the Aquarium in downtown Houston as her birthday gift.

A beautiful James Avery bracelet from her friend Jace.

There were other nice gifts and more fun. Jack and I got Meg an iPod Touch and she was thrilled with it. Then the kids all went to see a movie. I think Meghan had a very fun day. And it was also the last day of school (even though Meg had been off for 2 days for final exam exemptions), so that just made the day even more exciting.

Sigh.....can't believe she is 16. Where did that little bald-headed, sweet baby girl go?

School's Out for Summer!

2009-06-05T05:59:00.000-07:00

Back by popular demand: a new blog post! My fans demanded it, so who am I to withhold any longer? Seriously, read the reviews I have received recently:

"You need to blog again! I go there pretty much every day and there is never a new post!!"
Claire McAfee, sent via email

"I am sick of seeing Kris Allen at the top of your blog."
Jack McAfee, via IM conversation

Whatever on that last review.

So, anyways, last day of school was yesterday!! Currently, it is 8:05am and I am still the only one awake in the house. Ahhhh, cup of coffee and peace and quiet. Love summer vacation.

Other big event yesterday: Meghan turned Sweet 16!! And she has the driver's license to prove it! More on that and the rest of her birthday in the next blog post which I hope to have time for later today. Until then, I am enjoying my slumbering house and the full expanse of summer ahead.

Kris is the American Idol!

2009-05-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

Indulge me one last American Idol post. So happy!!! And shocked! I thought Adam was the winner for sure, but the humble, talented boy-next-door took it! Sigh. Love this kid. Kris had me at Falling Slowly and he just upped his game each week. I will buy his cd the day it comes out. I said it in an earlier post, but I will say it again: Adam may entertain me, but Kris moves me with his music. (And no Jack, it has nothing cougar-related to do with it. Not much anyways. I mean, the fact that he is eye candy doesn't hurt. Just sayin.)

American Idol Finals Tonight!

2009-05-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

Awwww......our boy made it through to the finals! We are so excited in the McAfee house (well, the females in the house are, anyways.) Meghan, Claire and I actually voted last week for the first time all season. I even had two phones going at once for a little while! I mean, did you see last week's show and Kris's version of Kayne West's Heartless? SO AWESOME. LOVED IT! Very Jason Mraz-ish, and anyone who knows me knows I love me some Jason Mraz.

We are looking forward to tonight's final show. (Again, the females in the house, that is. Jack just roles his eyes at us.) Both Kris Allen and Adam Lambert are super talented and seem like really good guys. Either would make a great American Idol winner, but you know who all our votes are going to tonight! In fact, I've loaded my music player on the right with several of Kris's songs from this season. He is seriously the first person on American Idol who's CD I would buy. I have always loved the"boy and his guitar" artists: John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and lately, Matt Nathanson (oh, please check out this beautiful song!) So, it is no surprise that Kris Allen is my pick. Do you think we can get Jack to make calls tonight?

And on a sidenote, after Idol tonight, Meghan and I are excited to see this:

Does this not look awesome? Another show sucks Meghan and me in!

I'm baaaack!

2009-05-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have just one thing to say on that matter: Do not mock swine, people. Seriously. I had some sort of flu (not sure if it was THE flu) and that turned into the mother of all sinus infections. That was 13 days ago and I am still feeling lingering sinus pressure/pain. Ugh. But enough of that.

Book club was last Wednesday. Love my book club night! We read this book:
And despite the glowing reviews on the jacket cover, we pretty much unanimously hated it. Obviously written by a man, there was so much gratuitious sex talk (without much actual sex ironically) that it drove me to boredom. Perhaps even more egregious was the lack of character development or much of a plot. The reviews proclaimed, "twists and turns" and suspense, but really, it was one major yawn-fest. The only redeeming quality was that it was a fast read and I didn't have to spend too much time on it. Next month's selection looks interesting, though the reviews on Amazon and B&N are not glowing. We will be reading:I will let you know what I thought when I finish it. This will be our last book club meeting before we break for summer. We will have a longer book to read over the summer months, but we won't meet up again until September. So, I am looking forward to making a dent in my stack of books that have slowly built up over time. I also would love to read some of Meghan's YA books. There are a few on her shelves that have caught my eye. In particular Meg Cabot's Airhead and Being Nikki. Maybe I will make a list and post it. And if anyone has read anything good lately, please comment! I am always looking for books that other people have read and loved.

Noah, can I borrow the ark?

2009-04-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

Click to view photos of flooding around Houston today. And yes, Klein School District, we get it....you are so bad ass! No little rain is going to keep your kids away from the TAKS test today. Geesh....get over yourself.

We are all good here. Our subdivision is flood free. Jack's trip into work at 5:30am was trying, but he got there. (I turned on the news after he left and found out they shut down the Beltway both ways just south of his office!)

I am looking at the positive side of things today: Instead of the media being all "Swine, swine, swine", Houston's news is, "all rain, all day long." Nothing like a weather event to knock a pandemic wannabe to it's knees (hooves?)

Sunday afternoon with the Astros

2009-04-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

Jack scored 4 tickets to the Houston Astros game yesterday afternoon. His boss called on Saturday and offered them to him. Since there were only four, we decided he should take the girls. Apparently the tickets belonged to Lance Berkman's father-in-law. They were directly behind home plate, 13 rows up!! Check this out:
Are those not awesome seats?!? The Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2! The girls had a great time. Jack bought them all caps since we don't own any Astros merchandise. Aren't they cute (the girls and the caps):They also ingested enough ballpark food (hot dogs, popcorn, frozen lemonade, Cracker Jacks and who know what else) to sustain them through all 9 innings.
It was a beautiful day here, but they closed the dome due to strong winds yesterday. Bummer....but at least they didn't all come home sunburned! Very fun day for the four of them.

Me? I did laundry. Don't cry for me Argentina.....er, Blogland.

I've got to jump on this bandwagon

2009-04-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

You know who Susan Boyle is by now, right? Omigosh, I have viewed this youtube clip (sorry, YouTube will not allow me to embed the video on my blog so you have to click....it's SO worth it) probably 10 times since discovering it yesterday. And GAH....tears stream down my face every.single.time. Seriously, is it possible to feel happier for a person? Good on her.....what awesome (emphasis on AWE) talent.

And speaking of singing and talent....anyone out there watching Idol this season? Claire, Anna and I are watching every week with Jack and Meghan viewing sporadically. My favorite? Not Adam. Yes, he has mad talent and great stage presence, but he's not my favorite. This guy is more my style:

Go Kris!! Did you see this week's performance, Falling Slowly? I LOVED it. Haha....Jack and Meg were actually watching with us and Jack said, Eh, it wasn't great." Meghan and I both immediately jumped in and said, "Are you kidding? That was awesome". It's a girl thing. He sang that song with such passion and tenderness.....sigh. What girl wouldn't want a cutie like that to sing a love song to her the way he did Tuesday night. Adam may entertain me, but Kris moves me.

Meeting Meg Cabot

2009-04-11T05:54:00.001-07:00

I am so sorry for the delay in getting this post up on the blog. I had written a long blog entry earlier this week and was just about to add all the photos when my computer suddenly shut down. I lost the entire post. My laptop has done this a handful of times in the past week or two and Jack said he fears it is running on borrowed time now. Lovely....
Anyways, on to Meg! I took the girls out of school a little early last Friday so we could drive down to the Blue Willow Bookshop in West Houston for Meg Cabot's book signing. Meg arrived at the shop at 4:30 to about 100 or so waiting fans. It was thrilling! She talked to us for half an hour about her life as a writer and then took questions from the girls. Smart, funny and very giving of her time, I was totally impressed with her! After her talk, the girls and I stood in line so they could get their books signed and meet Meg. I also had brought along one of the buckets I make and decorated it with the dust covers of Meg Cabot's Allie Finkle series (sorry Claire for doing that to your books!) The girls and I filled the bucket with M&Ms and brought it as a gift to thank Meg for the advanced copies of Being Nikki and Allie Finkle's Best Friends and Drama Queens that she sent to the girls back in February.When it was our turn, the girls shyly approached Meg and gave her their books to sign. I placed the bucket on her table and said it was a thank-you for the advanced copies she sent to Meghan and Claire. I could tell she couldn't quite remember, so I pointed to Meghan and said "You know, she's the fan with the Dwight Bobblehead on her bookshelf in front of your books.'" Meg's face lit up....she remembered that! She thanked us sincerely for the bucket and M&Ms, signed all of the girls books and posed for pictures with them. She was just super nice, down-to-earth and very approachable. I was so thrilled for Meghan, Claire and Anna.....especially Meghan though. She has just about all of Meg's books and she is definitely one of her favorite authors, if not her very favorite. As a mom, it was so nice to see this meeting play out the way it did. Meghan was grinning from ear to ear.
While other kids idolize celebrities or others who are infamous for all the wrong things, my daughter looks to a smart, witty, funny author as her mentor. I could not be more proud of both Megs......mine and the woman who made her day!

LOL....OMG....What the...?

2009-04-04T05:27:00.000-07:00

Let's see.....how do I feel right now? Ummm, let's say your BFF planned a surprise party for you and gathered 100s of friends, acquaintances and strangers around your front door in the early morning. Then you stumble out of bed, look at the make-up smudged eyes you were too tired to clean the night before, pour a cup of coffee and take your first sip before hearing the doorbell ring. You answer the door in your bra-less tank top (cause it's Houston here and that's sleeping attire in April) and stare in disbelief at the crowd before you.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel thanks to one incredible Ms. Meg Cabot. That scene above is exactly me this morning right down to the eye smudges, braless tank and coffee. Except I really don't think we are BFFs, Meg (I am not stalker-like that way, though yes, I did know M&Ms were a snack of yours and gluten-free). And instead of a surprise party, Meg LINKED TO ME FROM HER BLOG read by fans of hers from all over the world.

So please excuse my blog's appearance, faithful followers of Meg. (I mean, a quilt post at the top of my blog? really? really? I could die of embarassment (Though girls, quilting is hip now. Seriously, you should think about taking it up. The fabrics! to. die. for. And, your generation needs to keep up this American tradition.)

Anyways, thanks Meg!! (I think?) We had such an awesome time meeting you yesterday. I will blog the entire experience when I finish a pot of coffee or two. (And cheer on my 8 year old's soccer team this morning....go Gators!)

And you may be a ROCK STAR author, but if I scroll through my photos and find one of you with say, your eyes half-closed or something, I am not above posting it to get you back. :)

Be back soon with pics of our experience!

QIP (Quilts in Progress)

2009-03-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here are the two quilts I am currently working on. The top one is the quilt that is going above our fireplace in the great room. It is a fairly long quilt so it's hard to get a good picture of its'
full length. What do you think, mom.....does the inner border need to be wider? I'm thinking now it needs to be the same width as the top & side borders.

The quilt below is one I am just working on for fun. I purchased some charm packs a few weeks back and found the pattern for this coin quilt at the Moda Bake Shop.

What I really liked about the pattern is the back of the quilt with the pieced strip running through the backing fabric. Is that not so cute? Now I just need to decide what my backing will be. What do you think? Yellow, blue or maybe....red?

One more picture: Meghan had a school tennis tournament yesterday and played a total of 52 games before her last match was retired at 5-7 because of weather. She came home exhausted! When I checked on her in the early evening, she was sound asleep with her pal, Lucy. I swear, that cat is part mountain lion.

Breaking News:

2009-03-21T14:31:00.001-07:00

This just in from Anna: I am the WORST mother in the world. And I quote, "I seriously want to pack up and leave this house."

Which reminded me of this hysterical post on a blog I've just discovered.

Almost Famous

2009-03-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

The week before spring break, our local free newspaper, the FM 1960 Sun, ran an article about kids' activities for spring break. The writer is actually our neighbor across the street. She needed a photo to accompany her story and asked if she could shoot a picture of Anna by our pool. I wasn't home at the time...just Jack and Anna were, and Jack said sure and didn't think a thing more about it. Well, the following week, this is what landed on our doorstep:
And a larger version of that photo accompanied the story on page 3. Anna was so excited. There was even buzz at her school about the photo which thrilled her to no end. Sigh. Our little celebrity. She enjoyed her 15 minutes of fame. And she didn't even go all Paris Hilton on us. (Though if I had to guess which of our three daughters had the most Paris Hilton potential, Anna definitely wins that contest.)

Mother Nature vs. Shamu

2009-03-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

Turns out it's no contest: Not even Shamu's fluke could bat the rain/wind/cold temperatures away. The highlight of our week, a day at Sea World San Antonio, was cut short due to low attendance/weather. As in, they CLOSED the park at 3pm.

We braved it out and showed up at the park opening at 10am after spending the night at my parent's place in Bandera. It was raining and 40 degrees when we got there. And I am not kidding, there were about 5 cars in the parking lot. In fact, the park was so empty, Shamu and Dolly were beckoning the kids to come over and huddle against them for warmth. I mean, pose for a picture:After going through the turnstiles, we said a quick hello to the Budweiser Clydesdale's and then went to the dolphin feeding area. Jackpot! There was only one other family there. Normally you have to stand about three deep at this pool to wait your turn to throw a $5 fish at a dolphin in return for a chance to touch it. Instead, this is what we got:
We all agreed. The dolphin experience was worth the numb, wet feet, layers of coats, and shortened park hours. It was really cool to have them basically all to ourselves.

The rest of the day revolved around the one showing of each of the three shows that were operating that day: the dolphin/beluga whale show (Viva!), the sea lion/walrus show (Cannery Row Caper) and of course, Shamu's big show (Believe). Here are some pics:Two things in that last picture: Check out how empty the stands are! Also, those crazy people actually ran down the steps to get splashed by the killer whales. Mind you, by now it was a balmy 43 degrees. Freaks.

The announcement that the park was closing was made right after the Shamu show. We were on our way to see the penguins, so alas, that did not happen as they were pretty adamant about kicking us out. Good thing I bought a Fun Card for all of us which is good for the entire 2009 season. We will definitely be back. Next time we want sunshine, 80s, low crowds and all the water rides OPEN. Bring it Shamu!

After leaving the park, we grabbed some yummy Mexican food for dinner and then headed back to my parent's house. Poor Jack. He was hoping to watch some college hoops, but when you are one guy in a house full of girls, this is what you are going to end up watching. And it was a marathon too! Lucky guy.

Three weeks later.....

2009-03-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

Oops. I last posted three weeks ago? Really? I didn't mean for that to happen. I must have fallen asleep at the keyboard. Not that life has been a whirlwind of blogworthy entertainment around here lately. But still.....

The kids are on Spring Break this week. So far, it's been low key....sleeping in (even more so thanks to the time change), Wii games, lots of Gilmore Girls, and a family lunch on Sunday:

Yeah, the McAfees like to do it up big while on staycation. Everyone got their own hot dog and soft drink!

Let's see....what else is going on? Anyone else follow The Bachelor this season like Meghan and I did? As Meghan said on her Facebook page: WHAT THE HECK JASON? Can I please have those 10 hours of my life back?

I have been quilting again. I am working on two quilts. One is the "over the fireplace" quilt I have been threatening to make for almost 10 years now. We have a vaulted ceiling in our great room and a long, narrow insert over the fireplace. I have not decorated that space in the 9 1/2 years we have lived here but, I am almost done with a quilt top that I have been working on! I just have to sew borders on it, have it quilted and then it will hang in that space. The other quilt was inspired by this one I found on the Moda Bake Shop site. I am using Urban Chik's Sweet charm squares and Mary Engelbreit's Basket of Flowers together and it's coming together really cute. I will snap pictures of both quilts for my next post.

I have been playing lots of tennis too. The spring weather has really hit Houston and since I play on three leagues, I am on the courts at least 3-4 times a week. I have been consistently inconsistent with my playing this season. Some matches I am on fire....others, I would like to have back every dime I have spent on lessons. I do love the game though. It's fun, especially when you are playing well!

This is the book my Reading Between the Wines club is currently reading. I am about half way done with it and it is really charming. It has gotten really good reviews too. Unfortunately, I won't be at our gathering tomorrow evening. We actually are doing a little more over spring break than taking our girls to Costco for lunch. Tomorrow we are heading over to San Antonio to spend some quality time with this guy:

Pictures when we return! And maybe video too. Jack bought a fun little toy last week.

Thank you Meg Cabot!

2009-02-16T14:21:00.000-08:00

So Friday afternoon, on my way to the corner that I greet Claire and Anna at after school, I check the mail. Immediately, I notice a stuffed mailer envelope and I think, hmmm, what did I order from Amazon that I don't remember? I turn it over in my hand and this is what I see:
Meg Cabot. Are you kidding me? The Meg Cabot?

She is equal parts entertainer, idol, mentor, and rock star in this house. For those of you who don't have teenage/pre-teen girls, Ms. Cabot is most famously the author of The Princess Diaries series of books. She actually is a prolific author of books for teen and pre-teen girls as well as adults. Check out Meghan's bookcase to see if you recognize any other titles. Also note that Meghan is a HUGE fan of hers.
Ms. Cabot has a blog that Meghan turned me on to about a year ago. Meghan insisted I check it out as she was funny and owned cats....two things this household holds in high esteem. I have been reading her blog ever since and that is how I became a fan of hers. She is funny (hysterically funny at times), loves reality tv (hello! Intervention anyone?) and celebrity gossip, and is a wealth of information about other books and authors. I have yet to read a novel of hers (that will certainly change), but I love her. And I love that Meghan and Claire love her. And you can be sure, Anna will love her. (Claire is passing the Allie books down to her.) So, anyways, long story short, a couple of weeks ago Meg posted on her blog that she was giving away some advance copies of her newest Allie Finkle book to the first few people that emailed her. I thought I would give it a shot so I wrote the following email:

Dear Ms. Cabot,
My 11 year old daughter,Claire, would absolutely love an advance copy of your latest Allie Finkle novel. Here is our snail mail: Claire McAfee (omitted for obvious reasons) Thanks!!
Tracey McAfee
ps I am attaching a picture of my 15 year old's bookcase so you can see exactly how esteemed you are in this house full of girls!! Meghan can't wait for the Airhead sequel. Thank you, thank you, thank you for inspiring my girls to LOVE to read.

A few days later she posted on her blog that the winners were notified, and not hearing anything, I didn't give it another thought. Until last Friday when I checked the mail. I was shocked to see the return address label and I impatiently tore open the package while waiting for Claire at the corner. Inside was an advance copy of Allie Finkle's Rule for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens! And it was signed by Meg Cabot!!

But that is not all. She also included an advance copy of Being Nikki, which is the sequel to one of Meghan's favorite books, Airhead. And she signed that copy too!!!
Meghan and Claire were in heaven! It was so, so cool to get that package. I cannot even tell you how excited we all were! It was a genuine surprise and I will forever be grateful that a busy author (and her assistant, I'm sure) took the time to read an email from a mom of a couple of fans and send a little something their way. Such a little act of kindness that meant a great deal to all of us in the McAfee house.

Meg, you have fans for life! You rock. And your assistant (Nancy, I think) rocks. And Allie rocks....and Nikki.....and Mia. Thank you!! Also, if anyone in the Houston area is reading this and is interested, Meg will be in Houston at The Blue Willow Book Shop on April 3rd. I just may have to pull the girls out of school that day so they can thank her in person.

Hearts Aplenty

2009-02-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

More hearts. My favorites are the hand drawn ones the girls have given each other.

Heart(s) of the Home

2009-02-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

This was a fun project. A couple of weekends ago I was just goofing around with the camera. We have a Nikon D50 that I pretty much don't know how to do anything with except point and shoot. It takes incredible pictures and I often pick up the camera just to see what I can shoot around the house. Since Valentine's Day is this month, I thought I would find a couple of hearts around the house to snap pics of to put on the blog. This turned into a challenge of finding hearts in every room of the house to take pictures of. The girls really got into this too, looking for hearts in each room. We did it....a heart in every room of the house! Here are the results:

Front Entry: a quilt I made that hangs in the foyer

Coat closet: Anna's fleece jacket

Family room: stitchery hanging on the wall made by my mom

Study: Charles Wysocki print hanging in the office

Dining Room: Heart shaped candle in a drawer of candles

Laundry room: Anna's undies still warm in the dryer

Pantry: Quaker Oatmeal box

Kitchen: Stitchery made by me hanging on kitchen wall

Kitchen eating area: Journal on my desk

Master bedroom: handmade tile by Anna in my nightstand drawer

Master Bathroom: Anna's bubble bath beside our bathtub

Master Closet: stacking boxes no longer used that are stored on a shelf

Upstairs Storage closet: package of Valentines napkins from last year

Meghan's room: coffee mug on her desk

Meghan's bathroom: heart shaped charm bracelet in a drawer

Claire and Anna's bathroom: heart-shaped stick-on earrings in a drawer

Claire's room: Autographed picture of Jolie Holliday whom we know and is as sweet as can be to our girls. And we are practically related since her aunt is the girls' Aunt Beverly!

Anna's room: sticker professing Anna's love of horses

Game room: scrapbook paper in drawers filled with hobby stuff

That is every room in our house! I actually have many more heart pictures that I will post soon. I was surprised at the number of hearts we found when we looked around. This hunt really was a lot of fun. I'd love to see the hearts everyone else can find in their homes. Go ahead......take heart (pictures)!

Creating

2009-02-06T15:30:00.000-08:00

After not crafting or creating anything in the entire month of January, I finally got some creative juices flowing and worked on a couple projects. Above is a simple Valentine decoration I made from a felt sticker, some scrapbook paper and a black frame. I don't do a lot of decorating for Valentine's Day, but this looks cute up on our mantel in the family room.

The other thing I did was make a new bucket for a baby gift. Our neighbors behind us have two boys and she is due any day now with a baby girl. I found the cutest onsies and receiving blanket at Target with a cowgirl theme (she is also their first Texas baby) that are inside the bucket. I really have a lot of fun decorating these. I think they make great gift containers, and they satisfy my need to play with scrapbooking supplies without having to keep up with my actual scrapbooks!

While working on these little projects, I watched Gilmore Girls on dvd. Meghan owns the entire series and I am working my way through season 4. Such a cute show. SO well written and so full of dialogue that it's perfect for watching while crafting because you don't have to watch it constantly to know what's going on. And who would not want to live in Stars Hollow? Sigh.

OK....hopefully the next post or two will include some quilting. I have several projects started that I need to finish and some fabrics (this and this) just waiting patiently for me to play with them!

2009-02-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

Just finished this today. What an excellent memoir about Kelly Corrigan's role as a mother and daughter during her fight against breast cancer. Thank you Becky for recommending it!

My book club is currently reading this book for our February selection. It is another memoir on a vastly different subject: cross country traveling through the Middle East. Definitely not a book I would pick up on my own. And that is one of the reasons why I love my book club so much.

This is the book I want to read next.

This is the fourth book in the Shopaholic series. I read the first three in the last couple of years. Meghan zipped through my copies in less than a week and then bought the one above over the weekend and finished it yesterday. So, now I am going to borrow her copy. If you haven't read these yet, they are a hoot. Very light, funny reading and the main character, Becky Bloomwood will have you laughing out loud. And also, the movie based on the first book will be out February 13th.

Super Bowl, Super Baby, Super Nachos!

2009-02-01T05:12:00.000-08:00

Big day across the nation today. We will be watching the Steelers and Cardinals go up against each other with our friends, the Shaws. Tanya Shaw is from the Pittsburg area, and Jack and I grew up in Arizona, so this should make for a fun evening. Actually, Jack says he is rooting for the Steelers....what is up with that? You know who I am actually rooting for? This little guy right here:

I am all about the Super Bowl commercials, and I love me some E-trade baby! Is that not hysterical?!?

I'm also all about the food. And I am thinking big plates of nachos. Lots of cheese, jalepenos, beans, ground beef, sour cream.....mmmmmm. Also, I'm thinking Diet, Version 3.0 starts Monday morning. Good Lord, it's a good thing I'm fairly active because every event seems to be tied around food for me. But that's a whole 'nother post.

Go Cardinals! And E-trade baby!

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

Absolutely brilliant. One of the best movies I've ever seen. Easily in my top 10, probably in my top 5. I've not seen the other Oscar contenders, but I am declaring this the winner.

Anna's birthday festivities

2009-01-29T04:24:00.000-08:00

So last weekend, Anna invited 7 friends over to have a tea party for her birthday. We decorated the dining room table and used some china tea cups that were Anna's great grandmother's. Before tea, the girls each picked out a straw hat and some silk flowers to decorate them with. I hot-glued the flowers on. They also decorated placemats. Claire and her friend, Jenna served three courses to the girls: heart-shaped pb&j sandwiches, fruit, and dessert which included shortbread, sugar and jam-filled cookies, and the cutest little tea cake that served 8 exactly. The girls had a great time!
Tuesday was Anna's actual birthday. Jack was in Atlanta and got back home around 7pm that evening. On top of that, Claire had volleyball practice until 8pm, so poor Anna had to wait all day and evening to open presents and have cake. She was SO patient.

Homemade (ha.....out of the box is homemade to me!) strawberry cake with chocolate frosting, per Anna's request.

Jack arrived home with a bouquet of flowers for Anna.

Happy 8th birthday Anna!

Ahh.....no more birthdays until June in this house. But it's a big one. Gulp.

Happy Birthday Anna!

2009-01-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

Eight years ago today, our only Texas baby was born! Five weeks early, she was true to her home state's reputation (everything is bigger in Texas) and weighed in a healthy 6lbs, 8ozs. I can't begin to imagine life without our Anna B! (The B stands for banana, and no, that is not her middle name. Do you think I am crazy? I'm not Gwyneth Paltrow.)

I will post pictures of the cute tea party she had on the weekend and also her birthday celebration this evening. We are squeezing it in between Claire's volleyball practice and Jack arriving home later this evening from Atlanta. Stay tuned......

44!

2009-01-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

I watched the inauguration today. Whether you voted for Obama or not, it was a pretty awesome spectacle, no? I felt like I was witnessing history. And what a great orator. His speech was moving and forceful. I just hope he can lead this country through all of our trevails as well as he can give a speech.

More importantly, what did you all think of Michelle Obama's dress? I'm on the fence. Loved the design and the matching overcoat with the cute tie. Not sure I liked the color though. And the gloves? Ugh. HATED.the.gloves. Green... seriously? I used to have a car that color. We called it monkey-shit green. Not kidding. Who told her those gloves were remotely stylish?

Adorable. Absolutely cute, cute, cute. The Obama girls are the ages of my youngest two daughters. How fun is it going to be to see them grow up in the White House? Loved when Malia pulled the camera out of her coat pocket and took pictures during the swearing in ceremony.....that is so something Claire would do.

I got nothing....

2009-01-19T06:01:00.000-08:00

Two and a half weeks into the new year, and my accomplishments have amounted to a whole lot of zip. I have not been very goal focused and I am trying to figure out why. It seems my greatest accomplishment any given day is doing 2-3 loads of laundry, but who wants to read about that on a blog? Seriously, I have got to get my act together and do something.....anything......or I am going to lose my blog readership (all 4 of you.....yes, I am talking to you mom and dad.)

I did finish this book last week and met with my book club to discuss it. Great discussion! It seems most of us either loved it or hated it and that always makes for the best discussions. I was in the "love it" camp. I thought it was epic, haunting and beautifully written. It is not a feel good book, nor is it a quick read, but it's the kind of book you think about for days afterward. Those that did not like it thought it was poorly edited and thought the ending was pointless. I could not have disagreed more. What a great evening though with the two sides arguing their points about the book. That is one of the reasons I love being a part of a book club.

So I picked up another book a few days ago based on my friend, Becky's recommendation. She is an avid reader and we have shared many good titles with each other through many, many years. The book is....

Perhaps you have seen the author's video called Transcending? It has been making the email rounds and though I have received it no less than 4-5 times, each time I view it, I choke back tears.

So, anyways, I am anxious to read this. I'm about 10 pages in and already love her writing style. I'll let you know what I think. And thanks Becky!

Let's see......what else? Right before Christmas I discovered this music website. Anyone else know about Pandora? I shared it with my dad who quickly became a fan and spurred me on to use it more. I have been creating several new stations of my own and really enjoy the features on it like giving a song a thumbs up or down. (If you give it a thumbs down, it will never play that song again.) To create a station, just start with one song or artist you like, and it builds the station around that artist/song using similar artists/songs. You can share your stations with friends, find other listeners with similar stations.....lots of cool stuff. And, it's free!

Okay, I am on my fourth cup of coffee......time to get my day really started. Hopefully my next post will have something more blogworthy to share!

New Year! New Diet!

2009-01-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

Today officially began my goal to eat better and lose weight (aka....diet). The kids went back to school, Jack went back to work, and I pitched most of the cookies and candy last night.

Here's how the day went:

Breakfast:
2 egg whites
1 bowl of instant oatmeal with almonds and cranberries

Lunch:
1/2 chicken breast seasoned with fajita seasoning in a tortilla (not whole wheat, but we already had them) and 1 tbsp salsa

Snack:
10 almonds

Pre-dinner:
glass of red wine

another glass of red wine

sliced some baguette (whole grain!) while cooking garlic shrimp in pasta.
ate some of the baguette with a little butter (real butter) while waiting for pasta to cook.
poured another glass of red wine.
another baguette slice with butter and shredded Parmesan.

Dinner:
Garlic shrimp with pasta
Salad with ranch dressing (intended on balsamic vinagrette, but whatever)
a couple more slices of baguette with my own personal butter dish for dipping
maybe another glass of red?

Dessert:
Normally I don't do dessert, but Anna wanted Raspberry Sherbet and it looked so good, I decided on a couple scoops. And threw on some chocolate chips for good measure.

I am eating that right now.

And planning my new diet tomorrow.

Four Movies and a Book

2009-01-04T15:17:00.000-08:00

I saw four movies over the Christmas break. Jack and I went with friends to see Four Christmases a few days before Christmas. I liked this movie better than I thought I would. I figured this was the kind of movie that you see all the good parts in the movie trailer, but I was pleasantly surprised. Some parts were hysterically funny. And I just love Vince Vaughn.

The next two movies I saw were with the kids, and one I liked a lot better than the other. We saw Bedtime Stories on Claire's and my birthday. Very cute....a good family movie. Definitely one we will buy when it comes out on dvd/blu-ray.

A couple days ago, I took the girls to see The Tale of Despereaux. I dunno....I didn't really like it. The story was just not that interesting to me. I am not exactly sure what the girls thought of it, because I started making fun of it as soon as we got out of the theater. I think Anna and Claire may have liked it until I started imitating the peasant girl and generally poo pooing the movie. (My bad.) It has a large cast of actors voicing the characters.....Sigourney Weaver, William H. Macy, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson. I guess it just didn't work for me. It's beautifully done, but the story was ehh.

Today, on the last day of Christmas vacation for the girls, Claire and I went to see Marley and Me. Meghan had seen it earlier this week with friends, and I promised Claire I would take her. I did like this movie. I thought both Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson were very good in it. However, I did think parts of the movie were not cohesive and at times there was too much marital angst and not enough Marley. Overall though, it was good. And kleenex was a must. This is definitely a tear-jerker. It makes me want to go back and read the book, which I started a couple years ago but never finished. I did not get to see Seven Pounds, which is the movie I really wanted to see. Meghan saw it yesterday and said it was good, but she didn't rave about it. I guess that will go in the Netflix cue when it goes to dvd. Meghan also saw Yes Man and loved that one, as did everyone she saw it with. So, that one will also go in my cue as well.

OK, the movie watching is done for now! It is time for me to get serious about my book club book. Some fool (um....that would be me) decided a 500+ page book would be just the thing to read over the holidays. I have until January 15th, and I am 100 pages in, so there is still time. I picked....drumroll......

Yes, I know, Oprah picked it. (Does that turn anyone off now? To me, it just seems like a lemming-thing to do to read one of her picks.) Anyways, despite that, the story really intrigued me. And our club needed something heavy to read after a light Christmas read in December. So, we shall see how the discussion goes in a couple weeks. So far, it is holding my interest. I am going to power-read this week with the kids back in school and Jack back at work.

So, did any of you see any good movies or read any good books over the break? Do tell. I love recommendations!

Oh Nine!

2009-01-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! We had a busy last few days of 2008. December 30th was Claire's 11th birthday (and my 42nd.) We celebrated together and with a couple of Claire's friends. First, we were off to see Bedtime Stories and then it was a fun birthday dinner at The Melting Pot. We were too full for cake (haha...see Meghan's masterpiece below) and ice cream, so the girls had it for breakfast the next morning.

Our birthday picture together. 2 things: 1)That Wii Fit needs to come out of the box. Now.Or 15 pounds ago. 2) My 11 year old is almost as tall me! She has about an inch to go to reach Meg.

Yesterday was New Year's Eve and we celebrated with friends at their house. We played poker, ate lots of yummy food and shot off some fireworks (Texans love their fireworks.) At midnight we toasted 2009 and called it a night. Fun.

Today, instead of being super organized and goal-focused like the New Year often makes me, I am being lazy and just enjoying the day. I slept until 8:15! (That is unheard of for me, who likes to wake up before the birds do.) Then I made a big breakfast for all of us of bacon, eggs and biscuits. I have been debating over taking down the Christmas decorations today. I think we will light the tree one more time tonight and then take it all down tomorrow. The season just seemed so short this year!

So friends, family and bloggers, I hope the start of your new year has been as content and relaxing as ours. I look forward to posting a lot more in 2009. I have books to share, quilting and bucket projects to show off and another family birthday coming up at the end of this month. Till next time!
Tracey

Christmas 2008

2008-12-28T17:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas was three days ago now. My house looks like we invited Best Buy and Toys R Us over for a holiday eggnog and they had one too many and threw up in my great room. We are blissfully and contentedly enjoying the after- effects of what was supposed to be a small Christmas. Somehow, despite my best efforts, this never happens. (My husband, Jack Claus, sees to this.)

Here are some of the photos we took on Christmas day:

The annual top-of-the-stairs picture before the girls check out what Santa brought.

Anna with her Santa gifts.

Meghan holding her complete set of That 70s Show on dvd.

Jack watching all of the festivities.

My mom and dad watching all the festivities.

Claire with two of her favorite gifts: a digital camera and a puffy ski vest.

Grandma and Claire.

I finally remembered to get a picture of myself on Christmas morning....with Anna.

Claire gave Meghan this picture frame with a picture of Lucy.

Claire also gave Meghan this giant coloring book of Wall-E pictures which Meghan LOVED.

Santa brought Claire a new basketball hoop! Unfortunately, it was delivered in the box and it took Jack and my dad all day to assemble it. This picture was taken at about 7pm.

My dad enjoying a well deserved Christmas Shiner (the Texas beer) on the porch while watching Claire shoot hoops.

Look at this gorgeous scarf! My sister made this for me in a days time. We were talking on the phone a few days before Christmas and she was telling me about her knitting. I asked her to make me a scarf, never imagining she would get to work on it the next day and get it in the mail for Christmas. I LOVE it......it's beautiful and perfect. I love you Kelly!

Up next: Claire's 11th birthday on Tuesday! I will post about the festivities next.

To the coolest nieces and nephews around....

2008-12-24T12:41:00.000-08:00

First, the TC crew: Zack, Sabrina, Josh, Nick and Kayla. Merry Christmas from your Texas family! Hope Santa brings you lots of good stuff and you have fun hanging out together during your break. Lots of love from Texas!

psssssst..........watch this guy below doesn't steal your Christmas gifts........once a criminal, always a criminal....just sayin.

Next, the hippest Hoosiers in the state of Indy: David, Ashley, Matt, Brian and John. Feliz Navidad from Houston! We hope Santa also brings you everything on your wish list! Lots of Texas love, and good wishes for the Merriest of Christmases!

And also, our nephew Dillon (sorry Dil....we don't have a recent pic of you....hint, hint.) Have a great Christmas in Arizona! Hope Santa brings everything on your list too! Lots of love and Christmas hugs from Texas!

XOXOXO to all of you!! love, Uncle Apple Jack, Aunt Tracey, Meghan, Claire & Anna

Baking & Making

2008-12-20T04:22:00.000-08:00

This is my very favorite day of the holiday season. The girls' last day of school was yesterday and, while a Saturday, it is nevertheless, the first day of Christmas vacation. The girls are blissfully sleeping in. I love the anticipation of two glorious weeks of late night movie watching followed by mornings of pajama-wearing until noon. It doesn't get any better than that.

This past week I was busy making teacher's gifts for Claire and Anna's teachers. Their classes did group gift cards which is so nice for the teachers. But the girls like to bring in something of their own too to give on that last day. So, we baked some goodies: peanut butter blossoms, rolo pretzel bites (topped with either a big yummy pecan to make turtles or an M&M which is the more kid-pleasing), and this new-to-me recipe for Chocolate Peppermint Ritz Crackers. Holy Girl Scout cookie! These do really resemble Thin Mints and are so easy to make!

Here are the Rolo treats. Also an easy, but oh so good recipe.

They look like little soldiers ready to be baked to yummy, gooey goodness:

And I finally got around to making some Christmas buckets to put all of these goodies in. I am so happy with how these turned out and I had so much fun making them. The girls each selected two and we filled them to the brim with cookies, treats, hot cocoa mix and candy canes. The packaging is everything, isn't it?

So fun to make, and it made the ordinary "cookie plate" seem a lot more special.

I will post again soon. With school out, things should be a lot less hectic around here. Having said that, it's time to get ready for football, basketball & volleyball (all Claire) and a birthday party (Anna's friend) ......all today! And how scary is this.......Meghan is going to the mall with Natalie today, and I (gulp) gave her my credit card. Maybe not the best move?

My Christmas Ode to the South

2008-12-13T05:40:00.000-08:00

After decorating the house and getting it festive for Christmas, I tried my hand at a little project that has been stirring in my mind for awhile. I get email newsletters from this great decorating site and decided to try one of the wreaths featured on the website. This particular wreath is made from Magnolia tree leaves, which is probably one of the most definitive trees of the South. I love the way this wreath looks with the gingham check bow, and it just so happens that we have a Magnolia tree in our front yard. So I bought a styrofoam wreath form, plucked a bunch of leaves off our tree, and started pinning and gluing on leaves. This is the result:
I am so happy with it! It's hanging on a mirror in our front entry. I alternated the fronts and backs of the leaves to get the green/brown effect of the inspiration wreath. It's not quite as full as the original, but it's close enough. I went with a red gingham ribbon to make it look more Christmas-y. And, I told Jack I will only answer to Martha from now on.

I am hoping to do some more creating this coming week. I want to sew and make buckets and bake and hand stitch and ........ ahhhhh, there just aren't enough hours in the day this time of year, are there?