One Month Later

How not nice of me to start a blog and drop off the face of blogland for one entire month! Sorry kiddos, that was completely unintentional. Let's just say this particular tale started with the flu infecting our household at the beginning of the month and ended with Tracey's routine becoming non-existent! I will try to make amends by uber-posting in the month of March. :)

Spring is beginning to emerge here in Houston. We have had some beautiful, sunny days. Yesterday was one of them so the girls took full advantage of it and played outside. I snapped this pic of Anna in our Crepe Mertle tree in the front yard. I had no clue what a Crepe Mertle was when we moved to the south and that first winter I was horrified to see people hacking off the delicate branches leaving all these sticks jutting out from the trunk. It took awhile for me to figure out that this is how you prune them and encourage blooms. We don't do this to the tree Anna is sitting in, but we have two smaller ones in the back that Jack mercilessly hacks away at after the holidays. The trees have clumps of floral blooms in the spring that are so pretty. I will try to remember to snap another photo of the tree or the ones in back in a month's time when everything is in bloom.

The girls are due home any minute, so I will see you all again March 27......psych! See you soon!

Someone turned 7 today!

Someone very special turned 7 today. I made a banner to hang in her honor.

And nothing but the finest for this special girl. In Texas, that means Blue Bell ice cream. Oh yeah, and chocolate birthday cake trimmed with Oreos.
Throw in five friends, a trip to Build-A-Bear and a sleepover with those five friends (plus some new furry friends), and you have a birthday party fit for this sweet and spunky girl! Happy Birthday Anna! We love you!

When given birthday money from her grandparents earlier this month, Anna decided to spend it on two Webkinz pets. That is until she woke up early one morning and cuddled on my lap while I visited some crafty blog sites I have bookmarked. I came to the Raggedy Old Annies shop where the talented Nicole lists her handmade dolls. Anna was mesmerized and decided right away she wanted a Raggedy Annie instead of a Webkinz. She carefully selected a doll, gave me her money and then faithfully checked the USPS tracking service each day to see where her Annie was. Last Wednesday, Annie arrived at our home and Anna was thrilled! She is very cute and I am so impressed that Anna chose a unique, handmade doll over the mass-produced Webkinz pets. She is a chip off her mother's block, I tell you. Good girl.

And the Oscar goes to....

Loved it! But, honestly, I have not seen any of the other Academy Award-nominated movies so what would I know? (In fact, the Cohen brothers movie, No Country For Old Men, would probably be my pick if I had seen it. Two of my all-time favorite movies are Raising Arizona and Fargo. You just plain can't go wrong with the Cohen brothers.) However, Juno was really sweet, quirky and funny. And the lead actress (I forget her name) was outstanding. Loved her. Loved Michael Cera, loved Jason Bateman, loved Alison Janey. Lots of love for this movie.

OK, in fear that this has turned into a movie blog, I am going to try to get back to some crafty, quilty-type posts. I haven't sewn anything in a week, but I am anxious to do so. Be back with something crafty to show you.....hopefully!

Am I the only one late to this party? What a great movie Stardust is! Meghan and I watched it yesterday afternoon when she got home from school. There's romance, comedy, and action all wrapped up in a unique, fantasy story. And though fantasy films are not a favorite of mine, I did love this one and highly recommend it.

OK, Meghan is due home on the bus anytime now and we are going to see another movie. I am taking her to The Movie Tavern
as a reward for making it through mid-terms this week. We are going to see Juno. I've been wanting to see this one since before it came out. I am a big fan of Michael Cera ever since he played George Michael on only the best comedy that was ever on television. Boo, hiss Fox for canceling this hysterically smart and funny show. Anyways, Meg's home now, so I'll let you know what we thought when we return!

We survived Vegas! We actually arrived home on Sunday to very happy girls and clearly, thankful grandparents. (Thanks again mom and dad!!)

We went with six other couples and it was a blast. We flew out last Thursday and met a limo at the airport. Not just any limo...a Hummer Stretch Limo. (We're Texans...that's how we roll.) After making a brief detour to a liquor store...beer and Patron shots anyone?...we headed to our hotel (above), New York/New York. It was a fun two and a half days punctuated by laughs, blackjack winnings, a Cirque show, good (though overpriced) food, and last but not least, a visit to Mandalay Bay to see the red carpet entrance of the "stars" of the AVN awards. Umm....the "A" stands for adult. Not sure what V & N are, but does that really matter? You know what I'm saying. That was, uh, interesting? Enlightening? Scary? Silicone-y? Probably all of that.

Anyways, it's good to be home again in the God fearin' state of Texas! Jack is in Seattle for the week, and I don't have a lot on the calendar, so it's been nice to tinker around the house. Meghan has had mid-terms all week and tomorrow she's done with school at 9:15 AM, so I think we are going to catch a movie before Claire and Anna get out of school. I'll let you know what we decided to see!

Quilting

I did manage to do some quilting yesterday and it was fun! I finished the top for a little lap quilt kit I bought at the International Quilt Show last fall. How lucky am I that I live right outside of Houston where the Quilt Show and Festival takes place each year. I have been the past four years, and it is eye candy, I tell you! I bought 3 of these little kits in different fabrics to make a quilt for each of my three girls. They were to be Christmas gifts, but yeah, that didn't happen.

Here is our cat, Gracie, posing with a corner of the quilt.

And here is a close-up of the really fun fabrics.

And in the interest of fair and equal time, here is our mountain lion, err....other cat, Lucy.

Now that I have the quilting bug again, expect lots more pics and updates on my projects. I will briefly take a break however, as my husband and I are headed to Viva, Lost Wages for 3 days with some friends. We leave on Thursday and I hope to have some fun pics to show when we return.

Book Club - January

I am part of a book club that meets once a month. We are called Reading Between the Wines, and true to our name, we consume many bottles of wine in the course of an evening. We also have GREAT discussions that begin with the book, but spin off into many different tangents as the evening progresses. We haven't met yet this month, but our selection was The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. I liked this book. The first half of the book, I was unsure where the story was going, but I felt it really picked up speed in the second half and I couldn't put it down. It ended rather abruptly however, and I found myself wanting more closure. Still, a good read, and I am looking forward to our discussion on Wednesday evening. Now, shall I bring a bottle of red or white?