Nothing says summer like...

 

Almost 3 and full of 'tude!

EK will be three in a week or so! Can you believe that??? I have so many Ella Kate stories that I need to write down before we forget them. But for now I'm just going to post some of these pics taken to put on her "Dora" birthday invitations from Wal-Mart's photo center. Before you go thinking I am creative to do a photo invite, I must confess. They did have any Dora fill-in-the-blank invitations at any store I have been to in the last month. What's up with that???? So we did the photo ones. (The impromptu after VBS photo session to get ONE good picture could be a whole other blog post.) Since we didn't get that one picture, I made the collage above for the invitation. Below are the pics that didn't make the collage. I think we managed to catch the many sides of Ella Kate's personality in these pics. OH that girl!

OK that last one is a little scary. What a mess. We love her so much and thank God for blessing us with this funny, sweet, happy girl!
Happy Thursday!

Back on the net!

I'm back! (And I found fun new blog skins! :) Thanks Hot bliggity blog!

That little 7 day computer break was not as successful as I thought it would be. More on that later. Maybe. But suffice it to say I have decided that the computer is too ingrained into my life to quit cold turkey. Not even sure that would be good. But taking a break was good. I know I am on here too much at times.

A few random thoughts for this Wednesday.

Vacations are not only fun, but necessary. My family needs one. Bad!!!! Just need to figure out when, where and how.

Garage sales are hard work. Really hard work. But like vacations they are necessary to my sanity and well being. I have not had one in years and boy, does it show! I am overwhelmed with all we need to get rid of. Truly it is staggering. I have sold over $150 worth of just stuff on Craigslist this week pre-garage sale. It feels so good just to have that little bit of stuff gone. I have decided that I need to make myself have a garage sale every year to get rid of stuff. Every year.

Sleep. Can't live without it, but can't get all I need to do this week done if I get much of it. I really need a break from the mile long to-do lists! But such is life. Better than being bored. WHICH is now my least favorite word! Too bad my kids seem to love it so much. We need a better chore system around here!

VBS is also hard work. have you hugged a VBS volunteer lately?

Home Improvement. WOW. What a racket! We are in the thick of it trying to get our house "market ready." So much time and money goes into these houses we occupy. As a student of history, civilizations & cultures, I was taught to really learn about a people look to their architecture. Not just the great buildings either. Look at the every day dwellings of the common man. The details in those spaces will tell you so much about a people,what their society held precious, what they aspired to, and what they loved. So what do our homes say about our culture? HHHMMMM? Thoughts to ponder.

Lastly, is there anything in the world as refreshing as a cool swimming pool on a hot Texas summer day? I don't think so!

Happy Summer!

Unplugged

It is with great fear and trembling that I write this. My kids have challenged me to turn the computer off for one week. Yes, 7 days. No e-mail, on-line bill paying, on-line shopping, Craigslist, Facebook, or Bejeweled blitz. And no blogging. Not just internet...no computer. No typing. Nothing. Nada. YIKES!
It's not that I am letting my kids boss me around. It's something I have been thinking about quite a bit lately. And I can do this. Right?
I actually look forward to everything I will get done when I'm not here reading and clicking away. But I have become so dependent on this thing that I'm wondering how long the desire to do this will last. I'm gonna have to use the phonebook if I need a number. I am quickly printing my I-cal calendar so I will not forget everything.
7 days.
Fear and trembling.
Just wait until I think up a challenge for them! :)
Well, here it goes.
1...
2....
3!

My playlist

If you have the sound on and if you are reading this today, you are hearing one of my all time favorite songs! As much as I DO NOT like the Dixie Chicks politics, I LOVE THIS VERSION!!!
I have loved this song since I sang it in my 5th grade music program at Travis Elementary Thanks Mrs Bates! The Carpenters have a great version of this song as did The Tone Rangers in the movie The Break-up. (To bad that scene didn't actually make the movie.) Kermit the frog of course was in the top 40 for many weeks in 1979 with his version. :) I bet I listened to The Muppet Movie 8-track a million times when I was Kolby's age. But this is my favorite version, probably because the Dixie Chicks make me sound better as I sing at the top of my lungs! (My kids just shake their heads and pray no friends stop by when I'm in SING mode. Wonder why? )

I have been cleaning out a lot and I have noticed I clean faster and better if I have music going. This playlist has been blaring for days. And I love every song. Some remind me of people, events, or books.... Anyway, I hope you don't mind me sharing my weird wide range of favorite songs with you on this blog. Feel free to join in... oh I'm about the belt out the chorus.....

Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name
Is this the sweet sound that calls
The young sailors
The Voice might be one and the same
I've heard it too many times to ignore it
It's something that I'm supposed to be

Someday we'll find it
The Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me!!!

Love that song! Hope you have wonderful rainbow filled day!

Last Day of School!

I lost my camera and could not take my traditional teacher pictures this morning. But I found it and took after school pictures. All three of my kids seemed to have grown so much this year! But especially KOLBY!


Our girl is getting so tall! Love these days and these pictures but they are pulling a bit at my Mommy heart.

In other news, we have had a really crazy week. The end of school is always nuts but then my Dad fell and had a terrible time until he was able to have surgery this morning. The surgery went well but he is off his feet for at least another 3 months. Considering he is just now starting to get around after his fall last October... Well this is not good news! But he is receiving excellent care now and we are happy for that! More later.

Happy Summer!

The Panther Patch is complete!

Since the end of last October, The Panther Patch has dominated so many parts of my brain...not to mention my to-do list! Today it officially opened. All the projects are finished. No more building. It feels SO good to be able to say that! It was a sweet morning...even the weather cooperated! Click over to The Green Panther if you want to see pictures.

I bet I took 200 pictures of the P-patch today! Here are my favorites!
The first is just fun, not even posed. It just happened.

Though I am fully aware it might not work out, I truly hope and pray that someday Ella Kate gets to go outside with her class at SVE and think, "My mom helped build this place!"

And lastly of all the hundreds and HUNDREDS of pictures I have taken over the last few months out in The Panther Patch, this is my favorite. As I was packing up today, a second grade class came outside to do their social studies lesson. When I looked over and saw them, it hit me. The Panther Patch is really complete.

After all the hours of freezing and then sweating, all of the PTA drama, the late nights searching and shopping on-line, all the e-mails and phone calls, after all the shoveling, and raking, and planting... The Panther Patch has finally become what we dreamed it would be, an incredible outdoor facility where teachers teach and kids learn.
What a great day!

Garden party

Tonight I have too many thoughts for Facebook so for the second time in 4 days I am blogging. (No. It is not 2005. AMAZING huh? )

Today I had a little afternoon party in the garden. We had cucumber sandwiches, thumb print cookies (Yes. The old recipe from Mac Eplin's in Abilene!) sparkling lemonade, pinwheels, iced sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, chocolate chips, sweet tea... Now that you are drooling, I have to say it wasn't quite as glam as it all sounds. Yes there were pretty flowers and lots of people came, but it was hot. Before anyone arrived I was sweating and hauling umbrellas and coolers full of ice. My make-up had completely sweated off by the time the party started. And I was worn out. It takes a lot to throw a garden party. But aside from the heat and my lack of makeup it was good. I was struck by all the memories of my grandmothers that flooded my mind as I hurried through my busy day.

My Nana Ruth was the first person to ever make cucumber sandwiches for me. Well they were really for her bridge club, but she let me have a few. Yes. She had a bridge club and when it was her week to host she cut fresh flowers and made little sandwiches and cookies. The ladies drank tea, and then sometimes coffee as the afternoon wore on. They laughed and spoke quietly as they discussed the news of the day and the plight of poor Mr or Mrs so and so down the street, bless their heart! And they played bridge. For the life of me I don't know how one plays bridge. Bridge club always looked fun, not really the bridge part, but the friends and little cookie part. I think I want a bridge club.

And then my Nana Naomi... (Had to call them by their first names since I called them both Nana. And yes I always loved that my grandmothers were named Naomi and Ruth!) Well Nana Naomi was a Garden Clubber. I think she played bridge on occasion too, but she was big into the Garden Club. I can remember her trying to teach me to make tiny arrangements at the tender age of three and four. Back then I was not interested. To this day, as much as I love plants, I am not good with them. But my Nana could grow anything. She always had beds and gardens and a ton of plants on plant stands all over her house. Today as I was buying bougainvilleas at the nursery to use as center pieces, I thought of Nana Naomi and how she would make tons arrangements for her Garden Club meetings. (You know I think they ate little sandwiches and cookies at the Garden Club too!) I remember that I was fascinated by how Nana always buried her banana peels and leftover fruit and veggies parts in her garden to "make the soil." I guess that is what we call composting now. Yeah I should have paid better attention.

Remembering my Nanas makes my heart smile. (Just realized I don't ever remember their make-up sweating off! In fact I don't remember them ever sweating...) I wish they were still here to teach me how to play Bridge and make flower arrangements. I wish they were here to love my kids and make them pudding from scratch when they don't feel well.

I wonder what they would think of me? Nana Ruth died when Rhett was three, but she hadn't been the Nana of my youth for quite a while at that point. Nana Naomi died a year and a half before I met Rob. Both Nanas were in their 90's and needed to go when they died. It's not that I feel they were taken too soon. It's just that I wanted them to be the age they were when I was a little girl forever. I want my spunky Nana Ruth here to play the piano and laugh as Ella Kate dances. I want my Nana Naomi to paint watercolors with Kolby. And Rhett...well they would have just eaten him up! Boys were so rare in our family. I want them to wear their housecoats in the morning, and go to town for a coke in the afternoon. I want to fall asleep with them watching "the story" and have a big night out on the town eating a steak finger baskets at the DQ at 5:30pm. Later we would play Skip-Bo or dominoes with Lawrence Welk, Love Boat or later Walker Texas Ranger in the back ground.

I like when little things in my life remind me of my grandparents. I wonder if it is any coincidence that on this, the busiest of days, my mind kept wandering back to my Nanas and a time in my life when things seemed simpler. When my biggest worry was whether I would have to take a nap in the afternoon or be put to bed too early. Maybe God wanted me to remember my Nanas today for a reason? Maybe. Or maybe He just wants me to learn to play bridge and join a Garden Club? :)

Either way I am loving the memories of my two sweet Nanas while thanking God that these two ladies were such a big part of my life. All these years later just the memory of them makes my day. Thanks Nana! (Both of you!)

Oh my

How long has it been since I blogged? OH. MY.
Since I never blog and no one really reads this anymore I feel pretty safe just thinking "on blog" tonight. Here are a few thoughts... (well, 8 to be exact)

1. The Panther Patch is almost finished. I love working on it. I am thrilled to see it all come together, love having kids out there planting, love organizing it and imagining all that can be done out there. Really love it. But I also feel like it is killing me. I feel like I have no energy, no brain, and no time left for anything else. As a wife and mom of 3, that is bad. Very bad. But I can not quit now. I'm almost done! (I've been telling myself that for two months) Please remind me never to work this hard on a project unless A. I am getting paid really well or B. It is for my own yard/house/kids.

2. I want to move. I really do. I just want to move. Across town or across the state.(OK, just across town!) I have moving fever. I am addicted to realtor.com and the tax appraisal district web site. We have been in this house 7 years. Is it possible to have the 7 year itch with a house? I love my house, but I still want to move it, add on to it, get a totally different yard and remodel 70% of it. Moving would be easier than all that. So I want to move. AND I WANT TO MOVE NOW!

3. Reality check. We are no where close to being ready to move. Moving will be hard. We have so much to do to get this house market ready... but honestly, it is not anything that we should not be doing anyway just for us to live here. I'm ready to try. What do we have to loose? It's not like we have to move, so we don't have to sell unless the price is right. I think I have almost talked Rob into getting serious about this. So as soon as the Panther Patch is finished, getting the house "market ready" begins. No rest for the weary!

4. I am a terrible blogger. I just don't want to blog. I don't know why. (Actually I have been blogging...you guessed it.. for THE PANTHER PATCH! Yeah. Just go over there if you need a Steph fix. That is usually where I am.) I don't know if it is facebook or what, but I can not seem to get in the blogging groove anymore. Remember the days when we blogged everyday or every other day? WOW. That was a long time ago! :)

5. During all this crazy busy life, my kids are growing so fast and changing so much every day that I can't stand it. It makes my head spin. Ella Kate, Rhett and Kolby have all 3 changed so much this school year! I have not been good at documenting it either. Sometimes I wonder who these big kids are and what have they done with my babies? I mean there are these little people who live here and say and do the funniest things. They think the biggest thoughts. They can bring out the strongest of every emotion in me and I love them so much that it hurts. It blows me away. EVERY DAY! And it goes so fast in retrospect! How do these LONG days add up so quickly into fleeting months and years? How do I slow it down? Do you ever think these things? This seems to be a constant theme in my life the last few years. I am beginning to sound like an old woman aren't I? ACK!!!

6. I miss people. I miss the friends I never see anymore because our circles don't cross. I miss my out of town friends. I miss my San Angelo, ACU and Fort Worth friends. I feel like an awful friend for not keeping up with anyone better. My calendar and mind are both so full that there is never time to see anyone for long. But my heart really longs to sit and visit, to linger, to laugh until I snort, to have so much to talk about that my body denies the need for sleep because my mind and heart are so full. I want to play games and and laugh so loud that the kids can't sleep in the next room and strangers would swear we were drunk from the sweet tea we are drinking. I MISS THAT!

7. I would love to sit here and blog about me longer :) but I actually need to do a few things before I crash for a few hours and start another crazy day tomorrow. The house looks like it threw up on itself. Should I really try to put everything away or should I just walk around with a trash bag and take it all to Goodwill in the morning. ALL OF IT! Would we really miss all this stuff so much?

OK off the computer I go. 1 2 3 and I'm off...

BTW
8. Happy Mothers Day!

Easter Weekend