Merry Christmas!

Princess

Tuesday night Richard took me on a fabulous date. The whole evening was suppose to be a surprise but I foiled it...oops. He purchased tickets to the Nutcracker ballet but I found them when they arrived in the mail.

We sent Matt to his grandparents for a mini "spoil-cation". Then, we drove into the big city for dinner at a fancy restaurant. Richard had made reservations but when we arrived they did not have power so we walked down to an upscale Mexican restaurant. The food was dynamite! Then we took a romantic walk through the freezing drizzle to the theater :)

The ballet was unreal. The music was wonderful and the sets/costumes were so lavish. I saw the Nutcracker when I lived in Dallas but I thought this was better.

Anyways, just wanted to share my special evening with all and say thanks to my sweet husband for treating me like a princess.

The following is a conversation from the other night between Matt and his six year old friend. They were playing in our kitchen when Richard sat down on the couch and turned on the news.

Matt - Hey Suzy Q, you wanna go watch the news?? (he's doing the thumbs up pointing thing toward the living room)

Suzy Q - silently ignoring Matt

Matt - Hey, hey, Arak-O-roma is on... (that Barack Obama)

Suzy Q - silent

Matt - he's nasty

Me - picking my jaw up and trying not to double over in laughter.

I don't know which is funnier: recognizing the news, Barack Obama, or his interesting adjective. I think we have a future FOX News analyst.

It is officially time to throw out our TV.

80's Christmas TV

I found this site last night through random useless time spent on the Internet. I'm sure you are not guilty of that little time suck.

Anyways, it's a cool site. It's like you are in your friend's basement circa 1988 watching TV. I was intrigued by the elaboracy (is that even a word) of the timing in relation to the TV guide schedule and what was on. Seriously, how much time did someone spend creating this site??

So check it out.

Beware, it will cause more wasted time spent online.

I think intricacy is a better word. Not to mention, I know it's a real word.

SNOW!!!!

I love his face in the pic above. Pure excitement!

This picture cracks me up. He looks like he is taking care of some business if you know what I mean....

Can you see the flakes? They were huge!

A snowman just his size.

This morning.

A "snowbox".

I love his grin!!!

The making of a white trash sled! Cardboard box and a rope.

Whoa Daddy!!

Oops.

All that fun and it was only 7:45 in the morning. We had a blast and thank God for such an awesome surprise!

St. Nick

Last night we went to the library to meet Santa. I can only imagine what he was telling him in the photo above. I do know that he asked him for a "Polar Express" train; except when he says it, it sounds like the "holeliquor press". Santa had to ask him three times before he understood. Matt was kind of like "dude, aren't you suppose to know these things without me telling you?"

Hope you are staying warm today. I have a nice fire burning and am drinking a hot cup of coffee. By the way, we did not see any snow today in case you were wondering. My brother on the other hand, drove through a snow storm the other night.

CHEESE!!!!!

I will leave you to write your own comments.

My Little Elf

Today I finally decided it was time to start wrapping presents.

Here is what happens when Matt is your helper.

Are you jealous? You should be, we had a great time. Have a wondeful weekend.

Conversation

The following is from a conversation Matt and I had in the car this morning.

Matt- Mommy (said extra loud), I want a big boy tricycle.

Me- OK

Matt- A big boy tricycle with brakes.

Me- Wow! I didn't know you knew what brakes were.

Matt- Yeah, I want one with brakes.....(long pause)....and guns too!! That way I can shoot the police if they take my bike.

We have been working on police being heroes and our friends. Obviously it is not getting through.

Who Am I

On Sunday our church did this. The clip is not of our church but some random one off of You Tube. It is not the greatest clip but you get the idea.



Isn't it amazing?? Watching it in person gave me chills and, of course, made me a little teary. Enjoy!

Life at the moment

**I wrote this post about a week ago but I kept having technical difficulties. Every time I would try to post pics something would go wrong. Sorry it took so long**

Six months in our new home and two months after Ike, our life is pretty much back to normal.

Richard finally finished marching season on Saturday. Most bands compete in their region UIL contest in mid October, but because of Ike, Richard had his Saturday. This was tough on him and the students; it was the season that never ended. Anyways, they did great at their very first UIL appearance. The band received a 1,2,2 which is a two. I was amazed at the transformation of the band. You need to know it is a brand new high school, only 9, 10, and 11 grades, and the band has about 45 kids on the field. At the first game they didn't even have enough of the show to put on the field and you could barely hear them play. Now, they are a confident and great sounding marching band. It was a wonderful moment and I am so proud of my husband.

Matt only attended mother's day out that one time before the storm. I feel like we have finally fell into a routine and he is more excited about our "learning time" at home. I purchased a few different preschool books (Kumon and Abeka) and we work on those when we feel like it. I know, I should probably be more structured about it, but he is only three. We have also taken a few field trips into Houston with our neighbor to the zoo and children's museum. I feel like he is finally making friends between neighbors, church activities, and MOPs.

I think friendships are what occupy my mind most of the time. I am constantly praying and thinking about what I can do to make friends for me and my family and what our old friends are doing back home. I really need to get over all this and I will be glad when I move past this phase.

Anyways, I think I am settling in too. I've joined MOPs, gotten lost a few times, found new shopping destinations and restaurants, and baked a ton (that's why I have so much junk in my trunk now). We also joined a small group at our church over a month ago and I am enjoying the company immensely!

In regards to Ike, we are still waiting on our insurance company to tell us if we get any money. As a result, we have not repaired anything. At first glance everything looks OK but we need to replace our fence, gates, and chimney trim. I will be glad when we finally hear some news. I have had some request for after Ike photos and I will post the few I have. Nothing dramatic but there are a few interesting pics.

This is a pile of debris in front of the park in our subdivision.

This is the same pile but different view. Richard guessed that the pile stretched about 100 feet.Thankfully, this was one of two piles in front of our house. Much smaller huh? Do you see all the trees in our front yard. Not one was damaged.My husband, being the good man that he is, drove around the neighborhood and collected wood to split for our fireplace. Pretty smart huh? We've been enjoying our free wood lately. As you can see, he had a little helper.It's hard to see, but these boats are piled up on land. During the storm, these boats were washed from their marina and eventually ended up on land. This is mister on his first and only day of "school". Poor guy, I think he misses it.

Fall

Here are some recent pics from Halloween and a Pumpkin Patch. You should know that Matthew really wanted to be Batman but they wouldn't let him buy the costume at Wal-Mart. (They really wouldn't sell it to us, they said it had been recalled. Try explaining that to a three year old!) That's what he told everyone when they commented on his costume. He enjoyed dressing up as a fireman but his heart was still in Gotham City.

I love this picture. Aren't my guys the cutest??!

I'm sure he's thinking about Batman in this picture....

This was the only Pumpkin Patch that I knew of in our new town. By the time we went all the pumpkins were rotting. Matt got a great lesson in mold and flys. Needless to say, we went to HEB and bought a couple of pumpkins.

Thanks

I just wanted to give a big thanks to all of you who posted comments last week. You made my "mindless" blogging topic much more fun!

Also, don't forget (how could you??) that tomorrow is E-Day. If you haven't already, get out and vote. Matt and I went last week and he was very intrigued by the computer; I let him push the buttons. Uh-oh, I hope that doesn't disqualify my vote...

Whatever you do, just make sure you vote McCain/Palin. If you decide to vote the other way, I don't want to know. Well, I guess I'll let you claim temporary insanity. I'm kidding. Seriously, make sure you take time to vote tomorrow.

If that's what you want to call it

The other night we were at our small group meeting. Matt was eating a snack at the table while another child was having a little fit on the floor. It was more of a rolling on the floor making the weird noises kind of fit, not really screaming and crying. Matt was watching him all big eyed and finally looked at me and asked "is he speaking Spanish?"

Desert Island, Halloween Style

In honor of Halloween, name your top five Halloween treats.

In no particular order:

1. Butterfingers

2. Twix

3. Candy Corn and Pumpkins

4. Snickers

5. Milky Way Dark

However, I also love 3 Musketeers, Almond Joy, Rasinetts, Peanut MnM's. I think I would be happy with any form of chocolate! What candy will you be sneaking out of your kid's bag tonight?

Five Foods

Name five foods for your desert island adventure.

1. Bacon - if I have bacon, anything will taste better.

2. Strawberries

3. Coffee - what else do I need to say

4. Dark chocolate - I could do great things with the strawberries and chocolate, not to mention spice up my coffee

5. Sharp cheddar cheese - kind of like bacon, can make anything taste better but can also stand alone as a meal

What would you bring? I love reading your comments, thanks for posting them!

Five Tunes

If you could only download five songs to your i-pod for your desert stay, what would you choose??



1. I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett (this was my all time favorite song growing up in the 80's; I felt very tough when I listened to it)

2. Louisiana Saturday Night by Alabama

3. Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield

4. Creed by Rich Mullins

5. Mighty to Save by Hillsong

This is a hard one because I love so many different styles of music. I could have easily listed 20 more. What are yours??

Desert Island

This week I am going to have a theme, desert island. I will post a different possibility everyday with my top 5. I hope that you all will post your top 5 in the comments!

Oh yeah, for people like my mom, the idea behind the game is you are going to spend the rest of your life on a desert island and you can only bring ...

Five movies

Steele Magnolias
Wizard of Oz
Any season of The Office
An Affair to Remember
Napoleon Dynamite

The Shining came to mind but since it's the rest of my life and I'm by myself that's probably not a good choice.

As soon as I post this I will think of others or when I read yours I'll go "why didn't think of that". I can't wait to read your list!

Halloween Spice Cake

I made this Halloween spice cake tonight. Richard LOVED it. He said it was one of the best cakes I had ever made, I disagree. Anyways, since he loved it so much, I thought I would share the recipe. It was super easy; all you need are two bowls, a spoon, and a hand mixer (and the obvious measuring utensils). I baked mine in a bundt pan instead of a loaf pan. Hope you try it, let me know if you do.

Gratitude

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. - Thorton Wilder

A couple of weeks ago, our church began a church-wide Bible study called One Month to Live: 30 Days to a No-Regrets Life. Like the title implies, the study gets you to focus on how you would spend your life if you only had 30 days left. Richard and I have been reading the book together and discussing it with our small group.

Many things have changed in my life but most directly my relationship with Matt. I tend to get caught up in house duties, keeping him "in line", or other things that I miss the big picture. The study has helped me focus on my little boy and realize, that's what he is, my little boy. I catch myself trying to rush his "growing up" and not savoring the moments. Since I began the study I have become much more aware of this and when these moments arise I savor them and praise God for them.

You are probably thinking, good grief what kind of mother are you? You didn't do this before? I thought I did, but now it's different and it's not just with Matt but with everything. Anyways, today's chapter focused on gratitude. Here is an excerpt:

If you only had one moth to live, you'd want to make the most of it.

To laugh and fully engage with the people you love.

To appreciate the little things, the ones that might seem silly to others

but that delight your soul, and to give God thanks for allowing you to experience them.

At the end of the chapter you are asked what you are grateful for and/or what you take for granted. I have to say, something I take for granted but love and will miss dearly one day is being able to hold Matt's little hand all the time. I love how his small fingers curl around mine and how he just automatically reaches for my hand when we are walking. One day, he will be too big to hold Mama's hand and I will miss that so much.

So what about you, what are you thankful for?

After reading, go get one

I just got back from a morning at Chuck-E-Cheese. Whew! My neighbor and I left at 9:30 this morning; who knew the giant rat welcomed customers this early. You might think we are crazy for going this early but it worked out perfectly. We were the first ones there, the only ones for about 30 minutes, tickets were hanging out of all the machines, and the food was fresh. I thought the ticket thing was a fluke but soon realized the employees will go play all the games every so often to make sure they work and leave the tickets hanging! We finally wound up following the guys around grabbing the tickets. Classy huh?

After that we went to The Children's Pace and I bought Matt's Christmas outfit. Woo Hoo! By the way, Jana F., you need to check it out because they had super cute big girl and baby girl clothes! Actually, any of you who like to coordinate Christmas outfits, this is the place to shop!

For Karla, I found a Willie's Ice House close by. Now you guys have a reason to come and visit.:)

Finally, the other night, when we had our date, we went to Starbucks after dinner all by ourselves! I wasn't going to order anything but then I saw the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate...If you like getting a box of Valentine chocolates then this is the drink for you. It taste like someone melted a box of chocolates then blended it together. It is absolutely sinful.

Enjoying the Day

It's me. I finally made it back to the land of blogging. Things are good here. Very good at the moment; Matt is spending the night at Nana and Pawpaw's and we are having a date night later! That's probably the only reason why I am able to blog at the moment, Matt's gone.

Did I ever mention that he doesn't go to Mother's Day Out anymore? The building was flooded thanks to Ike. Since I only experienced one mom day, I am loving the alone time right now. I have painted our two small hallways, watched a ton of Food Network, walked around Hobby Lobby and Michael's and it's only 4 p.m. I feel like I could conquer the world.

I should mention that we called last night and he refused to talk to us. No surprise. Then I waited until this afternoon to call and he refused to talk again. Still not surprised. The only way he got on the phone was Karen made him ask me if he could eat some candy.

Now down to business; an update on my mom. After her appointment, she was told the hole in her heart had reopened. They needed to look at it further to see if they could operate and close the hole so they scheduled two test to be done the following Monday. We drove up to my mom's on Saturday and my brother flew in on Sunday. My mom failed to mention until we were leaving that she was also very anemic and they wanted to give her two pints of blood after the tests.

After her test, the cardiologist told us that the hole was much smaller than they anticipated. He said it was about the size of a pin hole. Since it was so small, they did not need to do anything at the moment, just monitor. However, she did have some other issues with the pressure on one side of her heart but they are going to give her medicine to deal with it. He also wanted to look into the anemia and begin a program addressing that and the fact her body is not making "healthy" blood. Instead of getting two units of blood she wound up needing 4!!

Overall, this is good news. The hole was not what the doctor's thought and her blood problems are getting treated. Once again the Lord has taken care of my mom and I praise him for that. I am reminded of the old hymn "Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus":

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

And to take him at his word

Just to rest upon his promise

And to know"Thus saith the Lord"

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!

How I've proved him o'er and o'er!

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus.

O for grace to trust him more!

Request

My mom has been having some issues lately with her meds and heart. She is going to her cardiologist today for an EKG test. Please lift her up in prayer today.

Pics from out trip

Here are some pics (finally) from our trip to Minneapolis. Enjoy.

Matt loved watching the airplanes. Make yourself comfortable kiddo.

This was at the Mall of America. There was a whole Nickelodeon amusement park in the center of the mall. Did I mention we spent 9 1/2 hours there? We still did not see the third floor.

Matt enjoying marshmallow roasting in Uncle Earnie's backyard. By the way, I don't know what kind of grass they have but I could have wrapped myself in it. It was the lushest and softest grass I have ever walked in. OK, sounds a little weird but you would have felt the same way. Karla, for the record, I only ate two s'mores.

Grandma and Matt on our paddle boat ride down the Mississippi. Who knew you could do recreational things on the Mighty Miss like fish and kayak? The water was so clear unlike down here where it looks like mud.

The whole group.

Aunt Chrissy and Uncle Earnie with Mr. Lewis. By the way, they spoiled him so much that they had to ship a box of toys to our house because we couldn't fit them all in our suitcase! But that is what aunts and uncles are for. Right?

Playing at a park in a very cool area called Linden Hills. Through those trees one of three lakes in Minneapolis. If I had (at least) half a million dollars, I would buy a house there. For those of you from Dallas, it reminded me of the White Rock /Lakewood area.

Back at the Mall of America. Uncle Earnie and Matt at the Lego superstore. Did I mention no sales tax on clothes and shoes?!

Heading home. Matt and his new friend Buddy. He made Buddy at Build-A-Bear thanks to Aunt Chrissy. This monkey has more clothes then Matt.

We had a wonderful trip. I was surprised by the beauty of the state and enjoyed all of our outings immensely. I had such a good time hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law and I miss you guys so much.

Our son

Matthew calls me mom now and for some reason that makes me sad. The other day I asked him to call me mama and he said no. I asked him why not and he said mama had disappeared. At this point I wasn't sure what to say so I asked what happened to her and he said she's mom now!

Interesting.

Last night he wanted to honk the horn in the drive way but I told him no because it was too late ( 9:30 p.m.). He of course asked why and I said someone could be sleeping. At this point, he asked his favorite question, "then what happens?" I told him they would come outside and yell at us for waking them up. He said that's OK because I will get a sleep machine and make them go back to sleep.

The kid is 3 1/2. Where is he getting this stuff?

That's our boy and we wouldn't change him for anything! Hope this brightens your day :)

Political Entertainment

I watched Bill O'Reilly last night and had to share this clip from the show. He interviewed Dem. Congressman Barney Frank about his position and comments on the economic crisis. Many people find O'Reilly obnoxious and out of control; I think he calls it like he sees it. Sometimes I agree and other times I disagree with him. Just so you know he is not a dem. or rep. he is an independent.



On the debate last night, what did you think? I would love to read you thoughts. I thought they both did well but I was very relieved for Gov. Palin; I loved her closing remarks, very clever.

Coming Soon

Sorry I haven't posted since I returned; I have been back home since Wednesday evening. At the moment, I need to get up off my expanding butt and clean my house but I promise I will post soon.

Ike in a nutshell

We are fine. Our house is fine. I hope that you never have to evacuate or a hurricane hits your town. The day we left our home, I saw a side of human nature I never care to see again. People were rude, aggressive, and just overall scary. There were huge lines for anything useful, gas shortages, and erratic drivers. This was before the storm even hit.

It was a very surreal experience packing up our stuff and wondering if this is that moment. You know, when you ask yourself if you had to grab just one thing, what would it be. So I grabbed Matt's photo albums, a box of photos, our Bibles, and some of Matt's favorite things. Obviously I packed clothes and necessities.

We drove to my mom's and watched FOX news for about three days straight. I must say, Geraldo added some much needed laughter the night the hurricane rolled in. My mother in law and I were cracking up watching him. While laughing, I told her I was glad we could find humor somewhere.

After the storm, we spoke to our neighbors and learned that our neighborhood fared well. Most people, including ourselves, lost fences and had a lot of limbs in the yard but no major damage. Power is STILL out and our water pressure was low for a while. Richard went home today for the first time and said we lost a couple of gates, had some damage to our chimney, and gutters. Overall, not much considering the eye passed over us. We are very blessed and thankful.

At the moment I am in Minnesota with my mom and Matt at my brother and sister in laws. I will blog more about that later. For now, I will just say we are having a blast and am glad to be in a new location.

**I owe a huge thanks to my mom and David for housing us and our cat for a week!
THANK YOU!

Ike! Yikes!

We are boarding up and evacuating today because of the hurricane. It is going to hit too close to home. Please keep us and all the people affected by this hurricane in your prayers. I will update when I can. Please pray that our travels to north Texas will be relatively easy. Love all of you!

In case you were wondering

This morning I was in the car listening to the radio and had one of those moments. You know, the kind where you feel like God is speaking directly to you.

I was listening to a local Christian station and they were previewing an upcoming segment about what makes you the perfect parent for your child. Of course I had thoughts like setting up college savings, preschool, reading stories 24/7, and other "earthly" qualities.

Then the segment aired and the woman said the reason why you are the perfect parent for your child is God chose you for the job. He knew your talents and abilities and chose you to be your child's parent.

As parents, I believe we all have those moments of doubt and question. I know I do. I constantly ask myself what in the world am I doing or doubt my abilities as a mother. Richard and I frequently have conversations about how we are raising Matt and wonder if we are doing a good job. I know there is always room for improvement but it was comforting to hear those words. To know that God chose me to be Matt's mother.

So in case you were wondering, He chose you too!

What Can I Say?

A better title might be "All By Myself".

This morning Matt put on his own underwear. He put them on backwards. Then Matt started his own DVD video. He watched it in Russian.

What else can I say?

The moment was priceless, we laughed hysterically, and I fell in love with my son all over again.

A Little Bit of This and That

Remember that old show, The Naked Chef, on the Food Network with Brit, Jamie Oliver. Matt is the new version. He actually has shorts on but when I saw this photo that title popped into my head.

The next group of pictures represent how big of a mess Matt can make if you don't keep a leash on him. Let us begin at the kitchen table; this is where it all began. This mess includes Mega Blocks, Dora and Diego Lego's, an army jeep, and some random pieces of paper. Somehow, he played with all of this together.

Next, we have the staging area for "Peoples". He moved on to this area when he woke up from his nap. What you cannot see is the large bucket of peoples dumped out in front of the hearth.

Finally, we have his red table which he drug from another part of the room and set in the middle of the living room. He then decided to play with wooden blocks and his animal vet kit at the same time.

Typically, I am an anal mother and make him cleanup after each set of toys. On this day I had the "what the heck"mentality and let him go nuts. I forgot to show you a pic of him room. That one was a doozey as well. Needless to say, he had a fun day and he did help clean it all up in the end.

One last thing, Matt learned a new phrase from watching the RNC last night: USA, USA, USA!

He thought it was hilarious when they chanted the phrase. He would randomly (are you surprised) chant it while he was playing with his blocks. What a good little Republican :)

Politics

I am not sure I should even go down this road, but here I go.

So last night was the RNC and, unless you are living on the moon, you know that Gov. Sarah Palin spoke. How many of you watched the speech? I did and was blown away.

I am usually not a very "political" person. I have my views and will occasionally antagonize a certain Democrat friend for good fun but, in general, I would not call myself a political junkie. Well, ever since Friday's announcement, that has changed. I find myself listening and reading any information I can about Gov. Palin, the good and the bad. I have been shocked at how personal the attacks have been against her, namely her family and mothering abilities. I am not surprised; the mainstream media is so biased it is unreal. That's a discussion for a whole other day.

Anyways, for the most part, I have been very impressed by what I have seen/heard. I appreciate the fact she is a mother and has conservative social values. I applaud her for standing up to corruption and taking on the establishment. One of the things I most appreciated about her speech last night was when she addressed the parents of special needs children. As most of you know, I was a special ed teacher and it is exciting to think there could be a powerful and high profile advocate for these children and families in Washington.

I am not going to write in great length about this. I just wanted to share a few thoughts.

By the way, just to keep it fair, I did watch the DNC last week. I even made the comment to Richard after it was over that it was pretty exciting and I was not really looking forward to watching the RNC. I figured it was going to be the same old stuff. Thanks Senator Mc Cain, I am glad you proved me wrong.

Bring on the debates!

Only My Child...Only Me

Only Matthew would stand in the middle of the living room yelling "Crescendo!!" over and over while playing with his toys.

Thanks Little Einsteins. Thanks band directing dad.

Only I could have accidentally flung his vitamin lid into the toilet, while he was using the bathroom, while standing three feet away, while trying to screw it back on to the bottle.

Needless to say, his bottle no longer has a lid! You know the saying...couldn't have done it if I had tried.

One more thing, we have our first football game tonight. Wish us luck!!

Trust

School has officially started which means Matt will begin his activities soon. For some reason, choosing activities for Matt has been very stressful this time. Last year I enrolled him into preschool with no regrets. (Probably because his teacher was a good friend and I knew he would be loved). This year has been a whole different experience.

First, because of the move, we did not make arrangements for preschool early on; we decided to wait and see. By the end of July we knew Matt was ready for some kind of group setting and needed to spend time with other kids. I started calling around to different church schools but soon hit a wall, they were all full with a waiting list.

I had also been thinking of other group activities he could participate in like Kindermusik or gymnastics. I finally found a gymnastic class he could join and they even offered a free trial. Matt tried it out a couple of Saturdays ago and loved it. We signed him up and I didn't think much about it because I would be staying with him.

Around the same time we learned of a Mother's Day Out program that came recommended and had space. I called and decided to enroll him only one day a week since he had gymnastics another day. For some reason, I have been struggling with sending him someplace by himself whether it's preschool or MDO. The first day I went to turn his forms in I pulled into the parking lot and looked around, then left; I could not bring myself to get out of the car. This is very strange for me because I am usually the parent trying to send Matt off. I am assuming this has to do with us moving and feeling unsure about our surroundings. A few days later Matt and I took the forms back and met the director. I think Matt would have stayed then if I would have let him. I remember when we were leaving that no one there knew Matt or what kind of a funny kid he is.

It's kind of weird and hard to explain. Back in Brenham it seemed like everyone knew him before he was even born. Once he was born, he just grew up in front of everyone and we were friends with almost everyone who came into contact with him: Sunday school teachers, pediatrician, MDO director/teachers, preschool teacher. Now, no one knows him and how special he is . I guess I am having one of those mother moments where I don't want my child treated like another part of the pack.

I think it also comes down to the fact that we have never felt so vulnerable before. Brenham was such a small town that we knew everyone and their business. We never felt like we were dealing with strangers; instead it felt more like family. Now, everyone we come into contact with is a stranger and I find myself being suspicious of everyone.

Well, I have whined long enough and I didn't mean to get so sappy. Oops, I guess that is what happens when you are stuck at home without a car.

Another Random Comment

Matt is watching cartoons and just told me that he snores at Mother's Day Out. Interesting.

Tokyo's Manager

A couple of weekends ago the whole Lewis clan had dinner at a restaurant called Tokyo's; it is one of those sushi/hibachi grill places. We were lucky enough to get a hibachi grill table so we could watch the "action".

If you are unfamiliar with a hibachi chef, click here.

Matt was very intrigued and freaked out by the whole experience. He would tell us he needed to go poop but then he didn't want to leave. Go figure. I don't think I have ever used poop to get out of a situation; I think he gets that from his dad.

Now a few weeks later, he is obsessed with the "tokyo's manager". Here is the result:

This is one of his new favorite things to do, stand at the island pretending to cook. Usually he makes a birthday cake. Today started out as pancakes but obviously turned to pig slop. Very interesting.

Tax Free

I have two statements to sum up the day:

Kemah Boardwalk good.

Baybrook Mall bad!!

I am exhausted and heading to bed. Catch you later.

Congrats!

Congratulations to my friend and fellow blogger Jana who had a precious baby girl Tuesday night. Her name is Jenna Haley and I hear she is perfect. I can't wait to see her with my own eyes! Please pray blessing and good health for the new family of four.

OK, so I have had one person get the question right (they called me). If you know the answer, write it under the comment section.

I haven't posted many pics lately so that is my focus today. Hope you enjoy them.