So, yeah, this is totally happening...

..and it couldn't happen to a nicer individual...

And this shoot was held on campus yesterday. Our students were able to watch and cheer their hero on from Fountain Mall.

We could not be more proud - Sic 'em, RG3!!!

Lazy Weekend

My plans for last weekend were pretty low key but everything pretty much got wiped off the 'to do' list when my girl sent me a text on Friday afternoon indicating she had fallen on the (very steep) stairs at school and twisted her ankle. Badly.

So badly that she asked Tonto to pick her up from the bus stop and, upon seeing the ankle in question, he let me know "she did it pretty good" and "won't be able to tell if it's broken until the swelling went down." Given all that we've been through with her and broken bones of various kinds, it sort of made my heart stop.

And it didn't help when I got home, saw for myself that it was incredibly (that seems to be an understatement) swollen and she could, in fact, barely walk on it. Cue the rest, ice, compression and elevation and add in a bit o' Aleve (all of which Tonto had already done when I got home) and give it 18 hours...and it was much better when she woke up Saturday morning.

But not so good that we ended up doing much of anything. I ran to sign her up for volleyball and to the grocery store while she remained on strict bed rest. Tonto was out of B6 and didn't want to wake me up so this is what I found in the bathroom...clever...and I totally got the point so it was also effective :-)

After picking up Subway for lunch, I ran by the new 7-Eleven and picked up a couple of these...

...because my girl had never heard of a Slurpee. Clearly my parenting was lacking in the beverage area. But that's been remedied and she was a fan, friends. Big. Fan.

Someone else was also a fan of us being home and piled up in the bed :-)

After cleaning the house a bit, it was time for Tonto to come home from work. We had homemade Texas Taters and they were delightful. Then Tay and I tried out the "Microwave Brownie in a Coffee Mug" recipe...it was tasty but more cake-like than brownie.

Sunday morning I woke up with a really sore throat and an inability to talk. Yes, many were happy about that development. I, for one, was not. After some time, Mucinex and a steam treatment recommended by Tonto, I was almost good as new. Still some lingering allergy ickiness today but, overall, I'm much better. No doubt thanks to my girl serving me hot tea yesterday in one of the cute mugs she gave us for Valentine's Day...

And that pretty much catches you up with our weekend of excitement. Oh - I almost forgot - the girl got bored on Saturday afternoon and asked me to "figure out how to French braid" so we Googled it and she loves it. Has been wearing a braid since and it looks fantastic!

We're headed to Senior Night for the Baylor men's basketball team tonight. She woke up this morning and immediately gave me a list of players she must have her picture taken with before leaving the Ferrell Center. Wish us luck!

Random Thoughts

To be quite honest, I've been in a bit of a fog this week. Between popping various allergy pills, praying for no interaction between said medications and being really busy at work, I'm just kind of drifting. In fact, I sort of feel like Rambo did when his dad went back to work after surgery....

The girl and I did attend middle school orientation last night. Now I attended a mini-orientation in the fall and probably could have skipped this one but I was afraid some pertinent information would be shared and my child would be the only one who didn't know. Then I would spend an unspecified amount of time feeling guilty and like I had let her down with poor parenting skills.

Well, none of that happened. I pretty much heard all the same things (with a few additions) again. And not even a quarter of the parents of incoming seventh graders were there so maybe I can be put into the overachiever category? :-)

There was one interesting piece of information, though. Turns out that each grade is assigned a principal and that administrator moves up to 8th grade with them for consistency. So does the counselor. I absolutely love this and they also all talked about communication. I'm praying they truly do believe in it because I can assure you no one at her current school does. 

But I digress...

Anyway, the principal my girl will have for the next two years was a very good friend of Tonto's in high school. While Dave and I thought this was great news, Taylor really didn't feel the same. I cannot imagine why... :-)

Tonto immediately piped up that he couldn't wait to get reacquainted and trade cell phone numbers so they could reach each other easily. We'll see how that goes...

All in all, I think we're all looking forward to another chapter beginning. The past two years haven't been the best (school-wise anyway) and there are so many opportunities in middle school that I'm relatively certain we'll become taxi drivers. But I'm totally ok with that job.

I'll leave you with a sweet pic from Valentine's Day when Rambo took Tay to tumbling.

Happy weekend, y'all!

Romanticizing the Past

Sometimes random thoughts begin to swirl in my head that seem to come out of nowhere and they make absolutely no sense (sometimes for weeks) before I realize it was all part of His purpose. Since I've had one of these experiences come full circle this week and there's not a whole lot of other excitement going on (knock on wood) at the moment, I thought it might help me to process it "on paper."

Most people aren't aware of this but when we moved back to the Waco area in 2007 it was a bit of a rush decision. Don't get me wrong - it was exactly the right decision for our family and, after some initial ups and downs in our first months here, has been one of the best things to ever happen for our family.

That being said, we ended up renting a home (that is amazing and we seriously have the best landlord ever) that we have enjoyed immensely. When Taylor was finishing up fourth grade, we began to look at options to buy or even rent another home (not being responsible for big ticket items certainly has its benefits) but that plan was quickly thwarted by our school district. 

This was the point that they opened a new intermediate school and the girl really didn't want to be split from her friends. The "old" school was the one she would have gone to in the area(s) we had been looking to move and our current home was zoned for the "new" school.

We made plans to revisit the whole idea of moving when the girl finished intermediate school. Well, that time is quickly approaching as we're almost to Spring Break of her sixth grade year. As Tonto and I have had discussions about homes (wants, needs, pie in the sky dreams, etc.) I've found myself thinking about the first home we bought in Morgan's Point more than I have in years.

It was a nice home but certainly wasn't a palace. It had a great yard that had tons of trees and shade. We put in a water feature and landscaped to the best of our ability (did I mention there were deer everywhere?), painted and redecorated every room and I especially loved our dark red den. It was in a somewhat remote location on a cul-de-sac. And we had amazing neighbors with whom we became fast friends.

I had begun to think we'll never find anything that was as perfect as that home...

And then I got to a point in the Bible study I'm doing right now that talked about romanticizing the past. My stomach immediately dropped and it hit me like a ton of bricks. That's absolutely what I've been doing. 

And, might I add, without good reason.

The truth of the matter is that there were so many things about that house I absolutely hated. I would probably never buy it again (though we did get a good deal on it). It irritated the fire out of me there was so much shade we couldn't even grow grass. That water feature was a big pain in the rear end. And it took forever to get anywhere because we did live rather far away from the grocery store, a nice restaurant, etc.

And don't get me started on the number of really horrid fights Tonto and I had in and around that home.

Now don't get me wrong - we had a lot of wonderful times there and met amazing people with whom we're still in contact today. But none of us still live on that cul-de-sac. We've all moved on. And all in different ways.

And you also shouldn't get me started on how those beautiful deer became the bane of my existence after a couple of years, friends. Because they totally did...

All of this sent me straight back to my Bible study book where I found this quote: "How often do we stomp our feet at God after He has delivered us from the things of this world and say, 'I want some of it back'?"

Let me be frank without sharing too many details, friends: the Lord has delivered my entire family from some "things of the world" that you could not pay me enough to willingly return to. It was bad. It was worse than bad, y'all.

And I wholeheartedly believe that, had we not moved, our marriage would not have lasted. No question. For many reasons. 

So, yes, romanticizing the past is easy to do but can be dangerous unless we allow it to remind us from what we've been delivered. And by whom. Quite frankly, it doesn't matter where we live now. Or ever. 

What I'm grateful for is that we're together.

Yes, I realize many have pasts that are amazing and provide nothing but happy memories. And I have many seasons like that in my life. Our time in that first home, though, was not one of them. I'm grateful for it - yes - because we wouldn't be where we are today without it.

But, I can assure you one thing, I won't continue to romanticize it as we begin (possibly) another chapter (still don't have any idea what that will look like). Instead I will stop and thank Him for rescuing me from it. 

Because He is the only One who was capable to do so...

Getting More Consistent Weekly Top 10

Slowly but surely getting more consistent with this random post. And it wasn't even a New Year's resolution! :-)

1. As you may know, today is Fat Tuesday. As you may also know, I grew up in Louisiana. Therefore, I was up before dawn boiling a chicken so it could cool today before becoming part of my Paw Paw's famous (in our parts) jambalaya for dinner. YUM!

2. Rambo got into the mood early this morning. We shall not speak of what he did to earn his beads. What happens during Mardi Gras is not discoverable by law. It may or may not have entailed early morning snuggling.

3. On a related note, if you ever want to stop Rambo dead in his tracks, put some beads on him. He stood up after this pic and was absolutely frozen until I took them off. Had no idea what to do with himself.

4. We had dinner at Red Lobster on Friday evening while the girl attended a talent show at school. They now have a four course meal for $15 that actually includes all healthy choices (sans the dessert, obviously) and it was delightful. Soup, salad and grilled shrimp. Yes, I had dessert. Don't judge :-)

5. We learned about 12 hours later that Rambo is allergic to shellfish. Good times...

6. As I'm sure you realized by yesterday's post, we attended the Lady Bears v. Lady Raiders game on Saturday evening. I give Tech basketball tickets to my dad for his birthday every year and this year he wanted to see the women instead of the men...wonder why? Anyway, we had a fabulous time and it was awesome to be on the floor as the confetti fell, the nets were cut down and just to celebrate with the coaches and players who sacrifice so much to perform at an elite level.

7. While we were standing on said floor, I excitedly asked my girl who she would like her picture taken with...Brittney, Odyssey, Destiny, Brooklyn, Mackenzie, etc. She looked at me right in the eyes and said "Kramer." That would be Kim Mulkey's son who is a junior at Tay's school, is the QB for our football team and just committed to play baseball at LSU. After my jaw dropped, we found him and this is now her most prized possession...

8. She may or may not have forced me to have that photo printed (in triplicate) so she could have it in her room, have one for her locker and one for her binder. Apparently several of her girlfriends didn't believe her so she just whipped her binder copy out... Love. Her.

9. Contrary to what it may seem, she has no interest in boys. Not much anyway. She doesn't want anything to do with a boy shorter than she is so that limits the options severely and leaves her only with choices that are much too old. So, basically, score for me and Tonto! At least for now...

10. RG3 received the Davey O'Brien Award last night and they had a Baylor themed dessert. How amazing is that? And he also signed with Adidas today (or at least announced it)...guess we can always say "we knew him when..."

We are the Champions...of the Big 12!

Sometimes...

...all you can do at the end of a long and crazy week is succumb to exhaustion...

...and hope someone doesn't take your picture while your tongue is hanging out...

Happy weekend, friends!

Not at All Weekly Top 10

We all know by now that this is not a weekly top 10 list but, you know, I'm out of ways to call that spade so we'll just pretend....

1. Last night the GA's hosted a tea for the women of our church. The food was delicious, the entertainment (Tebowing during the prayer) was delightful and watching my daughter clean dishes was marvelous. As was the soapy beard she donned before all was said and done.

2. Out of the four of us who participated in Valentine's Day activities, Tonto made out the best. He had an awesome bag made for him and it was filled to the brim with candy, pens and even a keychain. He works with some amazing nurses!

3. Rambo is back at Dogtopia today. It's the big Boxer Meetup and he couldn't miss it. Going two times in one week never happens so I told him this morning he was having "unprecedented fun."

4. He also woke up with a bad case of bed head. Boxer style.

5. I got my new order of Scentsy fragrances last night. For some reason this always cheers me up a great deal.

6. Though the calendar says differently, I'm convinced there is current a full moon effect going on. This week has been crazy, y'all.

7. We can't wait to watch the Lady Bears play the Lady Raiders on Saturday!!!

8. The men's basketball team is baaaaaack, friends. They were on fire Monday evening and we enjoyed every minute of it.

9. I finally got a haircut and it's made life so much better. Funny how that happens...

10. Tomorrow morning I will officially finish P90X. Can't tell you how excited I am about that development. For real.

Have a happy Thursday!

Day o' Love

So yesterday was a big day for one member of our family. Little Mister wasn't able to attend the big Valentine's Day party at Dogtopia last year because of an allergy flare but he was more than up to participating this year, friends!

After the girl and I picked him up last night, she headed to tumbling and then we all had a yummy dinner (if I do say so myself) of meatloaf, homemade mashed potatoes and corn. I'm not really sure how it happened but meatloaf appears to be my specialty. Amusing because it's not something we ate growing up but my girl has loved it since she was a toddler so we adapted. ;-)

Once the dishes were mostly cleaned up and put away, the girl helped Rambo go through his party bag.

Love this sweet face!

Prissy even got in on the action for a bit before Mr. Crankypants snapped at her :-(

He read each card with care...

...and was very excited about the number of treats his friends shared.

Going in for a good sniff of the loot!

Romeo brought home some sweet treats for his sissies as well so they wouldn't be left out of the fun.

Here's Priss after devouring enjoying hers...

Here's a pic of the treats before they were chomped to tiny bits. Aren't they precious?

And, no, my sweet Valentine did not send flowers this year but these will last forever. I absolutely love them!

Hope your day was sugary and sweet, y'all. :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Valentine's Day

So today is the annual day o' love. We truly aren't huge participants in this holiday but don't totally ignore it either. I gave Tonto a cute card with the pics of the pups and the girl. He reciprocated with an amazing card this morning and left a card and chocolates for the girl.


Little tip: if you want to impress a woman, leave sweet Valentines for your kiddos. :-)

Sixth grade is apparently the year Valentine's Day parties cease in our school district and that makes me so sad, y'all. Luckily for me, Rambo is at school today and they're having a very special day of fun complete with exchanging Valentines, treats, sweet bandanas and bubbles!

Last year we just took cards but Rambo received lots of treats from his friends so we upped our game this year and included Milk Bones. The Puppy Posse may or may not have done some quality control testing of said bones. :-)

My decorations this year are pretty much the same last year with two exceptions: first, I finally unpacked the last box of goodies from my grandparents house and found this amazing red glassware. I felt like it definitely needed to join the festive party, for sure.

And my mom gave me this apothecary jar, which I think will be perfect for changing out seasonally. I picked up these styrofoam balls at Hobby Lobby for next to nothing. They have all kinds of colors and are a great option since the glass is very thin. Next up will be St. Patrick's Day and I'm not sure what I'll use then but I think Easter eggs will be cute as well. Yes, I decorate for every major and minor holiday. :-)

And, finally, the little heartbreaker himself in his new holiday themed neckwear! 

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

John 13:34-35 NIV

Giddyup Cowboy

Last Friday evening was the annual awards gala of the local Ad Club - otherwise known as the ADDY awards - so Tonto and I had a nice evening out. And even took a picture! 

Well, Taylor actually took the picture but I think it turned out well. The enthusiasm on Tonto's face is, honestly, almost overwhelming. :-)

It was held at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and has a Western theme. This meant Tonto got to wear boots and jeans and look at the exhibits so, basically, this was the best awards show ever for him. And John Wayne even made an appearance!

Before the presentation began we had a chance to view the exhibits, which was really nice. I hadn't been to this museum since I was in fifth grade so let's just say it had been a few years. My recollection was somewhat foggy though - ironically - I can remember exactly what I wore that day and that we had lunch on the banks of the river. Funny what the mind remembers years later!

Can I just tell you how awesome it was to learn you can actually have your name put on your boots? Who knew?

And I'm not big on guns but these were awful puuurty :-)

We eventually made our way back into Knox Hall and enjoyed a delicious BBQ dinner. And then the main event began...and my camera died. Oops!

I've gushed about the amazing group of folks I get to work with every day and, though I know awards can be subjective at times, it was nice to see our hard work recognized. Totally blessed to work with this group - thank you, Jesus!