Platform 9 3/4

When the Universe Doesn't Get the Memo

2010-04-23T22:55:00.001-05:00

Today is my birthday. Today I am 41 years old. Today I feel 141 years old. All in all, not a great day. Certainly could have been worse but definitely could have been better. It was a busy mommy day. Sadie and I had Bible study early this morning then we came home and baked cookie for the dessert bar for Zoë's Spring Fling dance at school. While I had the oven going I made my own birthday cake. I guess the downside of being the "go to" person for all family celebrations is that there is nobody left to "go to" when it is your special day. After baking and cleaning up, it was time to deliver the cookies, pick up Zoë from school and race across town to get her to her hair appointment. The car rider duty teacher had a minor nervous breakdown and wouldn't let Zoë get in the van. I was very close to adding physical pain to her nervous breakdown. Then we hit every red light in Montgomery County between point a and b and we got behind what must have been minions of my arch nemesis (I honestly didn't know I had one but clearly I do). When people weren't driving slower than they had to they were hurling their vehicles directly at me causing my to swerve the van and completely undo any spiritual healing that may have occurred earlier today at Bible study. We make it to the salon only to find that our stylist had forgotten us. She was called and eventually showed up but at that point we were 45 minutes behind schedule. We rushed through the appointment and sped home where I instructed the spring flinger to shove food of nutritive value in her pie hole and meet me in the bathroom for final touches. We made it and I was able to take pictures and make up for lost time, only arriving 5 minutes late to the dance.

Back at home, I tried to find the birthday candles for my self made cake. I could only come up with two number 2 candles so for all intents and purposes, I am really just celebrating 22 years of my life which is probably about right once you disregard some of the less eventful or should be forgotten years I've lived. Zoë was changing clothes and not hurrying up, David was on the phone and the internet on a work call and Sadie was bouncing off of the walls watching the wax drip off the candles onto the cake. Sadie sang to me. I blew out the candles. Done.

There were several bright spots to my day. Sadie made me several gifts, my mom and my mil both called and sang to me and I got a plethora of facebook good wishes from friends near and far, old and new. I've got about another hour of this day left. I'll be ready to see tomorrow. There is hope in tomorrow and it won't matter if the universe didn't get the memo that today is my birthday and thus I should be treated as the pretty pretty princess that I am.

Here are some photos of my Spring Flinger. I love her. She is ethereal. She is my epitome of light and love and joy.

Sadie ponders when it will be her turn

Ponderings ...

2010-01-27T09:31:00.000-06:00

I've learned some things about myself these past few weeks. Mainly that I shouldn't make resolutions. I had good intentions of fully participating in my 365 self portrait project and did really well with it and then I got PMS and the hell that follows and discovered that I am either incapable of taking good pictures during that time of the month or am just especially unphotogenic during that time because I could NOT for the life of me take a good picture let alone one I deemed passable of myself. Anywho ... sort of took the wind right out of my sails.

On another note, every weekday I drive past my old elementary school at least 4 times a day and specifically I drive past the windows that look in on my 4th grade classrooms. In the nano seconds that it takes for me to drive past them I have such clear and vivid memories of 4th grade Sherry. I remember the sounds, the smells, the anxiety, the joy, and the wonderment of it all. I remember my teachers and their voices. I remember looking out the windows ALOT and getting in trouble for it. My hypothesis is that because these two classrooms had huge windows that looked out onto the world it allowed me to make a true and honest connection to the world and created a psychic gateway of sorts and probably something dealing with a time/space continuum - I don't know - but it is the strangest thing. When I first got out of college I was a substitute teacher in that same school and found these same two classrooms and even went inside them and didn't have near the connection that I have to them now from merely driving by them. I have a similar relationship to a particular spot on the playground where I can remember 1st grade Sherry raking together the pine needles with her hands to make an enormous birds nest for her and her friends to sit in. I feel fortunate to have these memories because they are markers of my own development and journey and grounding points in the universe for me but I wonder if kids today are given much of the same opportunity to connect with the world while at school. More and more older schools with beautiful architecture and big windows are torn down and replaced with carbon copy models of the same design. True, some rooms have windows but the tasks put before students today are not exactly complimentary to day dreaming out the window and recess (when it is still available) rarely even allows for such time to sit still and access those part of our brains that are stimulated by letting your mind drift away.

What's For Dinner Tonight?

2010-01-07T12:23:00.002-06:00

I have a strange and varied process when it comes to deciding what's for dinner. Sometimes it is based solely on what is available. Other days it is based on what I think the kids WANT to eat. Others, what I feel they NEED to eat. Still others, what I feel like cooking/eating/smelling/looking at/cleaning up after. Some days I take requests and some I make demands. Then there are those days that I just want something different. Such was today. HEB had pork chops on sale so into the cart they went and home they came. I was just going to pan fry them but then I remembered an unsuccessful pork chop brining attempt of mine and immediately knew I was going to try, try again. To the interwebz to find a brine that appealed to me. Low and behold: http://sweetnicks.com/weblog/2008/09/the-best-pork-chop-recipe-e-v-e-r/

Recipe courtesy of Cuisine at Home magazine, June 2002

Pork Chop Brine:
Dissolve in one gallon resealable freezer bag:
2 cups hot water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
Add:
6 cups ice water
Dissolve salt and sugar in hot water. It helps to set the bag inside a large bowl in case of spills or leaks. Add ice water to brine. This will cool the brine quickly. Add the pork and seal the bag and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Just before cooking, dry chops to remove excess brine.

I went through the pantry and wound up adding some crushed garlic cloves and some whole allspice berries and black peppercorns along with some crushed red pepper flakes and whole coriander seeds and some fennel seeds for good luck. My intent was to get some deep and good flavors into the other white meat and I've decided that food knows when you are afraid of preparing it so I've vowed to approach cooking with a devil may care attitude. Eh, you win some and you lose some but in the middle are those days that you feel like a total rock star in the kitchen.

Brine achieved and on hold for timing purposes (this brine only needs 2 hours and my chops are fairly thin). Now onto the rest of the meal. Sure, I could still just cook the chops simply but I was in the mood for something more and while blog trolling for brine recipes, I came across this recipe:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Stuffed-Pork-Chops-46695

Ingredients

4 pork chops (1 in. thick)
1 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil
3 cups stale bread, cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup or condensed cream of celery soup
1/3 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
Heat the oil in a large skillet and brown the pork chops.
Toss the bread cubes, onions, celery and seasoning together and drizzle the butter and broth over all, toss again to distribute evenly.
Mound the stuffing over the pork chops.
(you could also cut a slit in the side of each chop and stuff them, piling any extra stuffing on top of them) Whisk the soup and water together until smooth and pour it over the chops.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Uncover pan and bake 10-15 minutes more or until the juices run clear and meat thermometer reads 160-170 F.

*insert drool here* Stuffed Pork Chops. And it looks easy. Yeah! Only problem is I'm adverse to white bread stuffing. So I made some cornbread and while I was making the cornbread I roasted some garlic up to add to some mashed potatoes (because clearly the one starch of the stuffing wasn't going to do the job.) And then while the oven was still warm I baked off the remains of a log of peanut butter cookies that was rolling around in the fridge. And even though the oven has been turned off for a few hours it is still nice and warm and I have diced up my cornbread into cubes and have them drying out in said oven so as not to have mushy stuffing. And I think we shall invite Mr. Steamed and Buttered Broccoli to the dinner party.

I'll let you know how it turns out but honestly, I don't care. My weird process always makes me happy in the end when all the pieces fall in place. If it is extra yummy - that's just icing on the cake. Oooh. Cake. Pardon me.

The World's Best Blueberry Muffins

2010-01-02T12:48:00.002-06:00

Unlike most muffins that are best enjoyed while still warm from the oven, these are at their best the next day or later. Great for the freezer as well.

3/4 cup melted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (no need to thaw the frozen ones)
1/2 cup blueberry pie filling
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon flour (no sifting)
1/2 cup milk
CRUMB TOPPING
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup softened butter

Spray 12 cup muffin pan with baking spray (Baker's Secret or Pam for baking or use paper muffin liners). Melt the butter. Mix in sugar. Add in beaten eggs, baking powder, and salt, mixing thoroughly. Put one tablespoon of flour in a ziploc bag with the blueberries and shake, coating each berry with the flour (will help suspend berries throughout the muffin). Alternately add in the remaining flour and milk into the sugar mixture. Add in the 1/2 cup of pie filling. Your batter will turn purple but the muffins will be normal color after baking. When all the ingredients are thoroughly combined, fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Set aside and make up the crumb coating. Sprinkle the topping over the muffins and bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Let cool for at least 30 minutes for easy removal. Store overnight in a covered container for optimum eating enjoyment.

New Year, New Decade, New Habits

2010-01-01T16:28:00.002-06:00

Here we go, friends. Hold on to your hats. I've decided this year to actually make AND keep New Year's resolutions. I figure if I list them here those close to me will shame me into keeping them.

participate in a 365 project on flikr wherein I take and post a self portrait everyday for one year. I'm typically the photographer and avoid being on the other end of a camera like a participant in the witness relocation program. This will be hard for me - not the taking of the picture but with posting it and coming to terms w/ the results.
blog regularly. I admit to being a frustrated writer. I don't know if I have a novel inside of me but those around me tell me enough that I should write a book so this seems like a logical first step. Our family blog will morph into more of a daily chronicle of our lives along with pictures, recipes, and projects that we are working on as well as my observations of all of these things. It's not so much that I feel like I need to be heard but I need an outlet and with a blog folks can choose whether or not to read it.
COMPLETE PROJECTS! I am the world's worst at getting an idea for a project and sometimes even procuring the necessary supplies and then never finishing it. Not this year! I've started a notebook where I print out projects I find on the web or cut out pages from magazines and file them along w/ supply lists. After 1 month I will revisit and see if the "fire" is still there or if it can just remain in my mind as a cute idea I saw once.
open an etsy shop with Zoë. I am a crafty girl and have raised a crafty tween. I don't think we will become millionaires but at least we will have the experience and we can do it together.
start walking daily. I have kids. I have dogs. I have a distinct need to get moving and get some exercise. I don't think I'll ever become one of those backwards lunge walkers that I ~~mock~~ see on the trails but I can certainly start moving my fluff around.
start doing something once a week just for me - not for the kids, not for my family, not for David - wholly and selfishly for Sherry.

There you have it. Check in if you care to. Much love from our house to yours and best wishes for a prosperous 2010.

Halloween

2009-11-01T10:09:00.001-06:00

Zoë per her usual waited until the last minute to decide what to be and seemed more than a little shocked that I didn't jump through hoops to help her out. Thus, she went as as zombie this year and did the whole thing herself (I think just to show me it TOTALLY wasn't THAT big of a deal, MOTHER). Yeah. Sadie persuaded me to buy her a Tinkerbell costume as soon as costumes hit the floor at Target (so you know ... back in July) and swore to me on her lil' 3 year old heart that she wasn't going to change her mind. Well ... she did change her mind but only to recycle an old costume from year before last. No skin off my nose. David took the girls trick or treating and I stayed behind on the off chance that we had any candy seekers at our house.

J-U-M-P

2009-11-01T10:02:00.001-06:00

Sadie loves to jump on the trampoline. I love to take pictures of her jumping on the trampoline. It is one of the reasons our relationship works out as well as it does. There is just something about the movement and motion to it all. I love the way her hair bounces and gets static-y from the trampoline but most of all I love to hear her squeals of joy as she defies gravity.

Randomness

2009-11-01T09:56:00.001-06:00

My mother passed down the decree that her granddaughters shall get dressed up in finery and come to her house for a photo shoot so she could try out her new camera. Being the sucker that I am for a parental mandate, I obliged the old girl and brought along my camera because it felt like it was the right thing to do. Here are a few from that session.

A Sample of Zoë's writing from 5th grade

2009-09-16T11:47:00.002-05:00

Ran across this and wanted to save it for posterity's sake. She cracks me up. Transcribed as it was written by Zoë, Friday, 3 April 2009 10:26 AM (this was a free writing activity in class so it wasn't edited as is evident by the copious occurrence of commas)

My life, my dear sweet life, was gone, flushed down into the giant toilet of humanity. I think this is how it is for puppies on a ranch, being bought by good people, people the puppy knows will take good care of it, but the puppy is still sad to leave the place it grew up in. This place may as well have been New York, and I still wouldn't care. I just wanted to be at my old house, that's all I wanted.

The only reason I moved was because my mom promised she would home school me. My other option was to live with my Grandma, and with the way I've been talking, the reward for staying with her is pretty obvious. Cheryl and I (Sherry is my mom's real name. I just call her Cheryl to annoy her.) started to unpack.

"And since you were so good about moving, you get the waterbed room." Mom mentioned while unloading dishes.

Yes! It's also the room with the T.V. I thought for a second. "The home school offer is for reals, right?" I asked with suspicion.

"Yeah, yeah, it still is. I set up your tire swing in the front yard."

"No!" I said in a too-tired-to-scream tone. "The culdisac" did I mention we also live in a culdisac? Mom put up a pretty sweet offer - "kids will make fun of me for being new!" But I was walking out the door while I spoke.

Turns out the kids were O.K. Soon I was so well known I went to public school and got around even more. Actually, no, I didn't go to public school, but I had dreams about it. Life was good, and I was glad I moved.

Photos I thought were lost due to an unfortunate sd card formatting incident

2009-04-21T17:17:00.001-05:00

Zoë turns 11 and meets Meg Cabot

2009-04-12T20:52:00.001-05:00

Despite my begging her not to, Zoë turned the big 1-1. Party plans to come since her birthday was on TAKS testing day and the weekend after was Easter but we celebrated as a family. Happy Birthday, baby girl!

The Friday before her birthday I drove her into Houston to meet one of our favorite authors, Meg Cabot (Princess Diaries, Avalon High, and for adults the Queen of Babble series among others).

Bluebonnet Hell

2009-04-12T20:36:00.001-05:00

Every year as spring does its things our highways and roadways are dotted with beautiful bluebonnets and every year I coerce my children to go stand in the prickly, buggy, bramble and smile pretty for the camera. Here is this years results. I LITERALLY took 207 frames and got only 4 or 5 that were usable.

Easter pics

2009-04-12T20:27:00.001-05:00

Despite a rainy start, our Easter turned out great. We all met up at my parents' house and had a huge feast and after the rains worked through, the sun came out and we were even able to have a little egg hunt.

Here Comes the Sun

2009-02-04T13:02:00.001-06:00

After some really cold weather, we had an early warm up in time for Miss Sadie to head out to the backyard and partake in some trampoline jumping. She's so happy in these photos and I love love love them.

Soaking in the warmth and just so happy to be outside.

I taught her the belly flop. She looks sort of like she's flying here.

Hair courtesy of gravity and static electricity. Love her eyes here. Zoë's eyes had turned green by this age so maybe Sadie will keep her baby blues.

She's growing up so fast :-( It honestly seems like last week when Zoë was this age and now she is in 5th grade and trying to survive the horror of THE FIFTH GRADE "TALK". Girls had it yesterday and the boys have it today. She was wholly mortified but happy to hear that I hadn't lied to her in my explanation of the facts. She was quick to tell me that it was strictly about periods and junk and nothing about the sex stuff.

The Weekend

2009-01-18T15:44:00.001-06:00

There's nothing quite like a weekend free from expectation and/or duty - okay ... well relatively free from expectation and/or duty. For some reason the humans in this household insist upon eating on a regular basis and that job falls upon me. But other than cooking and the requisite clean up afterwards, I have been rewarded with a blissfully slothful weekend. I didn't have to drive car pool on Friday since it was a school holiday nor do I have to drive it tomorrow for the same reason. My super cool new laptop arrived at the end of last week and I've been able to tweak it to my specifications without thought or worry to childhood accessibility issues. Yeah me. I have been able to check my e-mail and surf the net from the comfort of the living room couch and not have one person ask me if I was done yet. I also have some new photo editing software and I have been able to play around with it. Example A:

me likey! I have visions of lovely denim in the bluebonnet photos this year if the children cooperate. If not, I'll be shopping around for either more cooperative children or convincing mannequins. Aside from my mommy guilt over having such a cool tool only for my use, I'm blissfully happy.

Ah well ... back to the slothdom.

Merry Christmas from the Morgans

2008-12-16T15:00:00.001-06:00

May peace be in your hearts and in your homes this holiday season.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-05T10:25:00.001-06:00

It was a typical Morgan family Halloween. Zoë changed costume ideas at least 5 times before deciding upon Bella Swan, one of the main characters in the Twilight series of books. Sadie has had her costume for months now but tried to do a Zoë-inspired switcheroo and go as Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba. Because apparently I can pull random costumes out of my butt. Needless to say, she had to get over herself and go as Super Why as planned. Zoë received a last minute invitation to go trick or treating and partying with her BFF Savanna and they had a blast. I have photos of the two of them together at Halloween every year since kindergarten. Such sweet friends. David was still in Plano working, so Sadie and I took to the streets and hit a few houses of friends and family before stopping at Sonic for slushes and heading home. All in all, uneventful but fun nonetheless.

Two minutes and fifteen seconds

2008-09-24T15:30:00.001-05:00

That was how much time was left on my audiobook playback on my Ipod yesterday. During the storm I made use of my time by listening to Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture. I knew going into it I could only do it incrementally and I was okay with that. It was pretty emotional stuff so I welcomed the breaks (for those that don't know, Pausch was a college professor who had married and had children later in life and was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. The book details his preparation and thought process behind his last lecture that he did). Typically I like things all at once. I forget details, I lose imagery, etc. I had weeded through the 4 hour and change reading and was down to the last 2 mins and 15 secs. Yesterday afternoon I loaded Sadie up into the van to go pick up Zoë and her friend from school. I started a movie for Sadie and went on my way, thinking that I would use the time I was actually in the car rider line to listen since I usually use that time to cuss out people that are doing it wrong. Long story short, due to sibling arguments, ridiculous questions and requests, and one particularly vocal time out, I was finally able to finish 2 hours later. Yeah ... being a stay at home mom is a total cinch. I have loads of time to myself and to pursue my own interests.

Hurricane Recovery Kid Style

2008-09-22T15:03:00.001-05:00

Lack of electricity tends to flush people out from behind their doors. We played outside in our front yard a lot! Out of everything that happened, maybe one of the best things is that Zoë finally learned how to ride her bike that Santa brought to her 2 years ago. Ahem. We have tried and tried to teach her but she gets so tense and worried and scared and all of that is really counterproductive to the process. I was wheeling out Sadie's trike and thought to myself, "Self, go get Zoë's bike out and see what happens." She looked at me as if I had horns. I carefully aired up the tires and set it straight and said, "Zoë, you're old enough and smart enough to figure this out. I'm here for you if you have any questions and I'll help to keep you safe. The only way I would be disappointed is if you flat out give up." And with that, off she went.

(ominously tinted photograph to represent the fear and angst associated with the long forgotten Huffy)

Here she is just trying to balance while rolling down the incline of our driveway.

Oh, at the bruises the child incurred. The backs of her legs are black and blue from being hit by the pedals. David was horrified but guess what. She survived and is quite proud of her "war wounds".

A few days later, able to pedal up that incline and stay upright. Yeah, Zoë!

"I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike"

Sadie trying to figure out how to catch a lift.

And now for the video:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And some general Sadie cuteness. Trike and car and sidewalk chalk and Fun Dip. Mmmmmmmm.

She fell in love with the Nintendo DS during the power outage. She and Zoë would "picto-chat" between the two. Here she saw where I had the camera out and begged me to take her picture. I love her expression. This is one of those photos that totally captures her.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-22T14:45:00.001-05:00

Well ... here we are just over a week from the devastation Ike handed down to the Texas gulf coast and we are okay. Sure, our yard has looked better and I much preferred our neighbor's tree in her yard instead of on my fence, on my roof, and in my yard but we are okay. David has worked like a lumberjack on speed clearing away trees so that our power lines could be re-attached and yesterday that finally happened. We can now pee in a well lit bathroom. Of all things, that is what bothered me the most - using the bathroom by candlelight. Weird, huh? I mean, I use the bathroom in the dark all the time at night and that has no effect on me whatsoever but maybe it was just knowing that the choice was not mine. I'm funny like that. Anywho ... here are some photos of the wreckage and of my hero, David, saving the day.

This is the view from our roof looking into our back yard. The red shed is the edge of our neighbor's yard. Our fence is toast and the edge of our shop/carport-thingy is crushed.

David being a goof on the roof. I like this photo because it shows you how tall the trees are in our 'hood and how lucky we actually were.

After day two of clean up - absolutely sopping with sweat and yet still able to smile. What a guy.

Super Why the Sadie

2008-09-22T14:35:00.001-05:00

Sadie is in love with the PBS show, Super Why. As I was meandering the Internet, I came across the Whyatt (main character) Halloween costume. Bear in mind this was in August. I snatched it up and, being me, couldn't keep it a secret from her until Halloween so we pulled it out and have been having fun with it since then. Unfortunately, it isn't very well made so I have had to regulate its wear because for a few days she had to don her costume just to watch the show. Anyway - here she is in her costume. Ask her who she is and she replies, "I Super Why the Sadie! But I don't have any rocket shoes. Mommy has to get them for me at WalMart." Any clue what aisle rocket shoes are on?

Me and my siblings

2008-09-09T10:05:00.001-05:00

My mother has certain demands that must be met in order to assure us all of a peaceful coexistence with her. One of those demands is a formal picture of her children every decade or so. None of us ever want to do this but we do it begrudgingly lest we have to listen to the stories of our long and painful labors and deliveries and, in my case, an emergency c-section with requisite scar. We just are all very busy with very different schedules and my brother lives in Dallas which might as well be the other side of the world considering the frequency with which he visits. Here are the results:

This is how our mother envisions us ... well mannered and serious and deeply in love with one another.

Here is how we really feel:

Back to School - Ugh

2008-08-18T18:43:00.001-05:00

Well ... its that time of year again. Seriously - it just sort of totally snuck up on us. Last we knew it was the middle of July and we had a full month to contemplate manilla paper and crayola count. Here we are less than a week away. Ours was filled with more angst than usual. Zoë has been going to school out of our home district for ... well - forever. The drive was arduous but, up until the last year, not quite so financially detrimental. We made a decision that we were either going to move her back to her home district or home school. Our house is zoned for a less than desirable school and I really did struggle with whether or not to send her there as a way of "school of life" kinda stuff. I wimped out. Couldn't do it. So ... through some called in favors and totally legal ways and means, we have managed to successfully get her enrolled in the "good" school which is 5 miles away as opposed to 30 miles away AND to get her gifted and talented label to carry over without additional testing. Hooray! Seriously - it was such a load off my mind when the counselor called me this evening to let me know the district's decision to place her in the GT program. I understand each district has their rules and whatnot, but the kid scored perfectly on the math TAKS and in the 95th percentile in the reading. Anyway ... what I DIDN'T want to happen was for her to have to be placed in one class only to be moved later and now that won't happen. Yeah us.

School supplies - oh sweet Lord. I nearly had a nervous breakdown in the middle of Target. The list was sooooo specific. "Pre-sharpened, 7", colored pencils, 12 count" etc ... and they were out of manilla paper AND pink beveled erasers. It really could not have been this hard when my mom was parenting because I'm pretty sure she would have homeschooled us all. I managed to find all of what we needed after a subsequent Walmart trip. I've also somehow wound up with 3 Halloween costumes for Sadie. And Sadie hates Halloween. And dress up. I sense e-bay in my future. Either that or a therapist.

Summer Vacation - Okie-style

2008-07-25T18:51:00.001-05:00

We just got back from a week long sojourn to our neighbors to the north. My parents went up for a few months to their Oklahoma land and we stayed on the property in my grandfather's house. It was my first time to be back in that house since he died a few months back. Weird but nice in a connecting to my roots kinda way. I allowed Zoë to invite a friend along which is pretty dicey considering I'm not sure I would let my kid go off with another family out of state for a week. Our first choice graciously declined due to some foreseen homesickness issues and we went with our second choice. We've known Savanna since kindergarten and we love her. She is a head case though. We left last Thursday and came back yesterday. I learned alot this trip. One was that my tolerance for 24 hour care of 2 ten year old girls is 6.5 days. If you are paying attention, you'll remember reading our trip was 7 days. Fill in the blanks. David was supposed to join us over the weekend but was delayed due to work so I had to kick it up a notch. We planned an 85th birthday party for the neighbor across the street who had never had a birthday party in her life ( or at least that was her story ) and then after that, we were lake bums. Every morning we would load up and go to the lake and swim and float and eat snow cones until the rest of the world rolled out of bed and harshed our mellow. Then we would roll on back to the house for Sadie nap time and craft time with the big girls. Sadie had a hard time sharing her sister, mainly because in her mind SHE is a ten year old and an able bodied companion for the two legitimate tweeners. Tears were shed. In reviewing the pics, there aren't alot of Zoë because I just didn't see her that much I guess. I convinced Sadie that I needed her to be my special friend and we pretty much did everything together.

Isn't he the ugliest thing in the world? This is my dad's dog, Mr. Bitsy. He spent our week there sneaking into my van and trying to hump my dog's rib cage. Ugly and dumb. Bless his heart.

This is our other puppy. Okay ... its Sadie. But she's convinced she is a puppy at times. I had to feed her lunch one day by offering her food under the pretense of doggy treats for tricks. My mother was horrified but the child was nourished.

Sisters. I love pics like this.

Savanna brought these really cool sump guns. The tube stays in the water so you have a constant source of water to squirt out. They were a hit even with the toddler set.

I told you, she's a head case.

But we love her like one of our own.

Sadie was wearing a bright yellow Gymboree outfit and wanting to eat some particularly stain inducing chocolate cake alone. After fight with her for the fork, we reached the compromise of stripping her down and letting her have the cake. Once she felt the breeze on her skin, no way the clothes were going back on. Well .... at least she has shoes and socks on. She stayed so dirty this whole trip. She got a minimum of 2 baths/showers a day. She was a veritable dirt magnet but she loved it.

Sadie in her Broken Bow Savage pride shirt. My dad played football there in high school and loves to see her dressed in the school colors.

Make New Friends But Keep the Old

2008-07-25T18:33:00.001-05:00

I recently checked my e-mail only to discover a cryptic message from an alumni site I had registered with last year for my 20 year high school reunion. Kimberly Mott was looking for me. Kimberly came into my life in 5th grade ... the exact same age as Zoë is now. We exchanged e-mails and phone numbers and immediately chatted on the phone and filled one another in on the past 17 years. We made a play date to meet up at the Houston Zoo with our kids and had a great morning. In my adult life, I seem to surround myself with late sleepers while me and my early bird children twiddle our thumbs waiting for our friends to wake up. Kimberly and her lot are early risers like us. Yeah for the early birds. Foolish thing came to the zoo with no camera so I took advantage of having mine and snapped an unsuspecting photo of her. Her little girl was much smarter and treated me like so much paparazzi scum and refused my attempts to take her picture. She's cute as a bug though. She has a very handsome son to boot. It's weird to see her all grown up. Even though I saw her regularly well into our college days, in my mind's eye she is always 5th grade Kim Mott with the frosted rainbow eyeshadow and the massive crush on Grant Larson. Here are some shots from that day.

Kimberly (who is dragging me into the MySpace thing kicking and screaming)

Poor stressed Sadie ... some birds were flying away and she thought they were running away. I think it is cruel of the free birds to come into the zoo to mock the zoo inhabitants, personally.

My girls ... 5th grade Sherry Chaney never imagined she would wind up to be so thoroughly blessed with kids like these.

We eat with our eyes first

2008-06-30T17:34:00.002-05:00

That's why I've invested in opaque glasses

My kid's don't like vegetables. Again ... I'm not lame enough to believe I'm the only parent with this problem but I have had a glorious weekend with no food struggles and both sides have come out a winner. Yes, I've invested in the Sneaky Chef and Mrs. Seinfeld's book and have taken away a few hints here and there but on my routine blog reading I ran across the wonder that is the green smoothie. Trust me folks, this is one good smoothie and it is good for you. There are several different varieties out there but here is my recipe that works in my okay but not great blender and with stuff I generally have on hand:

1 apple cored and quartered

1 banana

1 3/4 cups pure pressed apple juice (I use Simply Apple)

2-3 cups baby spinach

1-2 cups frozen fruit (I use strawberries and mangoes)

I blend the first 3 ingredients and then add in the spinach until it is liquefied and then add in the frozen fruit. Even though this has no yogurt in it, it tastes like it does. I have kale in the fridge waiting to be incorporated but the baby spinach has such a mild taste to it that it is easily masked. Now, I did have to invest in some dark, opaque glasses because while this tastes really good, it looks like ... well - not very appetizing. Zoë now knows what she is drinking but I waited until she downed her first one before I told her. I'm not sure I'll ever tell Sadie. Heck, I just had one for my dinner. Figure we all need a way to get in more veggies and if you don't, I regret to inform you that you are no longer my friend.

Beaten by a 10 Year Old

2008-06-25T19:38:00.001-05:00

I'm not foolish enough to think that my 10 year old has the messiest room in the world. I'm sure there are worse. For the past year I have taken the "close the door and don't think about it" approach figuring that she will tire of her squalor. Guess what? Not so much. This morning I ate my Wheaties and put her in charge of the 2 year old in the living room and dove in. 2 bags of trash, 3 huge donation bags and 2 big boxes of stuff to hand down to lil' sister and I'm STILL not done. After 4 hours of work, I'm not done. I can clean my entire house in 2 hours. I have sorted though every piece of 4th grade detritus imaginable. I have tested markers and thrown out dried out ones, waded through piles of curly-qued pipe cleaners and origami whatevers, found a fortune in foreign coins (thanks, dear mother in law - just what we needed ... money we can't spend until we head to France). I should have done it while she was at camp ... I doubt my heart would have ached quite so much for her mere presence. I did try it for 15 minutes with her helping but let me tell ya ... I don't know what that was but it sho' wasn't help. The yelps of pain as I put an item in the donate bag or, God forbid, the trash. More than I can bear. What's left now I should be able to do at night while she is sleeping in my bed. This morning's work involved a lot of noise that would wake up my lil' princess and the pea, Sadie - such a light sleeper. I'm determined to get it done especially since I uber-nagged David to assemble the new bookshelf for her room declaring it the lynchpin of the entire clean up. Pretty sure the marriage would have been in question had the bookshelf remained in the hallway where he left it on Sunday. Oh well ... I would post pics but the shame spiral is pretty huge on this one. It really was a mess to inspire a Shel Silverstein poem.

Loser Parent Cyber Stalking Pays Off

2008-06-12T09:27:00.001-05:00

At last! An actual photo of Zoë from summer camp. I have obsessively poured over the photo and tried to glean as much information as possible from it. I'm not sure if any of what I came up with is actually true or not but I do know that she is being fed, isn't sunburned or dead, and isn't sitting in the corner rocking back in forth while in the fetal position.

Here's what I've learned from this whole experience. Zoë can never ever enlist in the armed forces (any branch). I just don't think they post photos for loser parents such as myself and I can't handle the one way communication (we can e-mail her and send her packages but she can only mail letters, no e-mail. By the time we got her letter from camp, we would be on our way home from picking her up).

And for anyone looking at her shirt, yes, its a happy bunny shirt which I typically find inappropriate for children (although I find them hilarious and if they came in my size, I'd wear one everyday) but this one just says "where's your off button?" on the back.

Can't wait to see her photos that she has taken and get her camp debriefing tomorrow. (Is it wrong for me to really want her to be BFFs with the cute blonde girl in the green shirt sitting next to her? She just looks like good people.)

Catching up

2008-06-11T11:22:00.001-05:00

Well ... we made it. School is out! Zoë is officially a 5th grader and is living it up at summer camp in the Hill Country. I dropped her off on Sunday and pick her up Friday.

Here she is in front of her bunk. Hers is the top one decked out in an egg crate, mattress cover, 400 thread count sheets, and her favorite Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends blanket and as many of her stuffed animals as she could squeeze into her already very full trunk. I'm pretty sure her counselor mocked the "high maintenance" bedding but I'm also pretty sure she was just jealous. I have no doubt Zoë had the best bed in all of camp. 2 seconds after I took this picture, I got THE LOOK. Ya know ... the look that says ba-bye ... get along ... scram. Ouch. I have yet to get that look. Anyway ... I hope she is having a great time. I really miss her and check the camp website maniacally for a chance glimpse of her in the candid camp pics they post for loser parents such as myself. So far I have seen her butt and left leg and her arms and water bottle. Leave it to my child to make sure she isn't REALLY in any of the pictures.

Here is Zoë in her "what do you mean today is 80's dress day at school? Would have been nice to know" outfit that I threw together 20 minutes before we had to leave. Friends ... this is what I looked like in the 80's. The mini skirt is hers, the shirt and socks are David's, the scarf/belt is mine and the mesh gloves and necklaces and bracelets are from the dress up box.

Sadie with her new favorite thing ... "wowwypops". She cons them from as many people as possible. Bank tellers are defenseless against her big blue eyes. She usually scores 4 or 5 per drive thru transaction.

The Necessities of Computing

2008-05-02T14:54:00.001-05:00

Well ... I was doing so well at keeping up with the blog but sadly I have become sidetracked. I've decided to cull through the cubic yards upon yards of ~~accumulated crap~~ priceless treasures and purge and then organize. My project for this week and next is to organize all things disc. We have stacks of burned CDs, photo CDs, back up CDs, installation software, games, music, and DVDs. Oy. Anywho ... today I sat down to process through the beauty that is my computer armoire. We decided long ago to have a "family" computer that is centrally located to avoid the pitfalls of any Zoë/chatroom/To Catch a Predator scenarios. David has a computer of his own since that is how he makes the big bucks to support this family and their many disc-related purchases. It makes sense. The family computer is located adjacent to the dining room and kitchen, accessible for recipe searching and monitoring of computer time etc .... Safe to say it is the hub of our day to day existence and apparently where all things come to die. Today, while sorting through the muck organizing the gagillion and one pieces of children's software, I gathered these crucial items to any technological endeavor.

Pardon the darkness of the image and allow me to jot down the items should you desire to acquire them for your own home computer:

Handy Dandy Notebook a la Steve (Joe is bad. We hate Joe)
Empty Snicker Fun Size Bar apparently ripped open with teeth (damned dogs and their snicker eating ... ahem)
Sponge clown nose (you know you have one - fess up. And if you don't have one already, you want one.)
Wooden rail car awaiting dispensation to one 2.5 year old should she ever decide that poop does in fact go in the potty
Jingle bell bracelet (one of a set given to young children by ~~evil~~ well-intentioned mother in law)
Hair accessories abjectly dismissed from toddler's head.

Oh well ... I have half of the armoire done but must take a mommy time out to retrieve Zoë from school and cook dinner.

For my Res Life friends

2008-04-15T11:30:00.001-05:00

Ran across a series of books that you HAVE to read. They are by Meg Cabot who wrote The Princess Diaries. Most of her work is for young adult readers but this is an adult series about a former teen pop star who winds up working as an assistant hall director at a college in New York. So far, I've only read the last book (although 2 new books have been optioned in this series to be released in 2009) but it was enough to have me order the first two. Hilarious. At one point she describes a team building activity during a staff meeting and I knew at that point the author had to have been one of us. Sure enough, I looked her up on Wikipedia and she did serve her time.

First book Size 12 Is Not Fat

Second book Size 14 Isn't Fat Either

Third book Big Boned

Anyway ... these are fast reads and funny as all get out which is odd since they have murder mystery written into the story. I highly recommend!

A Chocolate Intervention

2008-04-08T06:45:00.002-05:00

Zoë had a great birthday. Now to plan her sleepover party with her friends in a few weeks. Sadie had some birthday envy and tears were shed as Zoë opened all of her own presents (how dare she) but I figure that's a lesson Sadie has to learn. Doesn't make it any easier.

My dear friend, Melodie supplied the recipe for this year's birthday cake. Zoë had requested an icing-less cake and just a few days before, Melodie had been telling me about this wonderful cake she makes for her daughter who, like Zoë, is anti-frosting. Here's the recipe:

1 box Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix

1 small box chocolate pudding

1 12oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup water

1/4 cup oil

Mix it all together and pour in a prepared 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

It was divine but definitely one of those that you can only have a very small piece of. It was after my first forkful that I started to plan my chocolate intervention for Melodie. That was interrupted by Sadie who, upon finishing up her piece of cake, was demanding a second and who also woke up this morning with her first words being "more chocolate happy birthday cake please Mommy". Oh no. My monkey has a monkey on her back! Yikes.

Happy Birthday, Zoë!!!

2008-04-07T00:11:00.000-05:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In the words of Little Einstein's Quincy, "I cannot believe it!". Isn't it ~~sad~~ great how I can quote animated children's series? Anyway, the montage is but a sampling of the gagillion photos of Zoë throughout the years but they are among my favorites. It hardly seems fair that on her birthday each year, I get the best gift of all - another 365 days to watch her transform into this smart, sweet, funny, and caring soul. For the odd aggravation she might send my way, I can honestly say that she is one of my life's greatest and most treasured blessings and the more I get to know her, the deeper in love with her I fall. I know I speak for her dad and for Sadie when I say that we wish her the most phantasmagorical of birthdays. Muah!

The Morgans Find A New Pigeon Book

2008-04-06T12:11:00.001-05:00

(and its author)

Saturday, Zoë, Sadie, and I drove into Houston to this really great bookshop to see Mo Willems present his new book Pigeon Wants a Puppy. We half expected it to be a small crowd, not thinking that others enjoyed the Pigeon books as much as we (primarily Sadie) do. The line was out of the door! We were able to get our books and secure our line number for autographs before he started his reading at 11. My friend, Dawn, met up with us at the book shop and she enjoyed it as well. Sadie sort of freaked out because of the throng of people crammed in the bookstore so she played with Dawn outside while Zoë and I waited for Mo to sign our books. He was very nice. He first spoke to Zoë and said, "Hey, Zoë ... how are those umlauts working for ya? (the dots over her E)". Then she went on to tell him how she reads all of the pigeon books to her little sister every night and he challenged her to write her own pigeon stories to read to Sadie. We joined back up with Sadie and Dawn and went out for pizza and visited some before we headed back home to show daddy our new books and tell him about our adventure.

I know ... it looks like Sadie is going for the double finger nose pick but she is actually eating Cheerios. They set up the reading in the back alley/parking area with chairs and refreshments. It was kinda chilly but at least there was space!

Mo answering Zoë's question: "What gender is Knufflebunny (another character from one of his books)?"

Post-Spring Break Mommy Breakdown

2008-04-03T09:36:00.001-05:00

I pride myself on being moderately easy going. Sure, I have my moments of mood swings and shiny, happy fits of rage but by and large - pretty even keel. I find myself dancing along the edge of a very high emotional cliff right now though. I've lost patience with that which 3 weeks ago barely registered with me. Before you say it, I've checked the calendar and its not that. All week long I have grumbled at the dirty clothes left on the floor, the ever present load of laundry or dirty dishes, and the trash snorfelling of the dog. I hear you - what mom hasn't had these issues come up and slap them across the face unceremoniously. Its just part of the job. If I were in the traditional workplace I'm sure it would be demanding supervisor, repetitious paperwork, etc. I get that. I really do. But the thing that has driven me past the point of no return is box tops. No - not a recycling issue. Boxtops for Education. Tiny little pink squares on certain products that can be torn off and turned in to your child's school and then sent in to the manufacturer earning your school ten cents per square. When Zoë first started school, I happily collected and counted and sent in. I bought in to every competition, incentive - I was a dedicated boxtop collector. I used their website as a portal for all of my on line shopping, which is a copious amount of shopping, so that a percentage of my purchases would benefit our school. I gave boxtops the best 3 years of my life. Last year I boycotted and felt horrible guilt by the end of the year. It seemed like such a small thing to do to help out so I vowed to restart my efforts with the start of the new school year. I switched over my school alliance at the website and clipped my coupons for boxtops products and amassed approximately 75 million boxtops - okay, maybe not that many but you catch my drift ... a lot. Yesterday morning I found myself purposely throwing away that carton pack from the yoplait yogurt and the cereal box. I felt such freedom - like burning old love letters filled with the promises of someone who turned out to be an ass of massive proportion. I can breathe again! Liberation! But still the anger. Rationally I realize I need to get over it but I've got some issues here. Not sure what boxtops are representing to me but whatever it is - I resent the hell out of it and want it to die a miserable death.

OK ... I feel a bit better now. Now back to picking up the dirty clothes and putting them in the hamper that is ..... you guessed it, right next to the pile. "I love my children, I love my children, I love my children, I love my children, I love my children."

Let's Go Fly a Kite ...

2008-03-26T11:14:00.001-05:00

and go to the zoo, and ride a train, and have a picnic, and chase pigeons!

On Tuesday we loaded up the family and ~~half the household~~ all requisite items and headed off to the Houston Zoo in Hermann Park. We made it through the highlights of the zoo before Sadie entered ~~total toddler breakdown~~ a period of fatigue. Our first stop at the zoo was a pool with 2 sea lions in it. We kept trying to tell her they were sea lions and she persistently countered us with her idea that they were dolphins. She never did back down and we gave it a good 5 minutes. School will be fun for her teachers, no?

"No, Daddy ... it's a DOLPHIN. See?"

We saw tons of birds and antelopes and zebras before making it to the Children's Zoo and carousel. Sadie really liked the carousel ... so much that she had to go around twice and at the end of the second time around she ~~screamed so load all the wildlife quieted and bowed before her shrill jungle cry~~ daintily dismounted her warthog steed and skipped merrily into my waiting arms and then ~~it took two full grown adults and a 10 year old sibling to force her into the stroller where she was wheeled out of the children's area like Hannibal Lecter~~ hopped directly into her stroller and even buckled herself in for safety.

As we continued on to the exit we were able to see the lions take a nap and the tigers take a nap and the giraffes and elephants.

Yes, Zoë was with us too ... just not that many photos of her. Bad Mommy.

We exited the zoo and stopped by the van to pick up our picnic supplies and ventured into the park. It was a great day - not too hot, not too cool with a nice breeze every now and again. The park has a huge lake with pedal boats for rent and a miniature train that takes you around the park and museum district of downtown Houston. We totally pigged out and then David took Sadie on the train ride while Zoë and I kicked back and ~~told grosser than gross jokes~~ discussed politics and human rights. Sadie reluctantly returned from the train ride and immediately wanted to go back. David later told me that the only way he could get her off the train was to tell her that she needed to come and tell me and Zoë about the train. So she did ... and then she was ready to go back. She was funny. We had extra bread from our picnic so David and the girls went to feed the ducks and Sadie happened to see her newest fascination - PIGEONS.

Still un-napped, Sadie threatened to unravel at any moment until we brought out the Pooh kite. Oh boy ... I know I sound like a typical parent, but the 2 year old has natural kite-flying ability. The 10 year old, not so much but David assures me that it was the wind in both circumstances.

We packed up for fear of hitting traffic before Zoë and David could do the pedal boats but we will definitely go back. Sadie zonked out before we even hit the interstate and slept until we woke her up after we got home. It was an awesome day. I learned something interesting ... when you buy a zoo membership, the whole thing is tax deductible whereas if you pay as you go, it isn't. So, if you have a zoo near you and intend upon visiting it frequently, not only does buying a membership pay for itself, it winds up being free at the end of the day.

Easter 2008

2008-03-23T20:28:00.000-05:00

We had a fun day today. We got dressed and made it to church only to find that the service was full and no available seating, no nursery for Sadie and the family room had been converted into a reading library. Hmmm .... standing in the back of the church with a squirming 2 year old for an hour? Not my idea of worship. So ... we bailed as soon as the scene turned ugly and drove home, grabbed our easter gear and went to the park. The girls got their baskets each with a stuffed animal, dvd, book, requisite chocolate bunny, and other odds and ends. After some time playing on the playground while David hid the eggs, the girls reconvened and set about the hunt. The park started to fill up and the Morgans took flight to Black Eyed Pea for a pre-easter-lunch-rush meal and then came home and watched movies. My eyes are still bleary from all of the viewing. Here are some long overdue pics from today.
Hunting for eggs

Zoë in the blustery day

Mmm ... marshmallow eggs

I think I'm in love

Easter haul

More hunting

Daddy helps spy an egg with Sadie and her jaunty easter hat that she forced me to buy at Target and has been wearing non-stop since then

Restraing Sadie for a group picture. Zoë went snappy casual for Easter this year.

More hunting ...

Sadie and her new "pigeon" book. She LOVES all of the pigeon books and we read them ALL EVERY night at bedtime.

Her new "cheese" smile. So cute ... even in her Easter pimp-hat

Looking at daddy taking her picture face on while mommy takes a side shot with the spare camera.

Sadie's first experience with chocolate other than m&ms

I think she liked it.

Trick or Treating, Ren Fest

2007-11-09T10:03:00.000-06:00

What was once a very nice (and not so cheap) Dorothy costume was worn to school for storybook character day on Halloween and wound up with a torn petticoat. Also, our Dorothy felt "exposed" so insisted on wearing these black leggings. Hey, I talked her out of the camo leggings. What results is a pretty to' up looking Dorothy but in hindsight, what is the likelihood that the real Dorothy weathered the twister and came out looking picture perfect. Yet another Hollywood lie shoved down our throats lo' these many years. Sadie really didn't want to trick or treat. We started off early in the Halloween season wanting to be a pirate so I procured said pirate attire complete with requisite hat and eye patch. The kid wanted nothing to do with it. So I dug through the dress up box and wound up finding the bee costume which Zoe wore for dress up but never for Halloween. She wasn't really feeling the bee look either but she had to wear something. David foolishly thought she would walk. That lasted exactly one house. After that, mommy came to the rescue with the car. Even then she refused to ask for candy or say trick or treat or anything. She just sort of looked at them like, "isn't it enough I've degraded myself by wearing a bee costume? Just put the dum dum in the bag and let's leave it at that, K?" Afterwards, David took Zoë to a church trunk or treat while Sadie and I regained our composure at home.

Last weekend we took our annual trek to the Texas Renaissance Festival. We pack a huge picnic lunch and divide our day in half, taking a lunch break in the parking lot and recouping. Zoë's favorite show was The Mud Show. Sadie pretty much hated the whole thing. After our lunch tailgate party, David and Zoë went back in to ride some rides and shop for crystals (Zoë's going all metaphysical on us) while Sadie and I watched Blue's Big Musical Adventure. OK ... I was trying to get through Love in the Time of Cholera (great book but not a skimmer - you really have to pay attention). I looked up and found my child sans pants - just a shirt and diaper and a handy dandy notebook. She was seated so I reasoned that it was okay but after the movie she was standing up in the chair singing "twinkle twinkle" to passersby ... still in the diaper and shirt. Klassy. It was Dr. Pepper in the sippy cup shy of a true Britney Spears moment for me. After a few encores she passed out and I packed up our van and waited on David and Zoë to return from the comfort and privacy of inside of our vehicle in the parking lot of the Ren Fest. Who says we don't know how to party.

SUPERSTAR (both arms up and outstretched ala Molly Shannon)

2007-11-09T09:59:00.000-06:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

pardon the Saturday play day mess but I thought this was cute and wanted to share.

Catching up

2007-10-24T11:16:00.000-05:00

Sweet pics of my Zoë one Saturday at the park

After much deliberation, Zoë decided on Dorothy for her Halloween costume this year. Here she is before a Halloween birthday/costume party last week. Her school is also doing a storybook character dress up day on Halloween so that added to our decision to go this route. Plus, it will be a good "go-to" costume. At least that's what I told myself while justifying the price of it.

Here is my amazonian toddler. She is soooooo tall! She is settling down a bit and is getting more and more new words each day. Sadie wants to be a pirate for Halloween but won't wear the hat which sort of is the vital portion of the costume

Trouble on the loose

2007-08-24T11:48:00.000-05:00

Here is Sadie in her latest preferred style of dress. Topless, "flies", and "boosh". She is our own perpetual motion machine.

What a difference a year makes

2007-08-24T11:05:00.000-05:00

Well ... I have come to the conclusion that I'm just not a very good blogger nor a very good "moment" mommy but I came to this conclusion in the nick of time. I was sorting through pictures and found my favorite picture of the girls taken last year at JC Penney's (the image here is in color but my print was black and white with a sepia wash) and I realized that it was taken just one year ago so I made the decision then and there to make that my "milestone" photo for the 2 girls together. I seem to have photo-documented every microsecond of Zoë's life and I have entire months with no pictures of Sadie, let alone a representative photo from each month like some of my more organized mommy friends. I immediately called Penney's to set up the appointment and tried, in vain, to find a solid black outfit for Sadie to wear. The best I could do is a black and white striped jumper with black leggings. Zoë's jumper is the same style but solid black. We show up at the mall for the appointment and had to wait forever, completely obliterating my teddy graham bribe stockpile to keep Sadie in a decent mood. Long, long story short - no pictures from JC Penney's. In fact, we were asked to leave and try again another day in a week or so. In their defense, that was after Sadie had pulled out all of their props and brought down one plastic prop shelf and had moved on to high pitch "b" horror movie type screaming. Defeated and deflated, we moved on into the mall because Zoë had money burning a hole in her pocket and an intense desire for yet another Build-a-Bear. We accomplished that and I looked upstairs and saw The Picture People and it was empty so we quickly took the elevator up and I explained the demonic nature of my youngest child and showed them the inspiration picture I was going for and they did an AWESOME job. I have to say, my past experience is sort of hit or miss with them but I was thrilled with the end results. I love love these pictures, especially the one with Sadie on her hands and knees. I was so proud for getting the picture taken and called to brag on myself to David and he just said, "why are we paying people to take pictures of the girls when you take such great pictures yourself?" Clearly he's never tried to take Sadie's picture. As it was, this photo op took 2 photographers and a "handler" and there is an adult arm holding Sadie back that has been airbrushed out. After he saw the picture though, he agreed that it was worth it.

Long time, no me

2007-05-16T13:04:00.000-05:00

OK ... so its been awhile. Let's move past it.

So ... I've been mired in the depths of girl's softball hell since, oddly, February 8 or so. The end of the season is upon us. I have managed to fly under the volunteer radar until I made the mistake of asking if anyone was organizing a collection for a team gift for the coach. I was happily ready to hand over my money to someone willing to do. Fast forward 15 minutes to me with a fistful of 20s from other parents ready to pass along that job to some unsuspecting schmo. Just call me schmo. In addition to a coach's gift, I am expected to think of gifts for the 3 assistant coaches, the team mom, and the dugout mom. Color me clueless. The party is today and I really need some ideas. I finally break down and start looking for the team mom's phone number (the coach's wife) when my cell phone rings. It is her! She has sensed my near nervous breakdown. We brainstorm and she tells me what they've gotten in years past that is always a favorite. Prepare yourself. A six pack of beer and a sleeve of skoal. This is Jeff Foxworthy gold. Who am I to judge? My addition was to make the beers bottles because that seemed a little fancier. Seriously though ... these men are fabulous and have done such a great job. I'm in no means making fun of them. I just think it is hysterically and typically, "You might be a redneck if ..."

Tastes Like Chicken

2007-02-08T18:19:00.000-06:00

Not much going on in the hen house here. I took these pictures as a surprise for my mom and dad. They have decided to move to Oklahoma full time and they have built an outdoor kitchen on their property already that is on the site of the original chicken house so of course they are decorating it all in chickens and roosters. I ran across this costume at toys-r-us on deep deep clearance and it just happened to be in Sadie's size. Sadly, I just now got around to taking the pictures. I was surprised at how much she actually liked the chicken suit. She wore the legs all day. Oh well ...

Happy Birthday, Sadie

2006-12-23T09:37:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday, Sadie turned the big ONE. Here are the first shots to come in. My battery died so I'm still waiting on my sister's pics.

Texas State Railroad

2006-12-21T14:06:00.000-06:00

Earlier this month we met David's side of the family in Rusk, TX to ride the train. It was so nice. I highly recommend this experience to everyone. There was a nip in the air and the scenery was so pretty. On the trip back there just happened to be a blue grass band on the journey and they had their instruments so they played for us the whole way back. Very nice. Here are a few shots.

The Evolution of a Christmas Card Picture

2006-12-21T13:56:00.000-06:00

By now, most of you have received your Christmas card from us. Far from what we had wanted it to be, we are still pleased with the fact that we were able to get at least one somewhat reasonable frame to use. Sadie isn't the most cooperative of subjects - cute as all get out but stubborn as a mule. Needless to say she was not in the mood to have her picture taken or, heaven forbid, don a festive holiday chapeau. I thought these other frames speak volumes.

My Favorite Christmas Picture

2006-12-14T06:39:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of my cousin with Santa Claus. It is my all time favorite Christmas picture. The kicker is that this was a dime store Santa in Pearland, TX.

Various cute photos of Zoë growing up

2006-12-13T19:15:00.000-06:00

Some of these just crack me up, others make me want to cry just because time goes by soooo fast.

Does Sadie favor Zoë or Did the hospital switch babies on me

2006-12-13T19:00:00.000-06:00

Zoë at 8 months

Zoë at 13 months
Zoë at 6 months
Zoë at 3 or 4 months

Zoë at 5 months old
Zoë at 9 months old
Zoë at 11 months old
Zoë at 11 months old

Several people ask me who exactly Sadie looks like and if Zoë looked like that as a baby. I guess the blonde hair, blue eyed Sadie looks a little out of place with us all of dark hair and green or hazel eyes. While cleaning up my computer of the countless digital images, I ran across a smattering of shots of Zoë during her first few years. You be the judge.

Random acts of cuteness

2006-12-12T17:05:00.000-06:00

Each year my mom and my sisters and I host a cookie swap around Christmas. This year my sister saw this picture of a baby in a chef's hat etc and wanted something similar for our invitation. Sounds easy enough but the reality is that Sadie hates anything on her head so I had to run back and forth to try to get a decent picture. I'm just in love with the non-chef pictures. Not sure why really but to me it shows the Sadie that I know.

Renaissance Festival 2006

2006-12-12T16:52:00.000-06:00

2006-10-29T20:43:00.000-06:00

Halloween Weekend 2006

2006-10-29T11:14:00.000-06:00

Long time no post. Let these uber-cute pictures from this weekend make up for my procrastinating ways. Zoë is Hannah Montana from the Disney Channel and Sadie is a most reluctant monkey. She loves the costume but more as a toy than as something to wear. We'll have more pics after Tuesday. These are from the YMCA Family Fun Festival yesterday.

Happy Baby

2006-08-23T06:22:00.000-05:00

It must be nice to be a baby. I'd be happy too if everything I did met with such fanfare. Sadie has started to feed herself (and the dog, too - how advanced!) Here we are Saturday after lunch. David apparently saw something here that he wanted to capture for posterity's sake. I love the one of Zoë and Sadie. Those girls love each other with such depth and with such intensity. Makes me a little weepy to witness. Oh well ... enjoy!

Third Grade Jitters

2006-08-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

Well ... hard to believe that my baby is in 3rd grade. We got off to what I thought was a good start. She was wearing a great outfit she had picked out and had her new super-cool messenger bag that she had picked out - had a new haircut she had chosen. We had a wonderful back to school breakfast and were running on time. Sadie and I walked her into school because I had some volunteer duties and meetings to attend. I really thought she would bolt and run to the classroom but she very timidly asked if I would walk her down there. Off we went and when I left her there she looked up at me with this "oh, crap" look on her face. She just wasn't ready to start back to school. I can't say that I blame her. Up until this point, her classrooms had been one bag of cotton candy shy of a full fledged circus tent. Bright colors, fun decorations - the whole she-bang. Not so much with 3rd grade. All of the 3rd grade classrooms are all about the business. Standard issue book cases, desks in orderly rows, no bright colors or shiny objects to distract the children or *gasp* spark some creativity in them. I'm told her teacher is awesome so that is good. I'm just not so sure she is convinced of that fact as of yet. By the end of the day, Sadie was convinced that PTO meetings are designed solely for people to ooooh and ahhhhh over her beauty and grace and Zoë was prepared to give it one more shot the next day. I thought she was over her issues but by Thursday her teacher called me to see if Zoë was always so emotional. Apparently she would just spontaneously burst into tears throughout the day and the teacher had some concerns. I assured her we would address the issue and get to the bottom of it and further assured her that Zoë was no stranger to the phrase "suck it up". After talking it over with Zoë we decided that she wasn't getting enough sleep and that she was a little homesick so we have moved back her bedtime from 9 to 8:30 and providing to her a laminated picture of her family to keep in her desk in case she needs a little fix to get her through the day. Here are the pictures I snapped of her in the school parking lot on the first day of school.

Bad mommy catching up

2006-08-03T19:09:00.000-05:00

Here are some random shots. Zoë in Galveston and Sadie in a head to head showdown against her arch nemesis, Funny Lion (this lion has a really patronizing, sarcastic, taunting laugh - and it will come on at random times. Creeeeeeepy)

Sadie's First Swim

2006-06-30T13:06:00.000-05:00

"I think I need goggles too"

Brave big sister going down the slide to prove to her Aunt that she is ready for Schlitterbaun (sp?)

Softball is over! Indians win the pennant!

2006-06-30T12:42:00.000-05:00

Zoë and her coach/hero. This man is awesome. He was so good with all of the girls but especially with Zoë. She really learned alot about herself throughout the season and all because of his positive encouragment. He pushed her harder than I could ever get by with. It says something when every girl on the team felt as if Coach was their own greatest fan.

Zoë in her best position, center field

President and Vice President/Cheerleader of the Zoë Fan Club

Big hitter!

So ... all in all, softball was fun. Despite having only two teams in this age bracket and thus having to play the same team every week at 8:30 every Saturday morning, it was great. I had the one squirmish with a mom on the opposing team who was heckling Zoë while she was at bat. Not my proudest moment but I'd do it again in a heartbeat but perhaps without informing the woman that I was going to break my foot off in her @#$. Apparently the YMCA frowns on that. Who knew? Anywho ... we won every game and this last one was a real nailbiter. We had two outs and were down by 4 runs. You can only score 5 runs during one at bat so we had to score them all to win and we did. Everyone was so excited ... okay - not so much the other team. They seemed a little miffed. I thought about taking the parents aside to teach them valuable lesson of a "teachable moment" - instead of viewing this as a loss, they could have just as easily used it as a lesson in good sportsmanship. I doubt they would have taken it in the manner in which I intended what with the whole aforementioned breaking off of my foot incident. Too soon.

Zoë on the last day of school - sick as a dog

2006-06-30T12:38:00.000-05:00

CPS is on their way to take her from me, I just know it. In the moment it seemed like a reasonable idea to send her to school. We went home right after this. I just downloaded the pictures from my camera and cringed when this one showed up. Oh well ... add another dollar to the therapy jar.

New Pictures of the Girls

2006-06-12T13:49:00.000-05:00

Note the long line of drool in Sadie's black shot and her foot in the roses on her flower shot. So sweet ... I could just eat them up! I love those girls.

Back from Vacation

2006-06-12T13:31:00.000-05:00

I've never been much of a traveler. Truth be told, I prefer the comforts of home ... sleeping in my own bed, using my own potty. Our home isn't much but I like it. My lack of lust for travel is probably why our vacations will never be written up in a travel magazine. David had to work so I dropped the basset hound off at the vet's to board, and arranged for a neighbor to feed the lab, loaded up approximately 3 tons of child-related paraphenalia and headed for Oklahoma with Zoë and Sadie. We had planned to leave no later than 8 a.m. so of course at 10:30 a.m. we finally exited the city limits. There was a planned stop in Nacogdoches to visit with Aunt Patsy and refuel. Sadie was ready for a stop by Cut-n-Shoot which is approximately 5 miles outside of Conroe. She fussed for about 1/2 an hour and then passed out only to wake up again in Livingston and scream all the way to Diboll (a good 50 miles of parental hell in a red Ford Windstar). We made our scheduled stop and were off again for the remaining 3 1/2 hours of our journey. She made it across the state line before screaming again. Needless to say, it was good to reach our destination - Broken Bow, OK. We stayed with my mom up there while she is caring for my grandfather. We got to have a picnic up in the mountains by a river and then we drove into Arkansas and mined for diamonds at the Crater of Diamonds State Park. We were encouraged by the fact that when we entered the park the buzz was that an 8 year old girl and her dad had found a 1 carat gem quality diamond. We made sure we got the extra big bucket to carry home our haul o' diamonds. Zoë and I both were designing our diamond encrusted fall wardrobe in our heads as we made our way into the sweltering diamond fields. My mom accompanied us so she and Sadie were perched on a bench in the shade watching us. A hour later and 3 applications of 50 SPF sunblock yielded us nothing but a contempt for that lucky little *&%$! and her father who scored the diamond right off the mark earlier in the day. We made a pact to get our diamonds the old fashioned way from that day forward and we wen to the conveniently located water park next door.

All in all it was a good trip. I got to read and Sadie got to experience country life which she loved and apparently it exhausted her because she slept constantly. Of course, now that I think of it, perhaps it was her non-stop screaming on the way up there that just tired her out. Zoë got to meet the grandchildren of my mom's high school friends and play with them and appreciate our life in Conroe a little more. I'm happy to report that Zoë really loves Broken Bow and loves to visit there. Honestly, I dreaded my childhood trips there. I hated just about everything about it. I'm happy to report that I am no in Zoë's camp and look forward to our time there. We'll be back but only after we have Sadie either sedated or fitted with a muzzle.

Some of my favorite recent photos

2006-06-01T07:58:00.000-05:00

Zoë's new haircut. She LOVES her new do. I can't believe how much older it made her look. Just in the past few weeks I can see several physical changes in her that add to her aging look. It makes me so sad sometimes because it honestly seems like a few months ago that she was Sadie's age. I guess God knew what He was doing in giving us Sadie at this point because I would be a total wreck right now and putting Zoë in smocked dresses and pigtails with bows. I just love them both so much and feel so honored to be their mommy.
Zoë's class hosted a Mother's Day tea and Sadie and I went. This was the one picture I could take because almost immediately Sadie was hijacked by Zoë's teacher's mother. She was enchanted with Sadie. She kept calling out to me from across the room, "She is laughing out loud. I've never heard one so young laugh out loud." I let her have it. I called back, "I think this is the first time she's ever done that. You must have the magic touch." Now, between you, me and the computer mouse, Sadie's been laughing for a good 2 months now and I don't think she is particularly advanced in this field. Sadie put on a show for her though. Sucking first her thumb, then both thumbs simultaneously, then one big toe, then one big toe one thumb, then two big toes. She made an attempt at the unprecedented two big toes, two thumb combo but she just doesn't have the fine motor skills to pull that one off ... YET. Anyway, Zoë was so proud to be able to show off her baby sister to her classmates.
Zoë and Sadie in a bluebonnet field near our house. Sadie could not have been less interested.

2006-06-01T06:54:00.000-05:00

Our foray into the world of blogging has begun! I will attempt to keep this current with our activities and comings and goings as well as with photos but I warn you advance - we are EVER so boring and I am quite the advanced procrastinator.

I wish I could take a picture of it but I've tried and it just doesn't work but Sadie cut her first tooth. Yes, after months of drool saturating every article of clothing both she and I own not to mention the subsequent drownings of all of her lovies (God bless Pinkie, may she rest in peace) we have a tooth. I figured something was up because the child has been abnormally cranky and irritable the past 2 days (Sadie entered this world with a certain baseline irritability. I guess she was pretty comfortable folded up onto herself wedged underneath my ribcage and harbors some resentment for being so unceremoniously dislodged from said placement - or at least that's what I get from our long conversations) and then this morning she grabbed my (just washed) index finger and guided it right to her tooth. Isn't she brilliant? Of course then she bit down as hard as she could but we'll go with the brilliant storyline for historical purposes.

Zoë is getting over bronchitis which totally put a damper on her last week of school. She made it all the way to the awards ceremony where she was presented with a perfect attendance medal but then had to miss the last two days of school. We keep waiting for that knock on the door for the principal to take back the award. Until then, again for historical purposes, Zoë had perfect attendance for 2nd grade! For now, she is BORED as she reminds me precisely every half hour on the half hour in a tone of voice that can only be achieved by the prepubescent tween set. Between recuperation from illness and the onslaught of rain the past few days, she swears her summer is officially ruined. Hopefully we can pull it out of an early grave and salvage something decent for the child to write about on the first day of school.