Happy 45th

After years of preparing homemade meals for us, and considering you have temporarily sacrificed your own kitchen (and home) for my business, you more than deserved this lovely set of All Clad.


Happy Birthday Honey!

BSM ~ Gratitude

When I describe my husband as an industrious little ant, I mean it. He can work, work, and work, and do these amazing things that would probably take most husbands 3 times as long to get done. He works non-stop, especially when it comes to a project. He wants it done. Weekend before last, he spent all weekend demo-ing the fence and pulling up the posts so we could get our back fence replaced. We hired a guy to replace the fence because, well, Mike has to work during the week.

I then told him I wanted the garden expanded. He had the double gate moved to the other end of the side fence to open up the area by our current garden, and he expanded the garden area this weekend. About 6 times its current size, from a meager 130 sq feet to 850 sq feet. He got himself a heavy duty tiller, put the tiller together and tilled the yard for approximately 10 hours straight yesterday. TEN hours. All while pulling out hundreds of pounds of the annoying limestone and caliche rock that is abundant in our area, along with the old posts from the first fence that we discovered. Domi helped. Then, the hubby came inside and made dinner for us.

Today, starting at 8 am, he brought in compost, from our own compost we’ve been “harvesting” for the last year, and an extra truckload of Turkey compost from the garden center, shoveled that in, then tilled it into the garden. He later tilled up that dirt and moved it from the flowerbed to the new garden area, (about 25 wheelbarrows full) then went back to the garden center for 2 more truckloads of really good Rose and flowerbed soil, shoveled it in, then tilled it. Domi was still helping. I don't think my boy has ever worked so hard in his life. Last year, he helped, but it doesn't compare to what he did today. They finished off by replanting the rose bushes. They're still in the yard cleaning up. I’m in here waiting for him with a cold cerveza and their favorite buffalo wings.

This is what makes my husband (and son) amazing.
AND the hubby still makes the time to read to his tot.



This is only the newly tilled area. The existing garden is to the left.


Replanting rose bushes.



I took this photo below, of our blossoming plum tree while the guys were tilling yesterday, and I intitially chose for my BSM, but now that I've typed all this up, I think the others deserve to be my BSM. Whatcha think?

Domi-isms

So, last night I'm at an Evening of Indulgence at The Good Earth Day School, and I see an email come through my cell phone from my husband.
Here it is:

Ring, Ring
Mike: Hello
Dominique: Hey dad, we're done so you can come pick me up
Mike: OK, give me a few minutes to get Sophia ready, wait 3-4 minutes then meet me on el salido
Dominique: ok
Mike : Sophia, wanna go for ride?
Sophia: yes, runs to get shoes, trips over metal gate, she's ok, puts shoes on
Mike: let get in mom’s car
Sophia : ok
:start driving:

Get to cypress whatever… no Dominique

Mike calls Dominique :Hey, domi, have you started walking yet?
Domi: NO, I’M ALREADY HOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike: did you walk, you can’t be there already?????
Domi: No, Stephanie brought me home
Mike: Domi, do you think it would have been a good idea to call and let me know ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Domi: :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence:uh….. :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence: :silence:uh
Mike: I’ll be home in a minute
Mike :drive home:
Domi: guess I should not have surprised you….

Mike: ………

Thanksgiving 2008

This year was probably the smallest Thanksgiving dinner in our hosting lifetime. Our guestlist was in the single digits, whereas in the past, it averages between 15-25 heads. Even though I missed having the hustle and bustle of a pack filled home, the quaintness of our intimate dinner with our lovely family members was a relaxing change.

What really helps this [frazzled] hostess now is her teens can do a lot of the prep work. In the past, I've been known to spend the ENTIRE day before Thanksgiving (or any other formal dinner) just dressing up my table. Ironing linens, polishing the silver to shiny perfection, setting the table per Emily Post etiquette, creative napkin folding, finding the perfect centerpiece, and even the final touch of personalized place cards. Yes, I get much satisfaction from these arduous tasks. And, I admit, this is the time, when I have been known to almost turn Martha Stewart crazy (short-tempered, nit picky, and maybe a bit of yelling here and there). ;)

However, since we had a smaller fete this year, these tasks were delegated to Domi and Jay. As Domi polished the silver candlesticks and Jay set the table with the Lenox Solitaire China and vintage circa 1921 Grosvenor flatware, I tell them, "one day, these heirlooms will be yours!". They both looked at me with this blank stare, and then went back to work, without saying a word. Ah well.

I share the same passion with certain antique items as both my maternal and paternal grandmothers. My paternal grandmother was an antique reseller herself. Maybe Sophia will be share in her mom's enthusiasm when she's older. She did after all, get giddy herself about having her very own place setting at the table and even managed to drink out of a small wine glass (filled with Cranberry juice) without a single spill or breaking it. Those practical life skills we work on are coming in handy!

Our (everything homemade) Menu consisted of:

Appetizers~ Baked Black Cherry Brie with Toast Points (Eric)
Main Dinner~Honey-baked Ham, Deep-fried Turkey (David), Rice Dressing, Green Bean Casserole, Green Chili Macaroni and Cheese (Eric), Shallot Whipped Mashed Potatoes (Eric), Sweet Potatoes (Holly), Fresh Cranberry Sauce, and Dinner Rolls and Cornbread.
Dessert~Bread Pudding (Eric) and Pecan Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream and Pralines.









Adding this photo to balance some of the refinement with evidence of a good ol' cajun deep-fried turkey.



Hope you all had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

At Least He Got Birthday Beer

My honey's birthday was yesterday. The plan was to dress up, go out to eat (sans toddler), just us two, and come home and enjoy each others company. By the end of the workday, we ended up ditching the dressing up and eating out part, so Mike brought take out and we relaxed at home.

A few years ago, I forgot my husband's 39th birthday. Yes, I earned the Bad Wife Award that year. I made up for it on his 40th by throwing him a HUGE Casino surprise party and his peeps from Louisiana flew out for it. That was the only time I've seen Mike cry.

Now I find myself almost earning the Bad Wife Award again. I don't have any photos to commemorate this year's birthday. The good thing is Mike doesn't get his feathers ruffled like I would. But still. The man deserved a cake on his 44th birthday.

Things have been so busy on both our ends. He's working so hard to keep his new business running strong and steady, and I'm busy getting my in home childcare program licensed through the state. Every evening is filled with eating, cleaning up the kitchen, doing paperwork, brainstorming for an official name for my program (which I'm still stumped on), and burying my nose into one of the many early childhood books I'm reading. Looking forward to our Thanksgiving break next week and Jay will be flying in!

But how cool is this?
My friend Tanya walked in yesterday morning with this 6 pack of beer, and my initial thoughts were, I don't need a drink THAT bad at 9:00 am! She then tells me that is not for me. It's Mike's Birthday Beer!

My Flare

A quick snippet from our camping trip this weekend.


Looking at this, I am reminded
Life is beautiful
And fragile

May all of those who need love and light, receive it.

My Peacock

I know I'm her momma, but isn't she so stinkin' cute?
And who said female peacocks aren't as beautiful as the males? =)



This was Sophia's first year to Trick or Treat. Her Mema was in town, which was a nice treat for the both of them. We got a late start, so I don't have any good pics with the dusk lighting. Her cousins, Alana, Serena and baby Don joined us, and after a few doors, Sophia was right up there with them holding out her peacock basket. And, she even kept her costume on the entire time.

September 27th

Just going through the photos of our wedding day, puts a huge smile on my face. I remember it was so incredible, that I wanted to do it all over again the next day. And so did everybody else.

So whenever you make me mad honey, now I know what I need to do. ;)
These photos and memories make my heart sing.

Happy Anniversary.





The boys walking their mama down the aisle.







I can honestly say, the dancing was wild, and the most fun I have ever seen at a wedding.









The infamous rose exchange.








You don't even want to know what Javier is saying here...

Love Thursday ~ Trust

I was inspired by Tanya's post today, and I knew I had to share these images I got yesterday evening. What I love about my husband is captured here. He'll come home from work, start dinner, and still take the time to take his daughter on a tricycle ride when she asks him. He never says, "I'm too busy" or "I'm too tired". What I love the most is he'll get on with her since her feet aren't long enough to pedal. And he doesn't care how silly he looks to those driving by.
This is what Love is all about.







For more Love Thursday shots, ride on over to Shutter Sisters

"Swing Please"

...these are the words we hear constantly these days. My honey installed this beautiful swing that I scored at one of my favorite consignment store in Lakeway. Got it brand new too. A lady apparently brought it in after finding it while on a cruise destination. Worth over $100 and I scored it for $25. Gotta love a bargain. And I what I love even more that's it's not made of hard plastic, but instead a natural, woven material and wood.

Sophia is a thrill seeker. It's hard to tell, but she was at least 8-9 feet high! You can see the top of the fence line under her feet, and she got up higher than this. Only her daddy gets her up this high. I just sit there and say, "Ooh, not so hard...oooh, be careful....." all while she squeals with laughter begging daddy to swing more.

Shrimp and Crabs

The hubby traveled to Louisiana last week to arrive in time for the opening of the long awaited Shrimp Season. Along with his father and brother, they worked about 10 hour days out at sea. The shrimp were small this year and since they missed 2 days of work due to weather, his trip was extended a bit longer than expected. By the end of the week, I was dying over here from exhaustion of holding the fort down solo for over a week, so he came home before they did all the final prep work (read, deheading) on the shrimp. So, that's what I got to spend all day last monday doing. Helping Mike dehead shrimp. It was pretty gross. However, after about an hour of it and getting past the ick factor, it was manageable and I became quite the quick deheader (is that even a word?). But I probably won't have him do that here again. The patio and yard REEKED of fish for 2 days afterwards. And then my BIL came over to dehead his shrimp. P-U!

I shouldn't complain though, we now have enough shrimp in our freezer to last us until next year.
My hubby is awesome.

Below is my BIL deheading away...






They also caught some blue crabs (and fish too).