Texas Bluebonnets and Beauties

Big Tex! State Fair of Texas Fun!

Well, we waited til the last possible day to attend the Texas State Fair, but it did not disappoint.


I mean, seriously...where in one place in just a matter of hours can you:

meet a huge talking cowboy,
drive your baby sister around in a mustang 5.0,

give your best rockstar impression,


plan your next camping trip,

go rock climbing,

hold your daddy's hand,

demonstrate the truest sisterly love, (sharing a fletcher's corny dog!)

demonstrate your patriotism,

at least contemplate riding the ferris wheel, ;)

hold a freshly released butterfly,

watch a milking parlor demonstration,


go in a crazy fun house with mommy,



give the exit a second try,

AND attack your first candy apple ever?



Only at the State Fair of Texas.

What? What do you mean my face is a mess?


It's kind of like being able to load up a basket at Wal-Mart with a can of paint, a tray of sushi, and some lingerie.

Kind of.

Let it Snow, Y'all!

Huge snowflakes are falling here in Texas!

Someone is a *LITTLE* excited about all this white stuff.

I don't have the heart to tell her that it won't be sticking around.

Hoping to never forget the look on her face or her first comment, "Thank you GOD, Thank you GOD"!

Honey-Do BBQ Invaded by Pirate

Ahoy, mates!

We didn't float away...although it rained so hard Saturday that we could have used a boat. Even now (Monday evening), our backyard still has some standing water. Speaking of honey-dos, time for that french drain, honey?

A blogging friend of mine captured a little video of the flooded streets in her neighborhood in this post...so after all that we quickly made plans to have everything indoors. We nixed the garage idea and instead moved a bunch of furniture from the house to the garage in order to make room for tables and people.

Although very different from what my over planning brain had envisioned, it worked out wonderfully.

Here is the happy couple!


The eye patch is not part of his costume...I would have switched to a pirate theme had I only known he would be scratching his cornea a few days before the shower. Arrrgh! (a little view into my inner nerdiness, I just googled "what do pirates say?" and found out about the "international talk like a pirate day" holiday...just 137 days away--are you counting down? There is also a whole "piratical language curriculum" for all your pirate talking needs. Who knew? Google...that's who.)

And here is my lazy way of sharing pictures...slide show style. Move your mouse over the pictures if you are interested in captions.

It was a great night...good food (I can say that because it was catered!), fun people, and silly games...hopefully Mike and Jessica left here feeling encouraged and blessed.

Arrgh! See Ya Chums! Imagine that said in my best raspy piratey voice...I started losing my voice right as the shower started...and it still ain't back. Shiver me timbers!

Howdy from Texas at Christmas

Hats off to BooMama for doing a little Christmas Tour of Homes, or else I'm not sure we'd even have our trees up. I'm sure it is a sin, but decorating for Christmas is not one of my favorite things to do. During the first 5 years of our marriage...before kids...I think we only decorated twice. And we must have hosted parties those years or something, or else I wouldn't have gone to all the trouble.

It is so much work to put up and take down, but since we have little ones I would never think of skipping it...party or no party. I usually like to get it up early so we really have time to enjoy our labor, but this year a little excursion to Disney World has really thrown me off. I am blaming our tardiness on that and the fact that this year we put up 3 trees.

3 trees for someone who doesn't like decorating. Thank God my husband does. The number of trees is partly my in-laws' fault too. They are the kind that always like to change things up...constantly rearranging furniture and the like...I love that about them. They'll get a skinny tall tree one year and a short chubby tree the next...decide they don't like it...and voila...we inherit a new tree. That is how we got two of ours.

The third one we got on a whim this year...we decorated so late that when we got back from Disney, Calloways had any type-any size tree on sale for $50. We ended up with an 8 foot Noble Fir with its tips flocked for $50. Full price was $180. Yee haw!

Here is the fat chubby inherited one that we put in the girls' playroom. It has multicolored lights and random ornaments from our childhood and ones they've received too.

Each year I buy them a special ornament specific to something they've done that year and also a photo ornament. I love to see how much they've changed from year to year. Jade was just 6 months old last year. Lily loves her ballerina ornament she got right after her first dance recital last December. Jade hasn't done much yet...she basically claims a few "I was born" ornaments.



In our formal living room we have the hand-me-down tall skinny tree. We've done this one in all silver and glass with white lights for years.


I love how the frosted glass balls glow.


After one little incident, this little stinker will probably remember it as the "NO!" tree.



We decided to do a Texas theme on the live tree. We later realized that the flocked tips didn't really fit into our theme...I was wearing flip flops and short sleeves when I photographed it today...but nonetheless we love it. We did red, white and blue lights and topped it with a red cowboy hat and lasso rope.

The garland is also rope and there are plenty of little bandannas, stars, and pine cones...straight from the Piney Woods of E. Texas.



Here are pics of two of my favorite nativities. One of Jerry's uncles adds to them for us annually. Lily loves to play with them and act out the story of our Lord's birth. Did we do an okay job with the super glue? Hint. Hint. Uncle Howard, Lily needs a Fisher Price Nativity Set.


Hope y'all have a wonderful Christmas!