Ryan's Big Night...

Ryan received his Arrow of Light this week. For those who aren't familiar with Cub Scouts, this is the highest award to receive (similar to a Boy Scout earning his Eagle). We are super proud of him!!

Ryan "bridging over" to the Boy Scouts

Ryan and one of his best buds, Blake, who also received his A of L that night. They had their faces painted with 7 different colors representing different virtues of a Scout.

Yummy!

We got "Booed" tonight by the Lelands - but the kids ruined the surprise by hiding out to watch them drive by! They gave us the yummiest Pumpkin Bread and so we begged for the recipe - which they so graciously gave us.  I'm a little addicted to my new digital hobby (see the recipe card!). I'm going to make this tomorrow and my kids will love me for it - try it!  It would also be delicious with chocolate chips in it - one of our faves!

Christmas is coming....

I'm getting in the Christmas mood by doing some past scrapbook pages. Just wanted to show family some of the fun pictures - these were in our previous house. We always make the kids wait upstairs and come down together on Christmas morning (hence the ribbon barrier).

Who me?

I'm not sure if I was tagged by Melanie or if she meant her sis-in-law when she wrote Jenny. But here goes just in case - You have to go into your 4th photo file and post your 4th picture. Luckily it was a cute one of Ryan hunting Easter eggs about five years ago. I tag Michelle V., Angie W. , Jenni K. and Marisa.

Digital pages...

These are just a few of the pages I've worked on recently. The first two are for a 4x6 brag book I'm making for Grandma. The last one is a 12x12 size for our family album - just something for fun.  Are any of you into the digiscrapping?

Recipe card...

Here's a recipe (originally from my Aunt Beth in Calif.) I made recently for a dinner with friends. I made this recipe card using my newest digital scrapbooking hobby!  Try it - it's really yummy :o) If you'd like, I can email you the card picture and you just print it onto a 4x6 card - easy!

To watch or not to watch...

Are any of you keeping up with the best reality shows with me? Project Runway just ended with Leanne as the winner - although I really wanted Korto to win. 

 
I hope you're all watching The Amazing Race - weren't those bikes really fun and I loved the rooster bike helmets they had to wear! The computer Geeks lost this week - not sure who I'm rooting for yet...no one really stands out yet. Stay tuned with me!

Our newest addition...

*BFFWM =  Michelle ;o)

Spooky dining...

This was our table tonight when friends came for dinner. It was fun and Halloweenish with the candles all lit  - it was dark out with a full moon.

Birthday weekend...

My sister came into town for my birthday. She even helped me paint my dining room!

Isn't she the BEST ever?!

See below for more bday stuff...

Birthday activities...

Throughout the weekend we watched...

And all six hours of this one...

We saw these next two in the theater...

That was a lot of popcorn consumption!

(Keep reading...there's one more)

My Birthday Weekend continues..

We went to one of my favorite stores and found some really cute stuff...

Then we hit the Galleria and shopped here...

...and here and some other fun shops!

Thanks Cath for everything and Jose for funding the fun!

Love you both tons!!

Continuing the hobby...

My friend Rebecca was over today to digital scrapbook - it was kind of a joke...we got nothing done! But I did do this page after she left - It took forever since every little thing is put on and sized individually (like each staple, paper, design, tape, etc.)  But I really love how it turned out. What do you think (click on it for a closer view) - should I keep going or clean my house?

My Newest Hobby...

Here are a few samples of my trials at digital scrapbooking. I'm starting my new family album this way but I miss the textural part of working with the papers and embellishments. So, I'm still doing the kid's individual albums the old fashioned way :o)

TAG - YOU'RE IT

I've received my first tag from Nicole (I don't know how to link yet so you can view her's) so here goes...

A. Attached or single?  very attached

B. Best friend?  Nicole - since 1st grade counts for tons!

C. Cake or pie?  warm apple pie but it has to have ice cream

D. Day of choice?  Fridays

E. Essential item?  my Mac

F. Favorite color?  shades of pink

G. Gummy bears or worms?  really neither

H. Hometown?  Laie, Hawaii although no family remains there

I. Indulgence?  watching Amazing Race with Dove chocolates

J. January or July?  January

K. Kids?  Three really cute ones

L. Life isn't complete without?  A call to Cathy (my sis)

M. Marriage date?  August 17th

N. Number of brothers and sisters?  3 brothers and 2 sisters

O. Oranges or apples?  oranges

P. Phobias?  Flying!

Q. Quote?  "Quick like a chicken" -  ask my kids

R. Reason to smile?  Family

S. Season of choice?  Fall

T. Tag some peeps:  Michelle V, Rebecca L and Leslie H

U. Unknown fact about me?  I'm related to Daniel Boone

V. Vegetable?  broccoli

W. Worst habit?  nail biting

X. X-ray or Ultrasound?  strange...ultrasound I guess

Y. Your favorite food?  Chocolate anything

Z. Zodiac sign?  Virgo

Can it be true?!

Fall may actually be rolling into Texas.  Of course we don't get this kind of color where we are - but nonetheless it's coming! My birthday is on the Fall Equinox (1st day of Fall).  I've always loved that little fact - it almost feels like a holiday.  I also love that my dear brother, Dave, and I are the same age for one day - you see, he turns a year older the following day.  I love knowing that pumpkins, turkeys, and witches are on their way. 

Happy Fall to y'all from Texas!

Hurricane, birthday & awards...

Just a little update - we're still having a few issues with our phone but we've gotten mostly back to normal from Ike. The kids finally go back to school tomorrow after more than a week off. Luckily we have power which some of our friends don't have even now. The stores are getting stocked back up to normal capacity and there isn't a line hours long waiting for gas. There are still tons of trees down all around and it's sad to see - years of growing and one crazy wind storm comes to town. Friends who left have come back and everyone seems to have fared well through it all. Thanks for all the thoughts, concerns & prayers!

Ryan turned 11 this week. His birthday celebrations were altered by Hurricane Ike (this isn't the first time - Rita hit around this time three years ago). With the kids out of school all week, we decided to get the boys together for a pool party.  They seemed to have a fun time and Ryan had an awesome day.

After his party, we drove to our old town and picked up a few of his good friends to spend the weekend - talk about an extended party!  They were in the pool day and night. 

Guess who won this....

THEY did - my favorite show (and it starts in just a week!!!)

The Aftermath...

This is an old tree in the field behind our house. It was the only tree left in that area - I hate seeing it like this.

Driving down a main street in our subdivision - a mess it but could be much worse

This is how our bathroom looked almost around the clock for four days. We boarded that window and couldn't remove screws until power came back on - so it was dark the whole time.

The Morning After...

After being boarded up all night, we went out to assess the damages. Really the kids just played around in the wind (still about 50 mph) and the rain.

Being a scrapbooking family, we had to document the event and date :o)

It's hard to tell but the rain is really coming down still. We ended up with about 6" in our pool overnight and got another 5" the next day!

Waiting for Ike to arrive...

Ryan had fun playing out in the wind gusts that were beginning on Friday evening - as you can see....

The sky had the most beautiful sunset that night. Isn't there a saying about the sky turning red before a large storm?

Ready or not....

Come on in Ike - the weather's fine....

We're experiencing the calm before the storm. The wind is blowing just a bit right now. We've gotten our master boarded up (probably not necessary but eases the wind worries) and now we're dismantling the trampoline. We should have sustained winds of about 80 mph here - not as bad as we thought we would have.

Nothing like a bunch of patio furniture throughout the house!

Latest Info...

So, we may have lucked out with the Hurricane (those two words don't seem to go together, do they?!). Ike will still be hitting us hard but if the eye comes right over us or to the east a bit, we won't be on the dirty (worst) side of it. We are still supposed to get amazing wind but hopefully not the tornado mess that others will...whew!

Continuation...

We've stocked up on tons of the essentials. We'll have hundreds of gallons of water. We'll all be bunkered down in our master bedroom - the kiddies & the kitties. Wish us all well while we're munching on Rice Krispy treats and powdered donuts.

YIKES...IKE!!

I don't think we're dodging it as much as we thought. We've been in the center of "the cone of uncertainty" for a few days now. But this morning the track has moved a bit north - hitting between Corpus and Houston. We're on the south side of Houston so we'll get the "dirty" side of the storm - great :-(  Being the weather junkie that I am, I've checked the path every few hours.  We won't be evacuating since we're not right on the coastline...but now you can be scared for us ;-)

NieNie on NBC

This morning the Today Show on NBC had a feature about the Nielsen's (nieniedialogues.blogspot.com). It was very touching to watch this cute family (whom many of us have fallen in love with) get national attention and possibly even more help. More than $100,000 has been raised by bloggers to help with their millions of dollars of medical costs. You can read more about their recovery at www.blog.cjanerun.com