Eli's first big disappointment

I took pictures this morning of my friend's little girl out at a park that has a lake. Mr. E came along; I brought one of his balls along to play with while I took pictures. Sure enough, he rolled the ball into the lake. I was able to retrieve it the first time, but not the second time! As it floated away, his whining became more incessant, and quickly turned to crying and pointing at the ball as it floated farther and farther away! I felt so bad for him, but, I also had a job to do with taking pictures, so after attempts to comfort him, I had to ignore him and keep shooting away. Luckily my friend tried to comfort him while at the same time trying to get her little girl to smile and look my way. Even after we moved away from that area, you could tell he was still a little put out that he did not have his ball.

He wouldn't even get out of the wagon for a while. Check out that look while he looks at his book.

Flash back now to before the ball incident: while waiting for our friend to get there, I set up the table and chairs were going to use for a prop. After I set out the cups (china cups I got at Katy Christian Ministries for like a dollar), Eli came running over and immediately sat down. I had to snap some pics of him trying out the tea party set up! (although, sure would be cute if I had a teapot too! gotta keep my eye out for an old cheap one!)

I like how he is double fisting it in this one!!

This scene turned out real cute with my friend's little girl. Will post some of those on my samples facebook page!

And, guess we'll get a new ball next time we go to HEB or something. It's hard watching your child be so disappointed and not being able to do anything about it. I know that is not the first time that will happen - down the road there will be more hurt feelings, lost objects, lost friends. At least this time, I can replace that ball....being a mamma is hard!!!!



Giddyup!

We love the rodeo. In fact, we had our first date at the rodeo in 1995! But, we are not good at planning ahead and getting tickets. This year, I had wanted to take Eli during the week to the livestock show area and carnival, but couldn't get any takers to come with me. Ok, I really didn't try that hard to get people to go. Anyway. Yesterday after nap time, we decided to head over there since this was the last weekend.

Trying to find parking was AWFUL. Took forever, and we finally parked outside the farthest lot in some random place, you know the kind where the people are standing on the side of the road with signs saying "parking $20 cash"? At least with all the walking, I didn't feel bad at all about eating funnel cake! E seemed to enjoy the petting zoo area, farm area, and in general all the atmosphere. I am thankful he is too young now to notice all the inappropriate, shorty-short girls and boots, wearing shorts so short they might as well be denimm underwear. What happened to any form of modesty???! Guess that's another blog post.

Next year, we're going on a weekday for sure!!!

Here's some pics!

We didn't do much with the actual carnival this year.

A chicken with built-in leg warmers.

Milking a pretend cow.

Putting pretend food in his basket at the farmer's market area.

He loved driving the john  deere tractor!!

Putting the pretend food back in the "store" - we got a "dollar" for bringing in the food from the fields and actually got a real snack at the end of this display!

Just grabbed this one shot once we were in the shopping arena. Should have taken a picture of our funnel cake! Oh well. We didn't eat anything fried on a stick - just our fried funnel cake. Maybe next year! I know Eli will have a lot of fun next year too!

So Impressed

I just have to brag on my brother. He basically made my mom a 2-head sprinkler system in a day! A visit or so ago, David dug up an area in mom's backyard so she could have a nice flowerbed. This past weekend, he dug a trench, put in some pvc pipe and some magical sprinkler dust (ok, I'm not sure what else really goes into making this thing), and by Saturday late afternoon had a working sprinkler for her new flowerbed! Check it out -

Workin' hard....

Can you see the sprinkler working over there on the right?

Laura showing David how he SHOULD be posing behind his (almost) finished creation.

Here's where it hooks to the hose.

David showing mom how it works.

Three muskateers.

And, of course have to include a picture of my cute munchkin!

Happy St Pat's Day!

I am so thrilled that we are getting a group of folks from church together for playgroup! The group is a little hodge-podge, as it started with our church gals, but we have invited a few other moms too, and it's been great. It's interesting, the folks I have talked to (and it's just a few) that have tried the mom groups in the area have said they feel like they just aren't that friendly, like they already know each other and don't need any new friends. So, I am super thrilled that our group is NOT like that; those of us that already know each other have been very welcoming of new people. Today, Sally invited 10 adults and 11 kiddos over to her house for green pancakes and pj's day! People signed up to bring food, and I brought a craft. It was so much fun. The kids all got along fine, the moms are great, Sally's back yard is HUGE and her train table was a HUGE hit with my little guy for sure! I didn't take as many pictures as usual, because I was too busy talking, but here are some from today:

Green Pancakes!

E in his pj bottoms and fun new shirt. I found this shirt last night already on clearance, just in time for today!!

Sweet Brady.

Super Sweet Adi. The light in Sally's den is awesome, she has two sky lights, I love taking pictures in here!

Sweet Bella and Angie showing off the craft!

This play house was a big hit.

Sweet next door neighbor Philip playing with the train table.

Hopefully next month we'll do an Easter egg hunt in her backyard! Can't wait for more playgroup adventures!

Wednesday Adventure

Been feeling restless lately, so this morning decided last minute that Eli and I would go to the Butterfly museum. I guess it wasn't totally spontaneous, as last night I checked the site to see what time they open - I was playing with the idea of going, but didn't want to commit. Could've invited friends, but really just felt like taking off, so off we went!

I suppose when E is older he will enjoy the museum more - this trip, he was equally fascinated with stomping in water puddles as he was looking at the butterflies. I thought I might be able to get some neat shots as we walked around the Japanese Tea Garden, but he just really wanted to push his stroller by himself, so there went my photo ops. That's what I get for going alone on our adventure!

I love that I caught this one in motion!

Mmmmm grubby kitchen sponge snack.

I really need to get the kid some rain boots! It's so humid and wet inside the butterfly rain forest.

Kind of looks like he's been caught in a UFO spotlight.

I *think* this butterfly was alive. Not totally sure. Had to snap quick since the butterfly police lady was hot on our heels making sure we didn't go off the path.

This is how we spent 90% of our tour of the Tea Garden.

Aren't these beautiful??? I want a cherry tree.

Watching the zoo train go by.

Mom's Bathroom "Remodel"

My mom has lived in her house since 1965. Unfortunately, the bathroom attached to the master bedroom has kept its original look all these years. The master bathroom (I hesitate calling it the "master," because it's so tiny!!) has a stand up shower in it, while the hall bathroom has the shower/tub combo. In light of mom's knee surgery, we figured it would be better for her to use the shower in the master bathroom so she didn't have to step over the side of a tub. For various reasons, she had not been able to use the master bath shower for a number of years now. As we were thinking about her shower, I got the bug to get rid of the wallpaper and paint her bathroom. I've wanted to do that for years now actually, as the wallpaper had started peeling, and was, well, VERY outdated. It's just not been a priority - but while mom was in rehab, she relented and agreed that we could "re-do" her bathroom.

Now, for a lot of people, a re-model conjures up visions of granite countertops, new fixtures, new tiles - all the bells and whistles. This particular bathroom update was big on LOVE, but not on budget. During the first part of the week (while mom was working on he knee in rehab), I did some patch work and primed the room; this took a few days, as there's only so much work that can be done with a toddler running around. By Friday, my sister was able to come spend some quality time at mom's, and helped finish painting. On Saturday, Phil and Doug helped finish out the touch ups, putting back fixtures, that kind of thing - and on Sunday, I put on the finishing touches. Definitely a group effort! So, drumroll please, here are my pictures!

The BEFORE pictures:

Now, the work begins:

the 40plus year old paper tore off in huge sheets. Didn't even have to scrape glue.

Funky little hole by the shower floor....

That I patched!

Also put back this tile that had come off.

My little helper.

Not sure how this is "helping"....

All primed!

Used spray texture for the walls - loved it! First time using spray stuff, we really liked the end result. Took about 3 cans though.

Yay for reinforcements!

Getting the color up on the wall....

Ta-Da! I found this cute mirrored shelf at Home Goods; we brainstormed a place for towels, and came up with hanging a basket on the wall. The grab bars have been in the bathroom for years (to help Dad, who had MS), so we left them, knowing they would help mom with her recent knee surgery.

Replaced her old mirror with this neat framed mirror (also from Home Goods!) and two cute plates from Hobby Lobby.

We still need a shower door, but it has to be custom ordered so that will take a while.

All in all, we were all so pleased with the results- and most importantly, Mom loved it!! We were all so happy to do this labor of love for our mom. No one deserves it more than my mom!!!