Thieves?? and fun with Ike!

Do BFF Lorie and I look like thieves? Below is our best thief-ish look.....dont know why we are smiling.....mostly we couldnt quit laughing! There is a story behind this pic........
Some of our friends from church have a pool....they are not home during the day so we asked them if we could use the pool while our kids are at school....we swim and try to catch a few rays...visit, drink Diet Coke...that sort of thing. The funny thing about this scenario is that we park the car at the entrance and have to use a step ladder to get to the top of the column to get over the remote controlled gate and walk down the driveway to even get to the pool. (Our friends' gate has a remote because they have been broken into before...they live in the COUNTRY!) One of the times we went "sunning" we were sitting by the pool.....BFF lying on the diving board and me sitting on the side of the pool with my feet in.....when I hear the doorbell ring. I sat there for a minute thinking that it wasn't true.......after all, who could get through the gate unless they either had a remote or used our stepladder???? The doorbell rang again....what could we do....we both had on our swimsuits! We yelled, "We are in the back!" This older man comes back there and is asking us a million questions......who are you.....what are you doing here......why does your car have Dallas plates.......We assured the interrogator that we did have permission to be there to which his response was, "I wish they would have let somebody know about this"....he said that a couple of times...finally BFF asked him if he wanted us to leave.....he said he guessed not.......and left! We found out later that the interrogator was the father of the guy we go to church with. Our poor church friends were so embarrassed that he was asking us all those questions! It was pretty funny.....that was the inspiration for this pic.......so I could blog about it.

I know many had different experiences with IKE last weekend, but I came home to find this on that Saturday morning.........
the kids using the rafts that belong to BFF and I as sleds during the rain and waterhose shower to go down the hill in our backyard!
Thank goodness they did not pop them.......
BFF and I have some more sunning to do!!

POPS and Jonathan.......

Here are the kids with my dad, who all the grandkids call POPS. He took a transfer with his job, so he moved to Grand Island, Nebraska a few weeks ago. This is the pic we took right before he left. We are missing him being so close......at the first freezing blizzard he might be back in TX!

These next few pics are of Jonathan and his newest endeavors........you know....like fixing things in the house (the DVR in my office---very important!)......he also has been checking out RIDING lawnmowers. I think he needs one soon------the new house has a lot more grass and a big hill!It's just funny seeing him "do" all the house stuff!

Where In The World Have I Been????

I have been BUSY! Last week I left bright and shiny early (like 6:22 am) on Tuesday and flew to DFW....from there to St Louis....from there to Springfield, Illinois, for update training for my job. It was cold, sometimes rainy, and mostly BORING! The good side of it was that one of the other people in the class I already knew----

I got back to Dallas on Friday, had lunch with my sister, Cathe and niece Brooklyn, then came home. We went to the football game that night---sat in what I call the "unsocial section"---away from most spectators and parents who think they have it all figured out---this is the place Jonathan wants to sit. At least we do have some friends who sit up there with us!!! That helps!

Saturday BFF Lorie and I went to work out and then had some last minute shopping to do for the Housewarming Party she was doing for us on Sunday. We made desserts, tea, and coffee.
(I will post the pics later). Her mom came over (in the pouring rain) and helped with the flower arranging and placement. I even had to ask an unsuspecting neighbor if we could have a few leaves/twigs/filler/whatever you call it from her garden to make the arrangements fuller/taller/prettier!

Sunday after the monthly luncheon at church, everyone (90 people, we think) came over for dessert! Lorie even ordered the CUTEST cake from a bakery in Waco called "Simply Delicious".
The name says it all. We had fun visiting with everyone, and joked afterwards that we should have arranged for the people to come in shifts according to the first letter of their last name! It was fun and we were thankful that so many people came!

Monday is was back to Southlake, Tuesday was spent with BFF, and now it is Wednesday already! I did have lunch with Grant today. Did you know that kindergarteners eat LUNCH at 10:40?????

I will try to get the dessert and flower pics up soon!

The Busy B's visit.......

There is a link from my blog to the Busy Bs (listed as CATHE)

......from left on this pic....the first, third, fifth, and sixth kids are from the B family. They are also my niece and nephews! The other kids in this pic are mine........The other funny thing about this pic is that from right to left they stood, on their own, in the order they were born! First two in 1999; Next two in Dec of 2007 and March of 2008; Next two in Jan of 2003 and Aug of 2002; then the smallest cousin was born in May of 2006. There is actually one little brown-eyed cousin missing from these pics (all the rest have blue eyes).....the sister just under me that lives in NM had our little Lucas in October of 2005 and is having another this spring!!!!!! THAT is a lot of cousins and grandkids.....right, POPS!!


silly........
silliest!
The moms.........me and my oldest sister........the mom and author of the Busy B's..........
The oldest cousins being measured by POPS........they have a height comparison every time we get together.......they are tied.........at 5 ft 2 inches.........did I mention these are 4th graders???

First Day of School 2008

Yeah......school did start 3 weeks ago and I am just now getting the pics on here.........I know...I know..............I've been trying to catch up!

Here is Grant........He is now a Kindergartener!!! He has done well and is loving school. He even lucked out and got the teacher we wanted.

Thomas is now in second grade. He likes his teacher and she is PERFECT for him. She has two little boys of her own and knows how little boys tend to behave!!
Jill is now in fourth grade. She no longer goes to the elementary school in our town....she now goes to the intermediate school and feels so grown up! She has 2 teachers........seems to like them both!
This is them walking up the driveway on the first day after their mean parents made them ride the bus home. : )
They survived........but were a little hot and STARVING!!

Days at the beach........

Y'all know how I L.O.V.E. the beach........so.........we made a trip to Port Aransas the week before school started. My neck was a little sore from flipping tractor tires at Boot Camp the day before we left.....but.....I am now healed! Boot Camp is also over until October 7th! : )
That is a different post altogether........back to the beach.

Here is my dad (POPS), Jonathan, and Jill......

G looking for shells........or pearls for his mama!
T setting up the domino maze back at the condo........
POPS and the kids on board the USS Lexington.........
G and his Texas size peanut butter and jelly sandwich.....who orders this while at a seafood restaurant on the coast????????
J explaining to the kids not to go out so far while "surfing"

J and Grant
Of course there was beach football to be played......
Some tackling to be done..........
and mountains to be created............
We had a good trip.........cant wait to go back!

Waterpark time........

G........
J..........
T............
A little cookie dough ice cream never hurt anyone......
G and his friend Ran.......BFF Lorie's son........