My girls . . .

For a few years now, several of the girls from church have gotten together once a month to play either bunko or pokeno. It is always such a wonderful evening spent together. It always involves a lot of laughter and the most random conversations. So, I want to say thanks to all of "my girls" for the wonderful memories and thanks to our husbands for supporting our "girls night out" (especially to those who take care of kids so that we can do so)! I look forward to many more years of laughter and fun!

Hanging out between games

Sharon always has a good story to tell!

Amy and me

Alli (34 weeks pregnant!), Sharon, Jill, and Jenn

Kelly (16 weeks pregnant!), Jill, Amy, and Andrea

me, Rae, Anna, and Lauren

Built myself a new AV Cabinet

Mark here,

I am bogartin' Hattie's blog to show off my mad carpentry skills.

I used my tax stimulus payment to buy new speakers. The new center channel speaker is kind of large and I wanted it as close to the TV as possible, so that meant getting rid of our old entertainment center. After shopping around and not liking what was available at reasonable prices I decided I'd just do it myself.

Hopefully the slideshow works... enjoy!

Yep, that's me

Looking through all my old high school things got me feeling nostalgic. The best times I had in high school were my times spent in JROTC. I participated in it in every way I could for all four years and devoted many, many hours of my life to it. So, to help you get a visual of me in high school, I have posted a few pics. They are not the best quality because they are pictures of pictures. We do not have a scanner.

Here I am with one of my very good friends, Mary. She was the cadet commander the year before I was. This is the summer just before my senior year at a Marine military base in 29 Palms, CA. Every other year the military paid for a select group of students from our school to take a trip to a military base for a week. The summer before my sophomore year we went to Camp Lejeune in NC. And, yep, those are my boots!

I am accepting an award from one of my instructors, Gunner Goodman. This was at the end of my senior year.

This is the summer after my freshman year. My mom took me to JCPenny to get pics. For some reason that was the only time we did that.

These pictures also show the three uniforms I wore most often.

Looking back, I sure was skinny in high school! Wish I would have appreciated then!

Lookin' good

This summer my parents gave me "the boxes." You know which boxes I'm talking about. The boxes your parents have been storing for you for years. The boxes that contain all of the old random items from high school that no one knows the true meanings of but you. The boxes that you can now take proud ownership of because you now own your own home. These boxes were fun at mom and dad's, but they now pose a problem because I have to figure out what precious space of which closet I am going to now house them in. After putting if off for a month, I finally pulled my boxes out today to sort through them. In the second box I opened, I found something I forgot I still owned . . . my JROTC combat boots! Now, now, I did not steal them. I remember trying to turn them in, but my instructor told me to keep them. Upon this discovery, I decided that the only logical thing to do was to put them on and show my sweet husband what he missed by not knowing me in high school. I had to fight him off with a stick once he got one look at me! Now for your viewing pleasure . . .



Props to my photographer!

Will they remember?

When I was in first grade I loved to daydream. However, as I have always openly admitted, I am not a very artistic person. So, even my daydreams were not very creative. I had the same daydream over and over again. I wore a perfect white ballgown that sparkled like the brightest stars in the night sky. My hair was pinned up and oh so gorgeous. I danced across a white and black checkerboard floor. That was it. I didn't do anything but dance in my pretty, pretty dress. I don't think I was a bride or a princess. I was just a girl in a nice place with a wonderful outfit. I vividly remember zoning out time and time again during class do dream this "wonderful" dream. That is basically all I remember from first grade. I have a few other memories of the playground at recess, a field trip to the zoo, and reading circles. But, what I remember most about first grade was my daydream.

Sometimes when I think of my elementary school years, I get sad for myself as a teacher. You want to know how much I remember and adored my teachers? Not very much. I don't even remember what my kindergarten or first grade teachers looked like or what their names were, and I only remember my 2nd grade teacher's name but not her face. I have a few more memories of my upper elementary years. I remember my 4th grade teacher's name AND face and a have several fond memories of her. My 5th grade teacher was an older gentleman and I only remember that I didn't goof off in that class!

Fortunately, I did have one teacher that stood out above the rest. Mrs. Lindamood was my 3rd grade teacher. I cannot recall one particular thing that made me adore Mrs. Lindamood, but adore her I did! I wanted to be just like her. I loved 3rd grade. In fact, from 3rd grade on I just knew that being a 3rd grade teacher was my calling. Well, I guess the teacher part did stick, but I have found my true heart in 4th grade. Most importantly though, thank you to Mrs. Lindamood for giving me the hope that some day my students will look back and remember me . . . face and name!

Cavanaugh Flight Museum

On Wednesday, our friends David, Kim, and their daughter Brooke joined us in going to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum. It is a collection of planes from different eras that is right beside the Addison airport. It was interesting to see the different models and how they changed through the years. I don't know much about planes, but Mark and David enjoyed seeing some of the more famous models of planes that they knew about. The museum is made up of 4 hangars that house the planes. It was enjoyable, but I would recommend going on a cooler day. It was all "outside" because it was in open air hangars and it was about 96 degrees. I got a little (or a lot) sweaty! All in all, we definitely enjoyed our time with our friends!

In front of Jim Cavanaugh's plane

Brooke checking out the planes

Make sure to heed the warning on the side of the plane!

Yea for home projects!

Yesterday, my wonderful, awesome, amazing, talented, and patient mother-in-law helped me with another project! I had a lot of material leftover from when she made my roman shades. So, we decided to use the material to cover the seat cushions for the kitchen table. The kitchen table we have was bought by my parents in the early 90's and used by my family until my parents gave it to Mark and me in 2004. The table was obviously well crafted because it has held up remarkably well. However, the seats were starting to look a little worn, so this was the perfect solution! The project took more patience than I had anticipated, but we got it done all in one day! Thanks again, Nancy!

The before picture

The after picture
The "whole" picture

Mark's family visit

Over the week of July 4th, Mark's brother, sister-in-law, and their two kids came to visit. They live in Memphis, so we only get to see them a few times a year. We were also blessed to have Mark's grandmother, Wilmamma, and Uncle Larry visit as well. We had a wonderful time together hanging out and catching up with each other. We spent a lot of time in the pool. Last summer, it rained most of the time, so the kids didn't get to swim much. And when they did, it was c-o-l-d! This summer we had perfect conditions for daily swimming. On most days we swam in the afternoon and after supper. On Thursday night Mark and I went on a "double date" with Mark's brother and sister-in-law. We first went to go see Wall-E. It was a very adorable movie and we all recommend it. Then we had dinner at Salt Grass. Yum, yum. We had a great time together, just the 4 of us. On Friday, Mark and I took our niece and nephew birthday shopping at Target. We started the tradition several years ago to let the kids pick out the birthday gifts. Since their birthdays are so close together, it works out that we can take them together. It is a fun tradition that we have really come to enjoy. Anna picked a Barbie with puppies, and Ben picked a train set. They had a great time playing with them and we hope they will for a long time to come. Finally, we ended our week with fireworks. We went to the Plano fireworks show, like we have for many years now. It is always a spectacular display. What a wonderful week!

Because he's just so cute . . .

Some people have children . . . we have a cat!

Family Fun

We have had a very busy two weeks, which you might have guessed from my lack of posts. The week of June 23 - 26 my sister was in town with her two children. She has a 4-year-old daughter and a 21-month-old son. They are absolutely adorable! We had a great time visiting with them. Then on Friday, June 27 we met my parents and brother for a Rangers game. Then June 28 - yesterday (July 4) Mark's brother and family were in town visiting.

While my sister was here we tried some new places we hadn't been before. We started Monday by visiting the Plano Interurban Railway Museum. This was a free outing and the kids had fun. They mostly liked the model train tracks. Then on Tuesday we drove down to the Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park. It is owned and operated by the Dallas Zoo. It was nothing amazing, but it had just enough attractions to entertain the kids. Aaris liked the shark the best. She also was very happy to see sting rays. Two years ago, when our family went on our Caribbean cruise, we swam with the sting rays. Aaris still remembers this fondly and gets excited to see them again. Our last big outing was on Wednesday morning when Nancy graciously opened her home to us to go swimming. Aaris swam and swam and swam. She was getting pretty good, too! That afternoon she took the only nap she took all week! Titus had fun playing in the shallow end. He also loved jumping into the water. He got to jump from the shallow end ledge and from the diving board! We had a fantastic visit!


Like I said earlier, on Friday of the same week we met my parents for a Rangers game. They were in town for a conference right next to the stadium. We got to park in their hotel parking lot, so we didn't have to pay $15-20 to park! By about the 2nd or 3rd inning the sun was really going down and it started to cool off. It turned out to be a pleasant evening and the Rangers even won!

Mom and me

Mark and me

The field

Rangers win!

Coming soon: Our visit with Mark's family!

Tales of a 7-year-old

Mark has one brother who lives in Memphis, TN. He is married and has two children, a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old. We get to see them twice a year - July 4th week and Christmas week. They always stay a whole week when they come, so we get a nice visit in. Well, yesterday we were all in the pool at Tom and Nancy's house. Our attention was drawn over to the concrete area by the picnic table. The 7-year-old was standing with her legs crossed and doing the "bathroom bounce". Nancy said to run into the bathroom really quick. She said, "I can't! I can't move". Again Nancy repeats to run into the bathroom. Then, the 7-year-old replies with, "Oh, it's too late now." I couldn't help but bust out laughing. When kids are around, life is never boring!

New painted rooms

When we moved into our house we knew we would be painting the spare bedrooms. They had some murals that were not quite our style, as you will see below. We finished this about 1 1/2 weeks ago, but it took me awhile to get the pictures ready! And, for some reason the slideshow doesn't always seem to work - try hitting the refresh button. If you want to view the slide show slowly and with captions, just click on "view all images".

New shades

I am extremely blessed to have Nancy as a mother-in-law. Over the years we have developed a great relationship. She and Tom have always been very supportive of us, and we are grateful for that. When we moved into our house I had mentioned to Nancy that roman shades would look really great on our kitchen atrium doors and they were practical for that space. So, Nancy volunteered to make them for me! We went to Joann’s Fabrics when they were having a 1/2 off sale on the upholstery fabrics. She got them finished this weekend and hung up on Saturday. They look fabulous! Thanks Nancy!

My sweet husband

Today is Mark's 29th birthday! I can't believe that next year he will already be the big 30. Neither of us feel that old. I told Mark this morning that he has to "live it up" this year because it will be the last of his 20's! Here are some great pictures from his early years.

2 weeks old

6 months old

17 months old - love the hair!

Diaper cake

For Allison's shower (see previous post) I made a diaper cake. I had never made one before, but had seen a few and talked to a few people about them. I also found an internet website that gave pretty good instructions. I did not follow them exactly, but they got me headed in the right direction. I am by no means now an "expert diaper cake maker", but since I was doing it anyways, I took pictures of the process. I talked to a few people who had never heard of a diaper cake, so if you ever plan to make one, maybe this post will help.

Materials needed: about 60 step 1 diapers, rubber bands, double-sided tape, ribbon, poster boards, baby items/toys

Step 1: Cut poster board big enough to support the bottom of your cake. I made mine slightly smaller than the cake stand I was using.

Step 2: Roll diapers up and secure them in the center with a rubber band.

Step 3: I put a baby soap bottle in the middle to build around. Make the first layer and secure the entire thing with a rubber band. Then make the second layer and secure with another rubber band.


Step 4: I made a 3rd outer layer. You can make the cake any size you want. I knew that my cake topper was going to be large, so I wanted the bottom bigger to balance it out. I secured this with string because it was getting too big for rubber bands.

Step 5: I decided to use a teddy bear as the cake topper. So, I removed the soap bottle and stuffed the bear's legs in that hole. Then I built the second tier around the bear. I secured it with two rubber bands to make sure it held.

Step 6: Buy a wide ribbon to go around the diapers. This is needed to cover up the rubber bands. I attached it in the back with double-sided tape. I also used some small scrapbooking squares to attach it around the sides.

Step 7: I placed more ribbon on the cake to add decoration. I tied these into bows in the back.

Step 8: Add decorations around the cake to jazz it up! You're finished!

Builder's Tip: I would highly recommend you have another pair of hands to help you. Mark helped me with all of the rubber bands and ribbon that help it together. Sometimes it becomes too much for one person to hold!