Random Goings On Around Our House

On Friday we had an impromptu birthday party for Wendy. We had ribeyes, shrimp with an amazing sauce that Derek made, bleu cheese stuffed portabella mushrooms and asparagus. I made two cakes, one yellow and one chocolate. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the night. You'll just have to trust me that we had a good time, I've posted the morning after photos for proof.

Our Little Reader

I can keep him entertained for quite a while if I put him in his wagon with some books.

Learning to use a straw

I've been wanting him to master the straw for a while and it turned out all he needed was something delicious like a strawberry Jamba Juice for incentive.
Notice how he goes from chewing the straw, to observing Teri, to gradually getting better at the sucking action. Way to go Vin!

Sweet Boys

Wesley and Vin were riding around the house today in the wagon when Vin decided Wesley needed a hug.

House Progress

We haven't been by the house much in the past few days but here is our kitchen view from the living room. It used to be a blocked view which we opened up.

Wordless Wednesday

More Pictures from Mayme's

Going to get him tomorrow morning -- Can't wait to kiss him!!!

Our little talking farmer

Vin is at Mayme and Grumps for the week while I work on the house. He couldn't be in better hands and they have all kinds of activities lined up... people to visit, toys to play with, and tractors to ride on. I'm so happy that he'll grow up being close to them. Sometimes it kills me that Vin will be a city kid so I'm going to do my best to expose him to rodeos, cowboys, dirt roads, prairie dogs, tractors, 4 wheelers, barns, horses, steak dinners, and country views of the stars, sun rises and sunsets.


So far he's having a great time and he said "Bye" to his great grandma today as he was leaving. Can you believe Teri and I missed his first word.

Vin on a John Deere tractor wearing his John Deere hat.

Dancing Man

Since Teri is out of town I figured she needed a little Vin action. Here he's got the birthday card Leslie gave me and he's making it sing. Watch his fast fancy footwork at the beginning.

Enjoy Momma! We miss you!

House Progress

Everyday something new and exciting and messy is happening at our house. The kitchen is totally gutted as is the pantry/utility area.

Yesterday my friend Brady and I scraped the popcorn off the ceilings. The electricians were there and had all the power turned off so we scraped for hours with no AC, no fans and no music.

Today the foundation people arrived and started digging. This should be wrapped up in 2 more days.

Tomorrow I take Vin to his Mayme's and then I can spend some uninterrupted time there finishing up the ceilings and starting the paint.

Flashback Friday

This is a birthday card that my Great Grandparents sent my Grand Dad when he was in World War II. Clearly this was a different time in the world but I love the greeting made out of smoke.

On a similar note, Mad Men starts its third season on Sunday. Does anybody else watch this? Dear God I love this show! If your not you can catch up by watching the second season marathon on AMC tomorrow. It's set in the early 1960's in a New York advertising agency, they hit the mark on the clothes, the history and the world when women were just the secretaries and the men drank martinis during lunch. Seriously, do yourself a favor and start watching this!

Wordless Wednesday - Vin and Mark Twain

Mia's Birthday

Our birthday season for the babies officially ended on Sunday when we celebrated Mia turning one. All day I overheard the Mom's commenting on how we couldn't believe they'd grown so fast and were becoming real little people.

We had a wonderful time at the party, the food was delicious and the kids exhausted themselves on the playground.

Birthday girl with Mom and Dad

Cupcakes!!!!!!

Competitive slide climbing

Vin with the birthday girl and her super cute tutu (hand made by her momma) and bubbles.

I love this picture, he looks like a determined jockey.

Trevor and his harem

A hot and sweaty Jackson

Top Ten List - #10

As we prepare to move we’ve decided to do a top 10 list of why we love this house and the neighborhood, and why we’ll miss it so much. Over the next few weeks we’ll continue the list.

#10 The House

How we got the house: We moved into this neighborhood midway through Teri’s culinary school in 2002. We had been in Hyde Park, New York for the past year, and Teri and I returned so Teri could complete her externship at Café Pacific and I’d started back at TWU. We rented the house at 5612 Eastside for 3 years and were not initially impressed with the neighborhood, however the Hudson Valley is a very homogenous area with very few minorities and we were looking to get back to “the city”. At that time Luis and Veronica lived in our current house and they had 3 children, when she got pregnant with their 4th we knew it was just a matter of time before it went on the market. We waited and waited, their newborn son turned one and still they wouldn’t give it up. It was their first house as a family, she loved it and considered adding on bedrooms but finally came to grips with the fact that a 2 bedroom 1 bath house was not big enough for a family of 6 (sound familiar?) We had just gotten back from Cassie’s wedding in the Caymen Islands and they approached us in the driveway, “We’ve decided to sell, if you want it it’s yours.” Adding to the drama Teri had been interviewing for her culinary position at Brinker for 6 weeks and we still didn’t have an answer. We took a leap of faith and signed the closing papers just hours before she got the job offer.
Now you might think that moving across the street would be easy, I mean you just walk your stuff over. In reality it was the worst move e-v-e-r. It’s a long walk with lots of stairs and it just never seemed to end.

The House Itself: 5613 East Side is also known as the Hawpse Homestead. Junius Street used to be Hawpse Street and the Hawpse family was one of Dallas’ founding families. Although the exact build date is unknown we estimate the house is around 100 years old. Our official papers say 1909 but it is not listed on the city register until 1915. However, we do know that Mr. Hawpse died here in 1914 so they must have just moved in when he died. His funeral was also held in the house. They had 5 children and the house remained in their possession until the 1950’s. Mrs. Hawspe died here in 1941. I’ve always wanted to know the original layout of this house. How did they fit 7 people in here? The original wall paper in the master bedroom looks like kitchen décor so that’s also confusing.

A new chapter

Many of you know that we officially sold our house last Thursday. I still can’t believe it’s truly happening even though we’ve started packing and are close to closing on the new house. It’s an exciting new chapter in our lives and we always knew that this house wasn’t big enough for our growing family but if you had told me in May that we would be moving by the fall, I wouldn’t have believed you. We were just casually looking at houses, and then had an offer made on our house without it being on the market and the rest is history.

In the upcoming weeks we will start construction on our new house. It’s in Casa Linda on the edge of Little Forest Hills. We love the neighborhood, have a ½ acre lot with huge pecan trees, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a studio area in the back which will be used for the arts & craft room (bring on the glitter!)

We will continue to rent our current house until the new one is ready, hopefully by October 1st. In the meantime we will be fixing the foundation (minor stuff), electrical, the roof, repairing & staining the hardwood floors, gutting and remodeling the kitchen including knocking down a wall to enlarge the utility, painting, tiling etc. etc. etc.

In order to keep costs down we’ll be painting and tiling the floor along with some demo work. We’ll keep everyone posted on the projects so if anyone want to take a sledge hammer to the walls with us or learn how to tile a kitchen floor they can come help.

This is going to be a very busy two months and I’ve made arrangements for Vin to go to Mayme’s for a week and my friend Leslie is coming to keep him the following week. The goal for me is to not lose sight of my home in the work to build the house. I have committed myself to patience, kindness, compassion and organization during this time. Please pray for me and Teri that I do not kill her as the stress mounts. Did I mention that she’s going to be out of town A LOT? Her next trip lasts 11 days! Oh Lord please send some volunteers my way to help me pack. Maybe I should have a “pack & play” party? Hum…

So now I’m way off track and planning parties, so speaking of parties, we’re going to have a Haunted House Warming on October 31st so start thinking of your costume!

And if you’re asking yourself, “Is this woman crazy? A new house, 7 history classes, a baby, moving and she’s already planning a party”

The answer is Yes, certifiably crazy! Teri already made me promise that Vin could only have one Halloween costume this year instead of the 3 he had last year.

I just had to post his "frig" costume from last year, just pretend it's Flashback Friday. Anyway...

Keep reading me this fall, it’s about to get real interesting around here.