Random Stuff

We’re getting settled in around here from our long trip. I just walked Vin over to Mother’s Day Out to see if they had any space for him and they did. His “girlfriend” Drew was there, so he sat down and started eating goldfish with her and I snuck out.
I feel an enormous sense of freedom - God bless Mother’s Day Out!

These pictures were taken by Bob back in May. Vin looks so goofy and I love it.
By the way… Vin went poop in the potty TWICE this morning – Yea!

I wasn't there when these were taken but I just know he was giving his flag a hug. That's his hug face.

Also, I’ve had several inquires about Vin’s swimming tube suit. Yes, I know he looks funny but this thing is awesome! It was suggested to us by two Mom’s with pools – Deana and Marion. They both swore this was the best invention ever – in fact, Marion bought Vin’s for me.
They are only available at the pool supply store and they give the kids the freedom to “swim” on their own. Vin can jump off the side, turn circles, paddle from one side of the pool to the other and be completely independent. Deana slowly lets the air out of the tube as her children improve their swim skills and then they make the transition without it very easily.
I totally recommend this for any toddler!

Surprise!

The craft and sewing Gods have been smiling on me lately. When I returned from Florida I found that Teri and many special helpers turned the back garage into my craft studio. The change is nothing short of miraculous. When I left the room was hot, dirty and filled with piles of my stuff. Now it is insulated, air conditioned, and dry walled not to mention the transformed furniture.
I cannot begin to imagine how much work and time it took to pull this off. I am so grateful to all those who helped and I can’t wait to have all the girls (and Jeffrey) over for a sewing bee! My wife ROCKS!

So what was the first thing I did after discovering I had my own work space? I scored two fantastic fabric deals at garage and estate sales.
The first was a HUGE bag of “scraps” that are awesome. I really didn’t know what I was going to get when I bought the bag for $5 but discovered lots of large remnants and trims. The woman who owned this had expensive fabric taste, and much of it is Ralph Lauren and high quality pieces. The weird thing is that she liked to cut in the middle. Obviously she had no regard for cost or future use, but I am glad to have her left overs.

Lastly, I ran into an estate sale where the lady was really proud of her stuff, aka the prices were crazy expensive. I saw a set of drapes, they were the old fashioned kind with the hooks on the back side and they looked custom made from ages ago. I liked the fabric, they matched my living room and would look great on the glass doors to help block out the heat, but they were priced at $125 a set.
Then yesterday afternoon Wendy and I were digging in the recycle bin across the street from my house. We found a current issue of House Beautiful (Wendy actually got into the dumpster to retrieve it). Inside the issue were the drapes from the estate sale! Isn’t that crazy! I went back today and they were 75% off so I picked them up for $31.25 Yea!!

Here is the picture from House Beautiful and a close up of the fabric.
I think that Teri took lots of before, during and after pictures of the craft room redo but I haven’t got those to post. Coming soon…

Beach Trips

Then: November 2008

Now:

Florida

A few pictures of our Florida stay. I just downloaded an App that lets me post from my phone so I should have lots of fun stuff heading this way.

Deana and I snuck out of the house while the babies were napping for a roof top drink. Don't worry Paul was home with the kids.

What says summer more than Waterm

Prenap reading with Paul.

Trevor's Second Birthday

Birthday Bounce House fun for Trevor's 2nd Birthday!

The wild attempt for a group picture.

The Birthday Boy and his cake.

Vin was a "helper" on the present opening.

Our 4th of July Celebrations

We stayed in Dallas for this 4thand I can’t tell you the last time we stayed home for this holiday. In the years before Vin we would float down the river and in the most recent years we’ve spent the 4th with my family in either Spearman or Llano.
As it turn out, our neighborhood has a bike/stroller parade that goes down the streets and ends at the park. We weren’t sure what to expect but it was a great experience. They had a marching band and dancing ladies and even Uncle Sam showed up.

The fun part though is the parade theme, each year is different and this year was cartoon characters. Luckily Teri and I have Kermit and Piggy ready at a moment’s notice so we went dressed in our full regalia.

We watched the parade with our neighbors/friends at Liz & Chris’ house along with Marion and Michael and all the kids. Their fish pond was a big hit.

After the parade we came back to our house for ribs, shrimp and margaritas. .
Later that night we went see the fireworks with Wendy, Derek, Jackson and Kira. For Vin, the only thing that could make fireworks more fun was watching it with Jackson. All and all a great celebration weekend.

Swimming Cowboy

He stole his Momma's hat and then circled the pool saying "Giddey up!"

This is how I found him

Walked out to put a load of towels up and came back to...