My Penguin Patch

Kim, Missie, Kara and Sherri at TCL Training freezing their hineys off!

As a Girl Scout leader, I am so excited to show my girls everything there is to do in the organization.  Especially the experiences of camp.  Well, in order to take your girls camping you have to get training to do so.  So a few weeks ago, I took a four hour course and learned some basics.  These were the ladies that I sat around, so these are the ladies that I was grouped with for the big camping weekend portion of our training.  And let me say, I am so glad - I think if I had been paired with anyone else it wouldn't have been as great a time as it was.  These ladies taught me so much about what to bring and ideas on activities with the girls.  Over the weekend, I learned how to tie knots, how to do some orienteering, found out about some creepy bugs and poisonous plants.  We also took a hike through the property out there by Utopia. I've been out to Camp La Jita before, so I knew the area was beautiful. But I missed so much, because this time, I was shown a whole other side to the camp. We went to the Green Chapel - a gorgeous outdoor chapel. There are dinosaur tracks out there - actual dinosaur tracks! And we went back to one of the most beautiful areas of the campsite - out by Storybook Tree. It's this awesome tree that is humongous! The opening in the tree is really small now due to the roots shifting or something... but used to, you could get in there with a bunch of girls and read them a story. I'm so excited to plan our girls' first camping trip.

The opening in Storybook Tree

A view of Storybook Tree from the roots.  This tree was massive - it took 18 people standing around it stretching out their arms, to wrap all the way around!!!

We also did a lot of cooking this weekend.  I can start a charcoal pit like nobody's business now.  I always thought that if you went camping your menu consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs and sandwiches - for breakfast, bring honeybuns.  But no, oh my gosh, there's so much more that you can do!  I ate better out at my camping weekend then I typically do here at the house!  We had breakfast burritos one morning on the propane stove - learned how to work one of those too!  Then for lunch we fired up the charcoal pit and put together a quick and easy chicken and rice casserole.  It was so delicious, I still have to hunt Sherri down for the recipe.  Then, for dinner we wrapped up some hamburger meat, onions, cheese and tater tots in some foil and just threw them on the hot coals for about a half and hour and voila!  I still think it was just the neatest thing, and wish dinner at the house could be that easy.  

This is Green Chapel.  When we first started out for Green Chapel, I was looking for a building - I had no clue.  This picture does it no justice.  This site was absolutely gorgeous!

I really didn't think it would be that cold while we were out there, I mean it's only an hour and a half away from San Antonio and it hadn't been that cold around here.  Oh no!  It's a world of difference in temperatures between here and Utopia.  I had ear covers, a scarf and some cheap gloves that cost me $0.50.  I was fine with that stuff in Arizona - surely I'd be fine with it here.  Uh... not really.  Thankfully Sherri brought extras - turns out she's done this before!  She let me borrow that adorable blue/green hat on my head which really helped out as far as staying warm goes.  It got done to the low 20's the first night out there and the second night wasn't much better!  So we all earned our Penguin Patches this weekend for camping in below freezing weather.  I think I'm going to start putting all these patches on a tote bag or something, I'm rackin' 'em up!

Christmas Lights!

Christmas Display 2008

So this is it!  Our wonderful Christmas display that we worked so hard on.  There was me threatening Jeff's life, Jeff crying like a girl begging to come off the roof because... 'It's too steep, I might fall and die!'  Oh give me a break!  I mean I would totally be up there if it weren't for my fear of heights and my bad knee and ankles.  Plus, I fall easily even when I'm not on an incline up there in the wind and the cold.  I started thinking that he might be right, I mean what if he fell off the roof and at the most might break his leg - that would put him out of work, which means no money, which means no house or car, which means 'Hi Mom, can we stay with you for a few months?!'   So we went and rented an extension ladder from Home Depot.  And he was up and down like a pro on that thing - which I guess is part of what he does for a living.  But he had it done within an hour and a half.  We plugged it all in, ran outside and saw our beautiful house.  I'm so pleased with it and so proud of Jeff for doing everything I asked him to.  I know it was a pain in the ass and he was ready to kill me, but this was important to me this year.  

Unfortunately, someone took it upon themselves to steal our yard card yesterday.  I walked outside and noticed it missing right away.  The only thing I can figure is these junior high kids that walk home by our house everyday.  They're all a bunch of little punks - or dress that way anyhow.  You know what, they act like it too, I've had to chase them out of the neighbor's yard on more than one occasion.  It was there in the morning and at 3 pm, but an hour later it was gone.  Sigh, the youth of today...  So I'm pretty disappointed, Jeff is pissed.  I mean that was the only yard card in our neighborhood, we felt so unique putting it up.  Oh well.  What I would really like to do for next year is get some wooden cut outs of some Charlie Brown characters and the tree.  Wonder how hard it is to do that yourself... 

Spit Bubbles

Kaitlyn having fun blowing bubbles in the store...

You'll have to excuse the quality of the photo, I had my phone handy when I took this picture.  Remember how much fun this used to be?  You'd form a bunch of spit at the front of your mouth, lick your lips and then start opening your mouth slowly so to form a spit bubble.  Try doing it now and people look at you like your weird, crazy and disgusting - at least that's what was shouted out at me by passerbyers (okay so that's not actually a word, (I know right!  You'd think it was!) but I looked it up and even though it's not in the dictionary and my computer's freaking out on it because it's misspelled (it's all highlighted and underlined), it is commonly used).  Nobody was startled when Kaitlyn was doing it though, it was all.... 'Awwww, look how adorable!'  What the hell?  I can't be a kid at heart?  I can't want to share in this innocent activity with my daughter?  

Hmmm, you know what else is weird about this photo?  It looks like she's not wearing any clothes!  She's always doing that, pulling her shirts and dresses of her shoulder.  Makes me even more worried about her apparent, impending future.  Anywho, so she was dressed she likes to look half naked. 

Cute little stripper...

"My only job in life is to keep her off the pole.  There's no great fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper - you f*ed up!"  ~Chris Rock

I'm having a hard time coming to terms with this... problem.  Kaitlyn, for the past year, has been showing the signs of a disturbing future.  It doesn't matter where we are - Sea World, church, the park, in the backyard, at the symphony earlier today, the store... and it doesn't matter what shape - square, circular - makes no difference.  If there is a pole or something that resembles a pole she is on it like white on rice.  And spinning around it and doing this little walk around it.  Then, get this... we're at the IMAX this weekend to see Madagascar 2...

side note - Oh my gosh, this movie is so funny and cute.  Don't get me wrong I liked the first one better, but this one was definitely worth the sequel!  If you go and see it, you'll get to the part where it's all about the hippos and they start playing what Jeff and I have agreed to be the greatest song of our time, "Big and Chunky."  In fact, it's my ringtone for him now!  =)  Don't worry if he could have ringtones on his phone it would be mine too!

...and there's these little poles to hold up the line forming ropes or what not right... she gets on that and starts twirling around, trying to spin it with her legs wrapped around it.  Then when she busts her butt because she hasn't quite mastered that move yet... I tell her to get up.  You should have seen this girl get up.  Looked like a seasoned pro.  

I'm worried, Jeff's ready to have her taken to the covenant.  We are thinking of ways to address this issue.  The only thing I can think of is to take away the clear heels we got her for Christmas, maybe get rid of the trees in the front yard.

I shouldn't be doing this...

Was what kept coming to my mind yesterday.  Every time I hit the bumps in the road letting me know that I was swerving into the lane next to me.  

It was just a leisurely drive through the countryside.  I couldn't stop looking at the trees, all starting to change colors and the birds flying somewhere for winter I'm sure.  And the cars that passed by with children in the backseat laughing with each other.  Then my mind would wander to back when I was a child and how the first time I ever drove out of Houston, TX was to San Angelo when I was 14 years old.  We were in this old white Mercury, whatever the name was for the Mercury version's of the Ford Taurus.  The A/C didn't work so we had to leave super early so we weren't in the car during the heat of the day.  After the seven hour trip our hair looked awesome when we arrived in San Angelo.  We had taken the plain route down I-10.  I now know there are much prettier, albeit longer, ways to go.  But I was awestruck at how beautiful the country was.  Every downhill glide getting to view all these rolling hills, with all their different colored trees was breathtaking to me.  You know how they blasted down the through some of the hills to make room for the road?  I had no clue that wasn't a natural occurrence until 3 some odd years ago.  (Jeff teaches me a lot!)  I just had never been out of the city of Houston, except to go to Galveston and that doesn't count, cause really it's just a suburb.  Then I saw that those things that I had always read about in westerns and seen in the movies really do exist!  I saw my first tumbleweed ever in San Angelo.  Wow, see how sidetracked I got in the post, now imagine that but when I'm driving!

Right, so anyhow, that's pretty much what I was thinking about - that and I wondered how unsafe it really was to stop on the side of the road get out and snap a couple pictures of this one cluster of trees.  You had orange, yellow and green all together.  No red ones yet.

The only problem with this story is that, I wasn't driving in the countryside.  I was driving all around downtown San Antonio on 70 mph freeways congested with traffic.  I was not fit for the road yesterday.  I can't tell you how many times I swerved or almost took a turn to fast because I wasn't paying attention to the signs beforehand telling me that it was coming up.  Taking a 35 mph curve at 70 is not exciting and my 'burb can't handle it.  (off track thought... maybe I should name my car Burbra... ahahahahaha!  I crack myself up!)  I was constantly worried that another motorist was going to call me in to the cops suspecting I was a drunk driver.  (another off track thought... did I really just laugh at that and think it that cleverly done?  I need adult interaction)  But thankfully, I made it home in one piece and without getting pulled over.  (one more off track thought... I wonder what Crystal is doing later today)  

Help!  I have adult ADD!!!!

Halloween 2008

Here's our new cat... I think we'll name her Elsie

The hottest star on the scene right now, Hannah Ontana.  Jeff's thinking of joining her act and I think they're going to do a TV show.  We're so proud!

And Iron Man came by, he was able to fix things around the house, scare that bully back to where she came from and gave the kids some vitamins - extra iron.

My GREAT Deal!

My steal of a deal!

I found this most adorable sweater dress at JCPenney's this weekend.  They were having some unbelievable sales on their winter clothing and Ashlyn's never had a great winter wardrobe before.  So I decided to get it started.  My friend Crystal was with me and she pointed out how cute this was.  I had never noticed it till she pointed it out.  Then I couldn't live without it for Ashlyn.  

HAD to get these to go with the dress!

I couldn't necessarily let her wear tennis shoes with this adorable dress and she didn't have any brown dress shoes... So off of my now-realized-shopaholic friend Crystal's recommendation, I went to Burlington Coat Factory to find some shoes.  And that's when I ran across these cool-ass boots, I mean check out the cool fuzzy tassles hanging off.  She's gonna be so posh!  

Aren't they the most awesomest boots ever?  As Kaitlyn would say

"Oooooooh, dat's so tute!!!!"

They were the last ones in that color and they happened to be her size.  Fate!  (sing-song voice - Fay-ate)  They had a pink, but looking at them in the box already looking dingy, I just knew the dark brown was perfect for her and for the whole ensemble.  The cost of these boots were not outrageous, but they did cost more then what I typically spend on my own shoes!  But she HAD to have them.  

And then I HAD to buy stuff to go underneath it...

She'll be wearing it in the winter, she'll need her legs and arms covered!

So, Hello!  It's a sweater dress, she won't be wearing it in the summer, she'll be wearing it in the winter.  The harsh Texas winter in San Antonio.  There are freak blizzards that might happen so the rest of her arms and legs HAVE to be covered up as well.  So I decided to go hunting for the perfect undergarments, dragging my husband store to store as I went along.  Two different colored tights and three different shirts later and we have an outfit that's able to be worn six different ways.  And my steal of a deal?  Ended up costing me about $60.  Sigh, it was so worth it!