day 180 - candles

(two)



(four)



(seven)

day 179 - love

They really do love each other.

(picture from May 2011)

day 178 - crush

So...we're driving to the gym and the conversation goes like this:

G: Mommy, I have a crush on you.

Me: Oh, that is so sweet! You love me.

G: No. I want to crush you.

Nice.

day 175 - a dream come true

that's what M wrote in her thank you note to Giggy and Opa.

she even made her own birthday cake this year...

that's 7 candles on one tiny little cake!

day 174 - how did they talk me into this?

at the top of the tallest slide at the Rodeo,

G and I were asking ourselves the same question.

while M was ecstatic.

day 173 - the twilight zone

Chad takes G to get his haircut at Doug's Barber Shop.

Stepping into Doug's shop is like stepping back in time.

On this particular day, Chad was not available to take little man to get his haircut.

I have to admit, I felt a little out of place...it's kind of like a man's club in there.

But G knew just what to do...he found the basket of toys under one of the chairs and patiently (and quietly) played while he waited.

When it was his turn, he calmly climbed into the chair and sat incredibly still while Doug gave him a trim.

Amazing.

day 172 - it really shouldn't be this hard

seriously, all i wanted was one picture

day 171 - girls' day

What a wonderful surprise!

M had the day off school, but G didn't.

That can only mean one thing...girls' day!!

We ate out for lunch and then headed over to the Butterfly Center.

(note: Check it out...she's missing 2 front teeth!)

day 170 - chopsticks

M and G are surprisingly good at eating with chopsticks.

This is one of our favorite new spots...Jenni's Noodle House...it's all good in the noodlehood.

day 169 - boys and their toys

so the conversation went a little something like this...

mommy, what are we doing today?

(we are going to buy daddy's christmas present. we're going to get him a tie.)

no. let's get him a chainsaw.

(i don't think daddy needs, or wants, a chainsaw.)

yes. he does.

(i really don't think so.)

...this goes on for sometime until i suggest we call daddy and ask him.

that conversation went a little something like this:

hello sweetheart. g and i are going christmas shopping for you and he is insisting that we get you a chainsaw. will you please tell him that you don't need, or want, a chainsaw.

(well...a small chainsaw would be kind of cool.)

oh ok.

at which point i tell G that daddy apparently, to my surprise, would like a chainsaw.

his response?

i told you.

guess what daddy got for Christmas?

(note: it is now May 9th and the chainsaw is still in the box...i'm just saying, he would have worn the tie by now.)

day 168 - weird

this is G wearing his "safety eating gear."

day 167 - that's a wrap!

there's a surprise "under" the tree for you daddy!

you should have heard all the giggling...music to my ears.

day 166 - he's got it

i had very carefully arranged the pieces of our Nativity scence only to come back and find that G had rearranged it so that all the focus was on Jesus.

i think he understands the real reason for the season.

what a lesson...thanks for the reminder sweet boy.

day 165 - cold

it was cold this morning.

35 degrees...and our little old house is drafty!!

day 164 - "proper" thanksgiving attire

an indian and a pilgrim...

day 163 - a real ballerina

we went to the tree lighting ceremony at the Wortham Center this year.

we didn't actually see the tree lighting, but M did get to take a picture with a real ballerina.

(notice that big hole where a tooth used to be?)

day 162 - from long ago

i found these pictures this morning.

i love them.

look how short his legs were last february (2010).

he's so tall now!

day 161 - reality

reality has set in.

it is may 8th, 2011.

i started this blog just under a year ago, on may 24, 2011.

in theory, since my goal was to post a picture a day, i should be close to being finished.

in reality, i'm nowhere close. i'm on day 161. i should be on day day 349. quite a differential.

so, i've decided to just take my time and enjoy the process of going through photos from the past several months and posting them here.

feel free to follow along...or not, you may have given up on me. i'm sorry.

for now though, i'm going to go pop some popcorn and watch a "mother's day movie" with my 3 favorite people...i promise i'll be back to post soon.

day 160 - Halloween

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I'm so mad that I didn't get any better pictures than this!

But...here's a favorite Halloween pic from long ago.

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day 159 - arBOOretum

Just in case you're a little confused - according to my "official" blog calendar...day 159 corresponds with October 30th, 2010.

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The day before Halloween this year was crazy busy for us with 3 different carnivals/festivals and a soccer game. I'm not sure how, but we managed to survive.

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This is by far my favorite picture from the day...

day 158 - i scream

Enjoying an ice cream with good friends at Hermann Park.

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note: The food dye in these character ice creams is alarmingly "permanent." It's not a treat we indulge in very often. Surely it won't hurt them to have one or two (or three or ten) over the course of their childhood...right?

day 157 - kind of reminds me of someone...

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Not sure if you can tell in this photo, but her jack-o-lantern and M have the same snaggle toothed smile.

day 156 - pumpkin carving

Mama and Daddy came to carve pumpkins with M and G.

This is the 2nd year in a row they've come to do it.

So, since we're Aggies - it's a tradition.

day 155 - the coolest costume ever

So, G wants to be a Ghostbuster this year for Halloween.

Which is a little embarassing because we only realized about 3/4 of the way through the movie that it is entirely inappropriate for a 4 year old and a 6 year old to be watching this movie.

But...he wanted to be a Ghostbuster.

So, I called and then drove all over Houston to find this costume for him...

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And then paid entirely too much for it when I finally found it...

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But it was totally worth the look on his face when he had it on...

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And it really was a cool costume...

day 154 - field trip

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I helped chaperone a field trip to the Houston Zoo for M's 1st grade class.

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Lots of fun...a little crazy, but lots of fun!

day 153 - fire!

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Another favorite from our day with the pirates at the Houston Musem of Natural Science.

I think I've mentioned before how much we love this place!

day 152 - argh!

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I absolutely love this picture.

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What you don't hear is the, "Arrrgh!"

day 151 - random

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Another random picture to fill space.

day 150 - young life

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Our involvement with Young Life Heights as committee members has been such a blessing.

To have the opportunity to support volunteer leaders who spend their free time earning the right to be heard so they can tell kids about God's great love for them and the gift of grace thru Christ is truly humbling.

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This night was a resounding success and confirmation that God is moving here in the Heights thru this ministry.

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Praise be to God!

day 149 - granny

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I remember doing this exact same thing when I was Grady's age...exploring and examining nature with Granny Carrie.

day 148 - the sandy place

The "Sandy Place" is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world.

It is a little piece of land in Austin County that belongs to my grandparents.

I have spent countless days fishing & enjoying nature with the Luedeker family.

I'm so glad Morgan and Grady have the opportunity to do the same.

I hope their children will too...

day 147 - a favorite picture

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Due to my sabbatical, I'm missing pictures from 50+ days.

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I've decided to fill in the blanks with favorite pictures, new and old.

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This is Grady and Chad "pouting."

day 146 - jus' talkin'

Here are G and M, "jus' talkin' " (in G's words).

I overheard a snippet of the conversation...

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G: "Morgan - I had a willy bad day at school today."

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M: "Really? Tell me about it."

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I pray that they will always love and trust each other like they do today...and will continue to have conversations like this for decades to come.

day 145 - random

sometimes I just have fun taking pictures of random things with my super cool camera...

day 144 - security system

Don't worry...it's not real.

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It is G's Storm Trooper Blaster.

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I keep finding it positioned this way - which kind of cracks me up!

day 143 - oops!

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Stuck!

day 142 - Sam Houston

day 141 - feeding time

This is one of our very favorite things to do in Houston.
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We pack up our old bread and head to Hermann Park where we feed the ducks...and the pigeons.

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