Look what I found when I checked on Riley tonight.. I guess we know who he's supporting..

Busy Weekend..

This weekend was busy for everyone in our household... the boys explored Zilker park & kayaked all over Lake Travis with the Sippel boys, and worked together to mow the lawn. I spent the weekend in Houston at a leadership training retreat (www.wayfo.com). Sunday night we all piled up in the bed for bedtime stories and a slumber party.. it's hard to get any sleep with two little rambunctious boys in the bed, but worth it for the cuddles..

Home again...

The blue bowl has returned home safely from its vacation in Canada, although this time it was filled with all sorts of goodies.. Thank you Sippels, that was very thoughtful.. but I'm sure part of it was to ward off any future retaliation..... ; )

Those Sippels are at it again...

It appears the Sippels had some left over blue bowl pieces from the last bowl-napping.. now they are just taunting me..... you can see the rest of the story on Carol's blog.. nice touch leaving a piece at the Canada shore.. ; )

Great Wolf vacation..

While Troy & I were in Vegas, Taggert & Riley were having their own special vacation with Nanny & Papa at the Great Wolf Lodge. With an indoor waterpark, story hour & a room like a log cabin, I'm sure the boys would say they had more fun than we did.
Thank you Nanny & Papa for taking such good care of our babies while we were gone!

Vegas baby...

We're back from 5 days in Vegas, and all I can say is that I need a vacation.. 5 days & nights, 2 shows, fancy dinners, massages, the Eiffel tower, a gondola ride, our walking tour of most of the casinos on the strip, Rum Jungle and hours & hours of table games & slots.. oh, and of course the impromptu concert Terrie & I had at the Mandalay Bay.. (we're famous in Japan.....)
sleep is really overrated..
We were so glad to spend the time with our dearest friends from Oregon, Ethan & Terrie.. we just don't get enough chances to see them..

Happy Birthday..

Happy Birthday Troy!.. I won't say how old you are (41), but there's no doubt you are still a kid at heart.. thanks for ensuring I will always be the young one in the house!!.. since you don't read this blog, maybe others will read it & tell you happy birthday.. ha ha, love you!

Troy & Steve (aka Bowl-napper) Super Bowl 2007 (aka night of the first bowl-napping)

Once again, there's been a BOWL-napping!..

Here we sit in Texas, wistfully staring across the lawn as we patiently await the return of our next door neighbors, the Sippels.. We tend to their lawn, take out their trash, collect their mail & lovingly watch over their home, as they enjoy their two week vacation on the Canada shore...
and how do they repay such love, you ask?... by filling their blog with taunting photos of my beautiful blue bowl!..

I give you, the evidence...

Exhibit A: what is he doing?.. blowing it a kiss??

Exhibit B: what's that hiding behind that Yankee coffee??...

Exhibit C: is that a rotten banana in my bowl??

There are many other photos (you can find them on Carol's blog)... I've barely recovered from the first Bowl-napping (the night of Super Bowl 2007) and the ransom note & bogus broken bowl pieces I kept finding for weeks after the fact.. and here they go & take my bowl into a whole other country!!.... Stephen Sippel!.. you just wait mister!

Settling in...

You know your friends from Buffalo, New York are settling in nicely in the south, when transporting beer down the street in your shorts seems like a good idea.. I'm just sayin'... ;)

We miss you Sippels!! We can't wait for you to make it back from your Canadian vacation.. The street is not the same without you!!

Faux part II...

After little boy tears & a trembling chin, I suspected there would be no way we could get Taggert to wear his hair in a fauxhawk again.. We didn't want to push him to do it, but we wanted him to feel confident enough to not let these other kiddos influence him.
This morning we talked about it again, and then he didn't say anything for awhile..... right before Troy left for San Antonio, Taggert asked him to fix his hair... they fixed it with only a slight spike in the middle & then Troy left for the day..
I told Taggert how great his hair looked & how proud I was of him for not letting those other kids get to him (part of me wanted to mention how their parents must have been raised in a barn to have kids with such bad manners, but I refrained)... we were headed out the door when Taggert stopped & said, "can you make it bigger?".. success!! we ran into the bathroom, I grabbed a bunch of mousse & got it as high as I could. what a great way to start the day.. it's so crazy, because he's only 7... there's no doubt these little speedbumps will only get bigger as he gets older.. now where did I put that owner's manual?....

Taggert & his fauxhawk..

Taggert had been talking about wanting a fauxhawk for awhile.. Troy was against it, but I finally convinced him that it would be fine, just for the summer.. this weekend Troy took the boys to get haircuts, and Taggert came strutting in the house with his new hairdo afterwards..
It was mighty cute.. and this morning, he jumped out of bed, got dressed & ran into our bathroom so I could fix his hair.. a little mousse, a lot of hairspray & a blowdryer helped us get it just "so"..
I had to sell spirit wear at the Teravista Elementary ribbon cutting tonight, so Troy picked up the boys from school. When he got Taggert, his hair was flat, and he was asking to wear a hat when the went to eat.. apparently, a couple of the kids at camp had teased him for his new hairdo- calling him a "dork", an "idiot", saying it was too big or too small.. one kid even punched him while making fun of his hair.. for my tenderhearted 2nd grader, this was a bit much..
When I got home, Troy & I tried to convince him that what these kids said didn't matter, that they were just jealous & that their parents hadn't taught them good manners.. but heck, we've all been there at one time or another, and no matter what your parents said, it still stung.. it's just crazy how much more it stings you when it's your own little one.. I'm going to have to learn to toughen up if I'm going to try and master this Mom stuff..
I think he's done with the fauxhawk.. if I can get him to wear it again, I'll be sure to take some pictures- it's too precious for words..

If you have some time to kill...

Oh.. my.. goodness... I read about this website & decided to check it out... and then, time stood still... all I remember is that at one point, I was laughing so hard tears were running down my face...
more importantly, I had never seen this website.. and I know my brother hadn't seen it until I sent it to him... Yet, some of the entries seemed oddly familiar... I'm just saying..
the website is a compilation of emails mothers have sent to their children.. then, their children totally sell them out by submitting them to this site.. and it's one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.. no doubt..
so, if you have time to kill, and there's no one around to see you collapse into ugly, convulsing laughter, check out http://www.postcardsfromyomomma.com/.. you won't regret it.. I'll look forward to looking for your own personal entries on the site... ; )

Here's an example of one of the emails (the first part is written by the person submitting it):

(Backstory: I am the youngest of 4 children, my mother was terrified for me to leave home and live on my own. I finally found a roommate and a place we could afford, this was her answer to my email informing her of our plans. The funny part is, we aren’t immigrants…)

Grumble,,….grumble,…. You don’t know this girl very well….she could leave you stranded with a lease……she could stab you while you sleep…..she could pour boiling hot coffee on you at breakfast…….valley park??? It floods there!!!! There are bugs there!!!!! They don’t rent to immigrants like you!!!!

Everybody's got a job..

On Wednesday night, Taggert, Riley & I went up to the Henson's Jungle Java to help them get ready for the their big grand opening this weekend.. Troy was out of town, so I told the boys we had to do our part to help out our neighbors... They asked "what exactly are you going to be helping with Mama?".. I explained that I would be helping unload supplies & building tables..

Then they asked what specifically they needed to help with.. I explained that there was a giant playscape in the store, and it was their job to make sure everything on the playscape worked well- from the slides, to the treehouse, to the basketball court.. They were excited to know that they would be helping.. by the time we were heading out for the night, their heads were soaking wet & I had to drag them out of there.. It would appear the playscape is working just fine!

If you are in the Round Rock area, check out the local Jungle Java (http://junglejavaplay.com).. There is no doubt it's going to be a popular spot for kiddos.. Congratulations to Nikki & Gregg on their new business!!

Why I like bunko..

Maybe I just have Vegas on the brain, since we are getting ready to go there.. but I think bunko is a lot like craps.. because:

1- it's fast
2- people are rooting for you to win
3- I don't really know the rules
4- it must be done with a cocktail(s)
5- I'm a big winner
6- you can totally win without knowing the rules

Now, I didn't win $400 like I won at craps the first & only time I went to Vegas, but I did win a big prize of glasses & a cocktail cookbook.. I know you're jealous.. ; )

Really looking forward to next month when we include the husbands.. I haven't told Troy what's going to happen, and since he doesn't read this blog, we're safe.. I'll just think of it of one extra chance for me to win something.. cheers!

The 5th of July..

It pretty much wouldn't be a weekend on our street without some sort of activity with the neighbors.. On Saturday, the Huttons hosted a pig roast.. and by pig roast, I mean they bought a complete 70 pound pig, prepped it & smoked it.. Tina reviewed the prepping pictures and, by the fact that she was having trouble keeping her food down, I'm fairly certain I don't need to know what was involved..
Riley & I bounced in the bounce house together, where he warned me that he was not a toy when I tried to bounce him off his feet.. Troy & Taggert learned that they were experts at "bolo golf" (we think that's what it's called).. Steve & Troy plan to build a set tomorrow..
Don't tell anyone, but we let the kids run around on the 7th green.. that kept them occupied until the sprinklers came on.. One more weekend bbq to go..

Fourth of July on Lake LBJ

Best friend since college, Ginger
We don't know these ladies, just loved the their outfits..
Riley & Aunt Ginger
Taggert with Jackson & Jordan on the lake

We started Fourth of July weekend at "Aunt" Ginger & "Uncle" Stephen's lake house in Kingsland... Lots of good food, a poker run on the lake (Troy got a pair of 8's), fireworks & swimming until everyone was wiped out..

Don't drink the water?? coffee?? tea?...

I'm happy to say I made it home safely from a 5 day conference in Savannah... The town is beautiful, the conference was great & everything was going well, until yesterday.. sometime after lunch, people started disappearing... at first, I thought they were just skipping some of the final sessions to do a little sight seeing.. then, at the final dinner, I noticed entire tables being empty... where was everybody?...
It didn't take long to learn that people at the conference had gotten sick.. horribly, violently sick.. that's what they would say about it when they would tell you in their wide-eyed, intense description.. and it didn't stop.. all night long.. in all, out of a little over 200 people, 64 people got sick, with 4 having to go to the hospital (one via ambulance)... it appears to have begun directly after our luncheon & just continued on...
I am thankful I didn't get sick, but pretty much everyone else I know did.. it was sad to see how poorly the hotel responded.. no one expected them to admit to any food poisoning, but they weren't even kind about people having to check out late because they couldn't get out of bed, or the for the many requests they received in the middle of the night for Pepto-Bismol.. let me know if you ever plan to go to Savannah, and I'll be sure to tell you where not to stay... ;)

While Mommy's gone..

I just got home from a 5 day conference (more on that later).. while I was gone, I received this picture on my phone... Looks like the boys used their time to teach Riley to ride his bike without his training wheels.. while I'm excited that he's growing up & that Troy had a good time with them, it reminded me of the time I was having dinner with a foster child & received a call from home.. Troy said "I just wanted you to know that Taggert loves carrots!"... the important point here is that until that moment, Taggert had never had carrots- or any real food for that matter, as he was still a baby.. there's something about me being out of the house, and Troy wanting to enjoy passing some milestones with the boys..