It's beginning to SMELL a lot like Christmas

We’ve had the cold weather, and the decorations, now it’s time for some good old fashioned Christmas baking! I grew up in a house that was always filled with an array of beautiful candies and desserts during the holidays. There were a few staple items that we saw every year. One of the most sought after cadies that she made was divinity! This white candy concoction is fairly temperamental. The weather has to be just right and you have to hold your breathe and stand on one leg while you make it. Well perhaps I’m exaggerating, but the weather part is true. While divinity is quite popular in our family, it’s not my favorite. My favorite candies made by my mother are pralines! Mmm…you can’t go wrong with one of those! It’s just pure sugar and butter with the occasional pecan floating in it! I don’t have much need for the pecans! It’s always a good idea to be near by while my mom is making this so that you can get first dibs on the bowl! Those are a couple of the most memorable candies that my mom made.

Now it’s my turn to create traditions and memories for Mae. Last night I spent many hours in the kitchen cranking out delicious edibles! Some of the items are just recipes that I have become fond of, and others are recipes that Ashton grew up eating. Ashton’s mother also had a menu of items you knew would be around at Christmas. This year I made her haystacks and peanut clusters. I will probably go ahead and make her peanut brittle as well. This year from my own repertoire I am making pinwheel cookies, red velvet cake balls, fudge, cupcakes, Bundt cakes and countless other items. I try and spend a couple of days baking as much as I need to give as gifts and for the family to enjoy. If I don’t put a time limit on the baking, it could go on for days! I think people enjoy receiving delicious gifts that are made with love. Especially those people I know that have no desire to bake or create the wonderful items! There is something about a buffet of treats in the house that makes it feel like Christmas.

In addition to baking over the weekend, we managed to squeeze in a trip to see Santa. This is the first year that Mae actually knows what is going on. We took her to see Santa at Mrs. Bairds. They have a great Santa and the entire setup is great. As a bonus they give you donuts, milk, cocoa and cinnamon toast after you visit Santa! Mae was so excited once we got up to the front of the line. She acted a little nervous which made me think "this isn't going to be good". But then she ran up and hopped in his lap. She told him that she wanted a car, but she has since changed that request to a bike. I'm thinking Santa is more likely to get her a bike. We shall see! Have a mentioned that have a child is the best? It is!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The Christmas season is in full swing at our house! Having a child during the holidays makes everything better. Mae is just loving all of the lights and ornaments. We even put a little 4 foot tree in her room and she put all of the ornaments on it. She was so proud! Last year we decided that we would forgo the real tree this year and buy an artificial tree. Fast forward to this year and Ashton pretends like that conversation never took place. I gave in and had him go pick out a tree for us. I was pleasantly surprised when he brought home this beautiful tree. I like it for now, but once those needles start hitting the ground...it's all over! In the meantime, I'm going to love it!

I learned a valuable lesson this week. Mae asked to have her cousins over to play on Thursday evening. They came over and during their visit we decided to hang our outdoor lights. We had the blinds open on all the windows so that we could watch them play as we worked outside. At some point, the two youngest made their way to the Christmas tree and opened 4 gifts. My 8 year old niece came out to tell me. Silly little girls are just so excited about the gifts! I'm just happy that the gifts they opened were not theirs!

So far, Mae has asked on a daily basis "When is Santa coming??" When I tell her, this has been followed by "Okay" and also tears on occasion. We are doing the Advent calendar as a countdown, and I also made a countdown craft to help put it in perspective for her. We planned on visiting Santa this weekend, but we didn't get around to it. I've been asking Mae what she wants Santa to bring her. She first says "Toys!" then I ask "What kind of toys" and she replies "Purple ones!" The innocence of children is so refreshing!

We were lucky to get some snow flurries earlier this week. Ashton and Mae enjoyed the snowfall before heading to school! I'm hoping that we get some snow this year. There is nothing more fun in Texas than a snow or ice day. I just love to sled!

This weekend my family had a staycation. We all spent the weekend at our parent's house and enjoyed holiday cheer together. We also ventured out to Holiday in the Park. It was nice and cold out there on Saturday, but we all survived! Nothing beats being with family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Our Family to all of our Friends and Family!!!

We have been pretty busy lately, sorry that I have not taken the time to post any blogs...

Mae is still enjoying her first semester at preschool and recently had her school pics taken, and we think they turned out as pretty as she is. Check out the Pose Above!!! Luckily we have all avoided the swine flu, but Mae has been diagnosed with asthma, hopefully it is seasonal and she will outgrow it soon, in the meantime we have to give her breathing treatments any time she has a coughing fit. Mae handles it very well, she is such a big girl - somebody please slow down the hands of time...

One night, towards the end of all of the rain we all got in N Texas, I was lying in bed about to fall asleep when I started to get hit in the face with water - and what I found was a steady stream of water coming out of the ceiling and hitting the fan! So we contacted several roofers and were lucky that we had previous hail damage that the insurance would cover. So this past Monday we had a new roof put on our 54 year old house, so now we will not worry about getting wet while it rains. And since the hail also damaged our gutters, Meredith gets her wish with changing the trim color and we get new white gutters to boot!

We recently took Mae to a good friend's wedding, not sure how she would behave, but to our surprise she was perfect. She danced for hours at the reception and we all had a wonderful time. I will post pics as soon as I locate them.

Happy Halloween

Thursday was a fun day in our family! We bought some newspapers and to our surprise Mae was on the front page!! No joke! It made me so happy to see my little sweetheart all dressed up in her costume three times in the newspaper! Above is the picture that was featured in the paper. They brought her into the photo studio for a professional photo shoot. She was a complete natural, and they kept asking..."Has she done this before?" "She's like a little model!". Very cute!

That same day we were scheduled to appear on Good Morning Texas for the costume contest. We traveled to Dallas and had a fun morning at the WFAA studio. Mae did wonderful and was a lot of fun. There were five other contest winners and they were all pretty cute. Of course I think Mae was the best. It was a good time and I hope Mae

has fond memories of it when she gets older.

On the Set of Good Morning Texas

In the green room

Getting ready

A Second time in the Winner's Circle

I got the email yesterday that Mae was chosen as a finalist for the Good Morning Texas costume contest…AGAIN! She was chosen last year when I made her cupcake costume. She was super cute in that costume! This year she is wearing a Cotton Candy costume. She’s a fluffy sea of pink! The contest is open to those who do homemade costumes for their children.

For me it’s a no brainer to make my daughter’s Halloween costume. We’ve been having Halloween Parties for quite some time, and every year Ashton and I have made our costumes. Before we had Mae I would even make my dog’s Halloween Costumes. I might be a little crazy, but I love making costumes. Growing up I don’t recall ever having a store bought costume. How boring is that!?! I love the idea of creating something that is all your own. I can only hope that Mae will always allow me to make her costumes rather than grab one off of the rack!

This week we are scheduled to take Mae to the Star – Telegram office for a photo shoot and interview and then next week Mae and I will appear on Good Morning Texas to model and explain her outfit. So, set your DVR or Tivo and check Miss Mae out on Thursday, October 29th. Good Morning Texas comes on Channel 8 at 9am. I will post a link to the broadcast some time after the show. Also, check out the October 29th addition of the Star-Telegram for her photo! Wish her luck!

More rain?...Seriously?!?

So, the rain continues, and so does feeling like a prisoner indoors. It’s been about a month since it started raining, and I’d say it’s high time that it knocks it off. This weekend we chose to not let the damp weather put a damper on our plans. Friday night Ashton and I decided to have a date night. We went out to Six Flags for some fun. To our surprise and excitement, there were hardly any people at Six Flags. That equals…no lines!! Woo-hoo! We went and rode every ride we wanted, as many times as we wanted with no lines! I felt like a kid running from ride to ride. Ashton is an adrenaline junky, but when it comes to rides and roller coasters not so much. He’s pretty much a light weight. He will ride everything, but there is some complaining afterwards. It took us less than an hour and a half to ride everything. It was a lot of fun. We go to Six Flags quite a bit, but it’s always with Miss Mae, and we don’t ride many rides. Of course we make it all about her when we go! It’s always fun.
Saturday we woke up with the plan of going to a farm near us to pick out a pumpkin. We geared Mae up with rain boots and headed out. It was cold and drizzly, but we had a great time. We got some good photo ops which I always enjoy! We ended up with a giant pumpkin that I’m sure we will carve up at a later date. Sunday there was a break in the rain and Ashton was able to put of the rest of the walls for Mae’s Fort. That afternoon we gathered materials for her roof and he was able to get it on just in time for it to start raining again! Her fort is made of recycled wood from a deck we use to have. The roof shingles are leftover from some roofing my parent’s did on their house. The only material we’ve purchased so far is the plywood to make the roof. Not too shabby! I’d have to say this is a very green building! We plan on painting the door and any trim we add to the building. The interior will also be painted. After that, the fort will be done. Mae is already enjoying her fort! It’s a good place to go to get out of the rain and still be outside! Good times!

Rain, rain Go AWAY!

I probably love the rain more than the average person, but enough is enough already! We have been getting soaked over the last month, and it’s really putting a damper on our weekends! This past weekend Ashton was able to get some major chores done in our backyard just in time for it to start raining. This left no time to do the fun outdoors stuff we wanted to do. We had about an hour to work on the fort we are building Mae in the backyard. Then the downpour began!

I’m not saying it wasn’t a nice and relaxing weekend. It was definitely relaxing, but it’s sad to keep a two year old cooped up in the house. Sunday morning Mae put on her new rain boots that Grandma got her and went out to splash in puddles with daddy. While they were outside I made some donuts. It seemed like the right kind of breakfast for the weather. That was about the extent of Mae’s outdoor fun for the weekend.

Normally on a rainy weekend we would take her to the mall to ride the horseys and to play on the playground. Over the last few weeks this option has become less desirable due to all of the flu outbreaks. I prefer to keep Mae in a little bubble for the time being!


This coming weekend we don’t have any plans so let’s home that we get lucky enough to have beautiful fall weather minus the rain!!

Just Hanging Out

We haven't been up to too much lately. It seems like the three of us have all had some form of sickness, but we've been lucky enough that it's all been minor. Mae was tested for flu, but it ended up just being a horrible cold. Over the past couple of weeks we've also had a little glimpse at Fall weather. My personal favorite!! I'm anxiously awaiting for the weather to be here for good!

Last Friday night we went out to Six Flags and the weather was glorious!! And an added bonus was that the park was having a private party so there were very short lines. Good times!!

A couple of months ago I sketched out a fort for Ashton to build for Mae. I sketched it out with the intention that we would use existing wood to build the fort. Ashton got pretty bored on Sunday and was looking for projects to do. He started on Mae's fort. I think it's going to be super cute and Mae will get lots of use out of it! I can't wait to see it complete! I can just see her wanting to do campout in it. Fun! She was daddy's little helper! We don't have any plans this coming weekend so I'm sure the fort will get close to completion!

I looked at our calendar yesterday and we don't have any plans for the next two weekends! I'm really excited about that! Woo-hoo!!

Uncertain...

We went on a mini Vacation last weekend to Uncertain, TX - On Caddo Lake. Where is Uncertain, one might ask, well it is where the trail ends and the Cypress Trees Begin in Far East Texas. Uncertain is a city that we have been visiting, as a family, for almost 10 years. The town is actually at the end of the road, which seems to lead to nowhere. Once we arrived, we felt right at home and began relaxing. After the 3+ hour drive, Momma, Mae and I all took a relaxing nap.

Overall, It was a Very relaxing weekend with the 3 of us and GrandDad and Lulu. The cottage that we rented was one that Meredith and I have stayed at many times over the years with Meredith's Family. Our only real activities were Canoe rides and a boat Tour of the Lake.

GrandDad and I took Mae on a Canoe Ride and she Loved Every minute of it - It might have been the Quietest I have ever seen her. She seemed to be sitting, relaxing and just taking all of the natural beauty in!Mae and Momma decorated cakes and I think Mae likes sprinkles more than the cake!
We all took a tour of the Lake in a very unique boat, one that would take us to areas of the lake that most do not see. Caddo lake was once the only natural Lake in Texas. Mae was not too excited to be on this boat being that it was her nap time...so after fussing for a couple of minutes, she fell fast asleep in her mommas lap and slept for the rest of the 45 minute tour. Our tour Guide, Billy, has lived on Caddo Lake his entire life, which made for an interesting tour! We are already thinking about our next trip out, maybe in the Spring.

What's Been Going On

Well, we’ve been going thru some adjustments in our household. We now have Miss Mae in preschool 5 days a week and Ashton is attending college in the evenings two nights a week. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks!

This past weekend Mae and I were on our own with the beginning of Dove hunting season. Who wouldn’t want to go shoot the bird of Peace. Anyways…Mae and I had a lovely weekend. We spent some time at Grandma & Grandpa’s house so that I could get some sewing done with the assistance of my mom. Mae’s school didn’t tell me that she’d need a nap mat until the Friday prior to school starting. She went the first week just using a couple of blanket, but now she has the prettiest nap mat in class. I found a “simple’ pattern online and created her nap mat from that. The fabrics I chose were pretty and so cuddly, but not the most friendly to work with. It was a challenge, but in the end I’m happy with the way it turned out.
That evening we met up with Lulu for some shopping and a little “Girl’s Night Out”. We headed out to get Mae some new shoes. She has plenty of pairs, but she has become quite the picky Fashionista! She now argues with me over what shoes she will wear. I’ve even had to return a pair of shoes that she refuses to wear. I’m glad that they still had the tag on them! I’m only guessing that the next argument will be over clothing. On her third day of preschool she decided that the only thing missing from her outfit was a bonnet. Yes, a bonnet. My child refused to take it off, and went to school wearing. So funny. I’m sure teachers see all kinds of crazy stuff from the little ones. By the time I picked her up from school, she had removed the bonnet.

The transition to preschool has been very easy for Mae. She loves going to school, and if she hears you mention school she gets so excited. The school is wonderful, and her teachers are exceptional. Her teacher has been teaching for 43 years! I think Mae is really going to thrive in this environment.

On Sunday Mae and I planned on going to Six Flags. As a season pass holder we had a coupon to bring a friend for free. We asked Uncle Wade to come as our friend. We had a great time walking around and riding a few rides. The only complaint I had was how miserably hot it was!! So humid too! I think we all enjoyed being together and having some fun. Mae was so exhausted after our outing she took a 4 hour nap!
Monday morning Ashton returned home from his hunting trip all stinky and hairy! We spent the entire day doing nothing! That was a great way to spend the day.

I’ve also started a little mini-remodel. When we bought our house, it didn’t necessarily meet all of the items on our wish list, but I saw potential in it. We’ve (mostly Ashton) have remodeled our living room and kitchen so far. The next room I’m working on conquering is the mud room. When we remodeled the kitchen, we removed the wet bar from the mudroom to reuse the cabinets in the kitchen. That left us with a wall that needed to be textured. I have now textured the wall and I’m working on picking out a paint color. The mudroom is going to be changed into a dining room. It’s a small room, but it will make a cozy dining room. I really enjoy having a place to host meals for big groups. This room shouldn’t take long to remodel. We still need to scrape the popcorn off of the ceilings and texture them. The biggest thing after that is polishing and sealing the tile floor. I hope that we can have this process complete by Thanksgiving so we can host a meal for Ashton’s side of the family. Wish us luck!

We have another packed weekend ahead of us. More fun times to come.

First Day Of Preschool

The first day of preschool was a success! The day started off great with Mae sleeping in. She had some breakfast and we got ready for school. As soon as she was dressed, she was ready to leave!! We got her ready a little too early. We all three headed up to school and walked her to class. She couldn't get in there fast enough. We said our goodbyes and she headed into class. We stood outside to sign her in, and we overheard the teacher say "Mae is dancing for us!" That made me smile and we left. I thought about her all day. When I arrived at the school to pick Mae up, she had no interest in leaving! She was having too much fun! I finally talked her into leaving. My poor girl looked so exhausted! Let's hope that she is always this excited to head to school!

Week and Weekend Wrap up

What a fun week we had. Mama took off all week to be with Mae during the week prior to her starting preschool. We filled the week up with lots of fun. One of the fun highlights of our week was going to the Dallas Children's Museum. In general I'm not a fan of Dallas, but in this case Dallas did something right. The museum was great. Mae loved being there and explored everything. She really enjoyed putting on the firefighter apparel.

We filled the rest of our week with playing at different parks and just spending time together. We did go over to Grandpa's pool a few times, but for one reason or another we never ended up getting in the pool. Mae opted for bubble baths instead. I guess she just wanted to get in the water. She's a crazy girl.




There are a lot of changes going on in our household this week. Mae is going to preschool for the first time and Ashton is going back to college. It's going to take some getting use to, but it will be great. We went to Mae's preschool on Friday to meet with her teachers. We are so happy with the teachers she has, and I feel totally comfortable with leaving Mae in their hands. It's hard to go from having a close family member watch her to a new person. It will all be great! Mae is so excited! I was packing all of her things tonight, and she was excited to see her backpack and lunch box. Let's home that mama keeps her composure while dropping her off at school tomorrow!!

Wordless Wednesday

Wonderful Weekend

All weekends are great, but the one’s where I have Friday off are even better! I normally try and plan something outside of the house on my Friday’s off, but I didn’t this time. I considered going to Six Flags with Mae, but it’s just too hot. So instead we just stuck around the house and played. At one point Mae brought me one of her Golden Books. She was pointing at the back of the book saying “I wanna ride a boat” while pointing at a tug boat. This might sound familiar (see a few posts back). First it was a horse and now a boat. She has also requested a bus ride, but we have yet to do that. When she was pointing at the book I told her we could not go ride on a boat today, because we don’t have a boat. This was not enough for her. She then decided that she needed to throw a fit about it. How could I not throw on my clothes and take her on a boat ride?? I’m such a mean mama! I did mention to Mae that her Granddad has a boat and maybe sometime she could go on it. We carry on with our day with only a few more mentions of riding a boat. After lunch time we traveled down to Grandma & Grandpa’s house to swim. I tried to sell the pool raft as a boat, but she wasn’t really buying it. After swimming it was time to head home for a nap. We took a good, long nap. By the time she woke up, her daddy was home. The first words out of her mouth upon waking were “I wanna ride a boat!” Like most daddy’s they will do anything to make their little girls happy. So, he get’s on the phone with Granddad and sees if it’s okay for us to take his boat out for a spin. Off we go to ride a boat! Instant gratification! By the time we drove out to the lake and got ready to leave the slip, we only had time to take a short spin before the sun set. Mae loved every minute of it! She started shouting “woo-hoo!!” and even got to help daddy steer the boat. Good times! Stay tuned for her next crazy request that we fulfill. She will probably want an Oompa Loompa next!

I wish Ashton luck finding one of those!

Saturday we were up early to have a garage sale. We both loathe having garage sales, but we had some items we were sure would sell. I guess we were wrong. It was the worst garage sale I’d ever had. We packed up after about two and half hours of very little traffic. I will be calling someone to pick up all the leftovers this week. While going thru stuff to put in the garage sale Ashton handed me a huge box of wires to untangle and sort. While doing this, I came across this rigged up wire! How crazy and dangerous does this look!! Come to find out, he used this wire at our old house! Thank God it never burned the place down! What a crazy man!

Sunday was a day that we knew would be busy. Over the years we’ve moved quite a few times, and sometimes certain items just can’t go with you. When you live in a downtown loft it’s just not very easy to get a piano up to it, and then when you sell your house and have to store all of your belongings the piano must have a home. Luckily in both of these situations my brother and sister in law have taken custody of our piano. This is a very special piano because Ashton’s mom received it for her 16th birthday. We love it, and were very excited to get it back in our home. This weekend seemed like a perfect time to pick it up because we were renting a trailer to get trees for our backyard. Ashton picked up the piano at 10am and then went to get the trees in the afternoon. The piano delivery went flawless! We are always so stressed about moving the piano! Mae loves the piano and she played and sang along with it off and on all day. Ashton is really talented when it comes to musical instruments so he was trying to teach her a few things.

As for the trees…we almost didn’t get trees. Ashton and his father went to Dallas to get the trees from some in-laws that own a tree farm. This sounds easy enough, but it wasn’t. Long story short, we have three beautiful trees to plant in our backyard. As you can see, Ashton was quite tired after transporting the huge trees to the backyard. Mae must have been worn out too!We have two Live Oaks and one Bald Cypress. Soon we will have those planted and get our backyard project moving along! It was a wonderful weekend!

Wordless Wednesday