I can’t believe I haven’t updated this blog since December 28th!

Weird, because I’ve had absolutely nothing going on….

Even BlogHer Ads has given up on me. Where did my ads go?

At any rate, I finally have 5 minutes to sit down at the computer, uninterrupted, my brain is able to string a few thoughts together into a coherent blog post, and its March, so here’s my long-overdue blog update.

Plus I have to get a new cell phone so I wanted to make sure I got all my pictures out of the old one first and it gave me an idea for a blog post summing up the good memories of the last few months whilst skipping over the gory details: my life in cell phone pictures.

I’ll start with this picture that makes me laugh out loud every time I look at it. I think because it reminds me of Calvin from the old Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. Why, you ask, is she sitting in my room eating popcorn naked?
Because life is too short not to, that’s why. I’m sorry, Annie, but this picture will show up again in your future. Possibly on your wedding video.

This is an old one, from last July! We camped at Tyler State Park, got dirty, and ate lots of watermelon.

Here’s Annie having a thoughtful moment at Taco Bueno. And I just really like this picture.

OK, and I promise that all of my pictures aren’t of Annie. I’ll get to Katie Beth in a moment.

Here’s one of many pictures of Annie sleeping. I can’t help it…. she sleeps, and I have to snap a picture. I think its the picture of innocence that tugs at my heartstrings.

One of many after-school trips to Front Street Dairy Queen. Because its healthy, that’s why. Or something like that. Don’t tell Valerie, because she thinks I’m making her kid do homework… not stuffing her full of trans fats.

For about 10 seconds this past fall, I homeschooled my kids. For a lot of reasons. Mostly because it was one of those things I HAD to try or I’d really regret that I didn’t, and I had to get that urge out of my system.

And get it out of my system, I did. Public school ain’t perfect, by any means, but sometimes…. its good enough, by gosh. This is the only picture I got of our entire homeschool experience. KB was back at Caldwell by the second six-weeks, and miracle of miracles, Kids Kaleidoscope had AN OPENING for Annie which I look at as the Lord’s Divine Providence. Praise ye the Lord.

This was, shall we say, a homeschool field trip. (Ahem). To see the puppies at PetLand. Guess which one of my kids REALLY likes to go see the puppies at PetLand? Possibly this kid, who takes a dog stuffed animal everywhere?

Another of our favorite outings: dinner at Don Juan’s on the square with our friends, followed by a walk to the fountain. Its a tradition.

Another one of Annie just being three. Sometimes, though she’s convinced she’s sixteen, I still catch glimpses of her being three. And I have to take a picture because its all too fleeting.

A rite of passage through which all children must journey: discovering that their hind end is HILARIOUS.

Annie has discovered it, all right. And doesn’t hesitate to ask LOUDLY, within earshot of ALL the shoppers at the Granary, “IS MY BOOTY STICKIN’ OUT?”

Which it was. To the embarrassment of everyone at the Granary that day. OR maybe I was the only one embarrassed…

But we’re not all booty-licious all the time.

Sometimes we get in touch with our Inner Geek.


Note to self: This would be another good one for the wedding video.

Another camping trip in October. This time, to Daingerfield State Park. They have mud there. Oh yeah, and dirt. Which I’m still trying to wash out of their laundry all these months later.

Not only was it dirty, it was also cold. Yes, that’s blood on Annie’s forehead. And I can’t remember now why. But she survived it, whatever it was, and that’s the important thing.
Ah, more ‘sleeping children’ pictures. So sweet. So innocent.

Also in October, the girls and I drove down to Pasadena to visit our friends Blake and Bailey.
Then came Halloween. And it was mandatory that every eight-year-old in the country dress up like Hannah Montana.

(In case you didn’t know, one Hannah Montana wig will shed enough hairs to fill a 3,000 square foot house an inch deep in shiny yellow hairs. I’m still vacuuming them up. But wasn’t she adorable?)

The day after Halloween? KB’s eighth birthday. We celebrated with Mia and Heidi at the American Girl Bistro in Dallas.

I love this sweet face. Those freckles!!

Eight candles… wow. How fast time flies!

Because Valerie and I are totally, completely selfless, and this day was all about Katie Beth and not us, we shopped at the Galeria afterwards (the girls wanted to shop at J Crew) and then went to Mi Cocina’s. For the girls… all for the girls. And we were entertained by the ice skaters while we ate.

The following weekend we had a small pajama party at home for KB and 5 little girls. Don’t let the phrase ‘5 little girls’ fool you: I’m pretty sure they heard the ruckus in our sunroom down at Bergfeld Park. It was after this party that I was forced to take up smoking cigarettes. Or maybe I just thought about it….

Stay tuned for part two of My Life in Cell Phone Pictures. Coming soon.