Champions

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Congratulations to the Allen Eagle Football team on their Texas University Interscholastic League 5A Division 1 State Championship win. It was a thrilling game to watch, even if we only caught the last three minutes of the fourth quarter on TV.

We would also like to send a shout out to the Muleshoe Mules. The cross county rivals of Holly's alma mater (the Friona Chieftains) won the Texas UIL 3A Division 1 title.

High School Football in Texas, like no other!

Eli's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Eli's 1st birthday a week early since it is so close to Christmas and we wanted our families to be able to come. He did great even without an afternoon nap, ate up his yummy cake and entertained everyone.

This is the super soft teddy bear from Justin's grandmother Nannie. Eli loves it, hugs it close and lays his head on it like a pillow. So sweet.

Eli found his deflated balloons the next morning and was tangled in them before we could even get to him- he had a ball before we cut him loose!

The fabulous monkey cakes that our Nabbey made for Eli. The little one was all his, as you'll see below. What a very special gift Abbey- thank you for helping us make this special day even more so. And they tasted great! The monkey heads were chocolate and the party hats were white- crowd pleasers!

A couple of minutes into the festivities, Eli realized that he wasn't going to get Mama's 'look' and the mid-meal clean up that usually follows when he makes a mess.

And a few minutes later...

It really was a great party to celebrate a great year. We love you precious Eli and pray that each year brings more joy and love to you and that you know how very special you are. Happy birthday little monkey!

Our Little Monkey

We have an open floorplan that doesn't allow much opportunity for the use of baby gates so we made our own. This doesn't work unless you are in Eli jail with him, but if you are wanting to lounge and passively play, he will stay corralled.

This was a new one this week. We had decorated the Christmas tree and hadn't put the ornament tubs back in the garage yet. Justin was in the living room with Eli, but was watching TV. He glanced over to check on him and Eli was standing on one tub, trying his best to pull the curtain off of the back door! No curtain shown in the picture? Right, b/c I tucked it over the rod so he wouldn't get it.

So if anyone was wondering why we needed a gate around our Christmas tree, here you go! :)

December Joys

These are a few of my favorite things!

Eli checking out the new Eli-proof fence around the Christmas tree. It makes me a little sad to block him from it, but then I know it won't hurt him to have boundaries. He doesn't cry though- just stands there looking over the fence and smiling. :)

I love Christmas place settings and have several sets. This is my newest collection that Justin gave me for Christmas last year. They have yet to be used! The small snowman at the left of the placemat is a pouch to place the silverware in. Now, isn't that clever! In the background you can see my small tree with the S'more ornaments that I collect, and my snowman lamps.

This is a tealight holder that I was given by my supervisor at our Christmas lunch at Benihana last Friday. The gifts were all different and we drew numbers, but I think I got the best gift there! This was also my first time at Benihana and it was wonderful. After a fabulous meal, I ended it with green tea ice cream. If you haven't tried this, please do! Its divine!

I think this is a beautiful shot, but there is a funny story to go with it. I have a huge green glass vase that I have used in the past to display pine cones or Christmas ornament balls, but I decided to use candy canes this year. Well, my ziploc bag of old candy canes didn't even fill it halfway so I purchased a couple more dozen canes. The vase still isn't full, but if you come to my house, please only eat the ones on top, the bright red ones. The ones below are 2-3 years old!

Tomato Experiment

Have you ever seen anything like this? I bought a bag of tomatoes on the vine and grabbed one to chop for a salad. When I cut it open, the seeds were sprouting! It really looked like alfafa sprouts but I hadn't bought any of those in months. My mom happened to be here at the time and as an avid gardener I felt sure she had come across this, but she had not. We did not eat the tomato. It may have been fine but it freaked me out a little. So, the other two tomatoes were left on the counter to 'develop' for a couple of weeks to see what might happen. See below.



You can see the bumps on the tomato's skin where the sprouts were growing and struggling to break through. On the last tomato, Justin sliced tiny holes above a few of these bumps to see if the sprouts would grow out and continue. The did a little, but then dried out and stopped.

The only thing anyone has come up with so far is that perhaps these were organic tomatoes (I would love to buy organic, but can't sacrifice the $ at the checkout) that I bought by mistake and they didn't have chemicals to prevent this sprouting. Let me know if anyone else has an explanation or if you have seen this!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Justin's family this year. Of course I have tons of pictures of Eli and a few of everyone else, but none of me and Justin. So it is with the scrapper, isn't it? Had some yummy food, a relaxing afternoon on the patio with gorgeous weather and an abundance of conversation. On a sidenote, I made a sugar-free pumpkin pie for myself and the couple of diabetics in the family, and the mystery is that it disappeared and we still don't know where it went! Perhaps it tasted normal enough that people wanting pumpkin didn't realize they were eating the 'special' one and licked the plate clean!

Playing on Nannie's woodpile with Pops. Look at me way up here!

Riding in the wagon with my cousin Lyric. She doesn't seem too sure about this.

Playing with Aunt Dana and Uncle Shawn. The clapping followed some serious pulling of Shawn's hair. Way to go Eli!

With Thanksgiving

I guess I waited till the last day of November to make my 'thankful list' but I say it still counts. Here's my top 20, not necessarily in order.

1. Justin, for loving me for who I am but always encouraging me to be more than I think I can be

2. Eli, for bringing joy to my life every time I look at him

3. Family, for always being there for us and loving us unconditionally

4. Friends, for being there when our family can't be, for laughing with us, for understanding when we can only manage a brief meeting/phone call/email

5. Knowing that God has my path laid before me, will never fail me, has a better plan for my life than I could ever dream of

6. Security and safety

7. Good jobs

8. The freedom and ability to learn new things, often with just a click of a mouse

9. Generosity of others, and particularly our friends who have given us not one, not two, but three carseats

10. WeightWatchers for being so simple to follow with so many resources that my journey this year has been an easy and often fun one

11. Our health

12. The bumper sticker I saw yesterday that said "Its okay to say Merry Christmas"

13. Our three branch government

14. The joy of scrapbooking

15. Support and compassion of our congregation at PBC

16. The phone conversation I had with my almost-6 year old nephew this week

17. Sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce (why are these only holiday foods???)

18. The teachers I had growing up, a couple of which I can still hear guiding me through life at 30 years old

19. Eli's 4 hour nap today that allowed me to paint my toenails and scrap a few pages

20. Precious time to ponder the joy of Christmas and anticipate celebrating my Savior's birth

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with those that you love, and look forward to a very Merry Christmas centered on the true reason for our Christmas season.

New Orleans

Justin, Eli and I took a day trip to New Orleans last Saturday with our friend Jenise. It was a very long day, but a lot of fun and well worth it. Justin loved the architecture, I loved the food and music, and Eli loved being held a lot. That may be all he loved since he didn't get good naps and the food was too spicy for him, but we'll say a good time was had by all!

Holly and Justin in front of a paddleboat. There was pipe organ music playing that reached several streets over and was fun to listen to.

A street band we heard- just like in the movies!

A lovely shot that I took. The city is obviously still being rebuilt and restored, but they are doing a great job and the spirit of the people has not been affected!

Eli sporting his new winter coat and hat. The coat has a hood on it, but I had to buy him a toboggan that tied under his chin to keep him from pulling it off. Even then it lasted only so long.

Holiday Recipe Series- Part V

Because I'm too tired from a three hour attempt at getting Eli to sleep tonight... Here's the easiest and yummiest snack for the holidays.

White Chocolate Popcorn

1 bag of microwaveable popcorn
1 1/2 squares of almond bark, chopped

1. Pop popcorn as directed in microwave and place in a large bowl.

2. Melt almond bark in a saucepan on low-medium heat till smooth, but be careful not to scorch.

3. Pour almond bark over popcorn and stir with a wooden spoon till coated. Spread evenly on wax paper or foil laid on the counter till dry and cool.

Enjoy!

Holiday Recipe Series- Parts III and IV

Pecan Tartlets

cooking spray
3 large eggs
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup dark corn syrup
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup chopped pecans
24 pecan halves

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place twelve 3 oz ramekins in a baking pan or on a cookie sheet; coat ramekins with cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, beat eggs with salt. Add melted butter, corn syrup, sugar and vanilla; beat well. Blend in chopped pecans and spoon batter halfway up ramekins. Place 2 pecan halves on top of each ramekin.

3. Bake for about 17 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees and bake until a knife or toothpick comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes more. Remove from oven and allow to cool; serve in ramekins with a spoon, either warm or cool.

Yields 1 ramekin per serving. 3 WeightWatchers points per serving.


Crustless Pumpkin Pie

1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 12 oz can fat free evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp cloves)
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup Splenda

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray pie plate with cooking spray.

2. Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour into pie plate.

3. Bake 15 minutes at 400, then reduce heat to 325 and bake an additional 40 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Yields 8 servings. 1 point (or Core) for Weight Watchers per serving. 3 points for 1/4 of pie.

Good Night Scouts

By Justin

So no one can remember how we started this tradition, but every year on the Monday before Thanksgiving my Boy Scout troop has its feast. It is a great tradition. No matter how long you have been away or where your life has taken you, you can count on old friends showing up for the event. Some years there are surprise guests. Some years the crowd is thin. Yet one thing has remained constant, the fellowship and brotherhood given and received by all.

It is odd that some things have remained the same through the years. Herb still makes coffee and wassail. Dad always brings the turkey and dressing made by some woman of my family. I always take corn. It is weird how it just happens.

Two lasting traditions have held true through the entire life of this event. First, we go around the table and each of us voice what we are thankful for. Often they are the same. Some years someone brings a special poem to share their thanks. Some years someone brings story with a prop. It is a moving time of really feeling the bond we all share. The second lasting tradition is the group close that has end every Scout meeting in my memory:

"And now, may the Great Master of all Scouts, be with Us till we meet again. Good Night Scouts"

~Good Night Brothers~

Holiday Recipe Series Part II

By Justin

Hot and Creamy Grilled Cheeses

3 Slices of plastic cheese or some left over velveeta
2 pieces of Mrs. Bairds' Thin Sliced White Bread
butter

Heat a pan over medium heat and melt a small smidgen of butter. Don't skimp and use Pam. And don't think your non-stick pan is okay. It's Christmas, have some butter.

Butter one side of each slice. Place one slice down with the butter side down after your pan is nice and warm. Put your cheese on this slice and cover with the other side with the butter side up. Flip when you want. Keep flipping till golden brown.

Best enjoyed with a Coke.

Happy Holidays.

Holiday Recipe Series- Part I

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Bars

(18 servings, 3 points per serving for WeightWatchers)

cooking spray
9 whole reduced-fat cinnamon graham crackers
3 Tbsp butter
16 oz fat free cream cheese
1 cup sugar
2 cups fat free sour cream
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin

1. Preheat oven to 325. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
2. Crush graham crackers in a ziploc or grind in food processor, then place in bowl.
3. Melt butter and pour over graham cracker crumbs. Mix with fork till blended.
4. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom of prepared pan and place in refrigerator.
5. Beat cream cheese with mixer till smooth, then add sugar and mix well.
6. Mix in 1 cup sour cream, then add cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Add remaining sour cream and mix till just combined.
7. Slowly beat in each egg one at a time until incorporated, then mix in pumpkin.
8. Pour pumpkin mixture into prepared pan over graham cracker crust, spread evenly and smooth top.
9. Bake until set at edges, about 30 minutes. The very center will be a little loose. Cool completely and refrigerate overnight before cutting and serving.

Note: For best results, all ingredients should be room temperature and mixed as little as possible, only until each ingredient is just combined.

Enjoy!

Boy Scout Popcorn

I've found that trying to blog every day in a given month (I know, I'm failing, but still trying to get most days) has made me scramble for topics. I do have things to say such as what I've done today or what new things Eli is doing or what Justin and I talked about over dinner, but I suspect those might emit a yawn from you.

So, I'll share a little happening that occurred. Two years ago, a cute little Cub Scout came to our door selling popcorn. Justin being the Eagle Scout and all around nice guy he is, ordered a good amount of popcorn and gave the kid a check. We never heard from him again, but the check sure was cashed. I would like to think that there was just an oversight, that they truly couldn't reconcile why they had an extra order of popcorn and weren't trying to take our money.

Fast forward two years. A different cute little Cub Scout came to the door a couple of weeks ago with the same goal. Justin answered the door again, and when all was said and done he had ordered a huge tin of three bags of flavored popcorn and gave the kid a check. I shook my head as I would have saved payment this time until the goods were delivered, but oh, well. I didn't ask any questions really, until the popcorn was delivered by the very cute kid a few days ago and I asked Justin what kind he had bought. Yeah. Two bags of Cheddar and one bag of White Cheddar. Seriously. They sell plain, buttered, caramel, chocolate, anything you can dream of, and we get three bags of fake-cheese powder dusted popcorn.

Well, this is good news for me on WeightWatchers. There is absolutely no temptation whatsoever to sneak a few bites of Justin's popcorn while he is at work. I'll just continue with my 98% fat free mini bag and pretend its just what I was craving.

Quite the Sale!

by Holly

My mom is in town visiting for a few days and I took the day off of work today to spend with her and Eli. After a slow morning of breakfast, loooong nap for Eli and finally getting our stuff together, we left the house around 11am. Lunch was at Boston Market and it was fabulous! All I can say is Sweet Potato Casserole rocks! Next up was The Container Store for a few 'necessities' in organization. Then Kohl's. And more Kohl's.

We were in Kohl's about an hour and a half before Eli lost it and was unconsolable. He'd already had two bottles and wasn't about to be distracted by toys and such. We proceeded to check out, each armed with our 15% off entire purchase coupon, and saved lots of money on our already sale-priced items. Guess what happened as we finished our transactions? Eli fell asleep in the stroller. Sooo.... I took our bags to the car and we kept shopping! About an hour later, we finished up again and checked out, again with our 15% off coupons. (they were good all day.) We again saved a lot, and were thrilled with our purchases.

After that we met Justin at our brand new Chuy's in Plano and had the best food! Mom was gracious enough to take Eli home for bedtime and Justin and I went back to Kohl's. Yes, you read that right. Justin needs a new suit and we got some toys for Eli and our nephews for Christmas. Once again, the coupon!!

To sum it up, we got great deals anyway, but those coupons were so great I decided they were bloggable. Here's to your great bargain of the weekend!

A New Blogger

By Justin
A great friend of ours has finally bit the bullet and joined us in the blogging world. Jenise is a close friend that I work with and have for a while. We seem to follow each other around. Jenise is an avid traveler with a great hand at writing. These two will no doubt bring great posts in the future. More than most, Jenise is also a deep hearted Texan like me! So her blog title is correctly named 'Come Back to Texas', which she often does on her worldly adventures.

Surf on over and welcome Jenise to the sphere!

http://comebacktexas.blogspot.com/

Nana is Here

By Justin

Holly's Mom flew in this afternoon and Eli couldn't be happier. I enjoy Nana visits as well. Who can complain about a extra set of hands around?

The Narrow Gate

by Justin

So I was wondering how are we suppose to make life decisions in light of being Christians and being in this world? I feel like I work hard to spend time in prayer, in the Bible and in contemplation. Yet I still don't know how we are to KNOW the right path to take. I guess I am really not asking for any comments, as much as laying out thoughts in my head.

In college I heard many great speakers. Few, if any, really stick in my head, but one has remained through the years. I can't remember her name, only that she was a new regional director for IVCF in Texas and she was from Colorado. She gave a great talk over Mathew 7:13:

"Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it."

Her talk was a great illustration of what the path of the narrow gate would look like in contrast to the wide gate many follow. She talked of how worn and easy the wide path would be, worn down as it would by the many people. She related the narrow path to hard walking across unfamiliar and lonely places with a few people. Best of all she drew a great picture of how the world might just walk through the wide gate because 'that is just the way everyone is going, we should go with the flow'. The world doesn't stop to truly consider the narrow gate and its path.

She, in true IV fashion, ended with a challenge as college students to stop and consider our paths as we trudge around campus. She was trying to warn us to live our lives as Christians and be wary of the world and its mentality of the wide path. For some reason, and often for good ones, I think about that picture a lot in my head.

I think of the paths. I think of the narrow gate. I wonder if it is rusted shut or takes a shove to get through it. I think how easy the wide gate would be. I bet someone has propped it open with a rock, making an the path even easier.

More than anything I wonder if I have already passed the gate and am down the wrong path...

His and Hers Styles

(post inspired by Aimee's post on her View- see Houston's blog)

The two front rooms of our home are Justin's office and Holly's scrapbook room. Its interesting that these rooms can be so close, so open, and yet so very different. They are open as Holly's room was intended to be a formal dining room and has no doorway framed, and Justin's has French doors that we never close. They are separated by our tiled entryway.

Justin's room: is painted bright blue with 5 yellow horizontal stripes on two walls, has a modern Ikea light fixture, 3 dark stained bookshelves, two desks with computers, filing cabinet, aquarium and the requisite office clutter that goes along with such a space.

Holly's room: is still builder off-white, has a traditional chandelier, china cabinet, sewing cabinet, two desks, two scrapbook organizer carts, chair and requisite crafting clutter that goes along with such a space.

They both have snippets of Eli paraphenalia. A glimpse into our lives and styles. Here's the kicker though: I spend considerably more time in Justin's room b/c I work in here, and rarely do I make time to spend scrapping in my own sanctuary.

sigh

November 8th in History

(adapted from PR-Inside.com)

Today is Saturday, November 8, the 313th day of 2008. There are 53 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1519 - Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortez reaches Mexico City with his small Spanish force and 1,000 Tlaxcaltec allies. The Aztecs, believing he is an incarnation of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, receive him with great honor.

1793 - The Louvre Museum in Paris opens to the public.

1892 - Former U.S. President Grover Cleveland beats incumbent Benjamin Harrison and becomes the first U.S. president to win nonconsecutive terms in the White House.

1895 - Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, German physicist, discovers X-rays.

1960 - Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy defeats Vice President Richard M. Nixon for the U.S. presidency.

1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin approves a draft constitution that will give him increased powers at the parliament's expense.

1997 - Chinese engineers divert the Yangtze River from its natural course, clearing way for the construction of the enormous Three Gorges dam.

Today's Birthdays:

Edmund Halley, British astronomer (1656-1742)
John Milton, English poet (1608-1674)
Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist (1884-1922)
Margaret Mitchell, U.S. author (1900-1949)
Katharine Hepburn, U.S. actress (1907-2003)
Alain Delon, French actor (1932--)
Mary Hart, U.S. television host (1950--)
Parker Posey, U.S. actress (1968--)

Thought For Today:
"Man is born to live, not to prepare for life." -Boris Pasternak, Russian author (1890-1960).

A New Friend!

We met some friends in the Fort Worth vicinity a couple of weeks ago, a mini reunion of sorts. Justin's Scouting friends Armand, Scott and Ethan were there with their families (spouses, parents,...). We missed the Johnson's!

Armand and Jelaine were there with their new baby Trey, pictured below. What a sweetie!
Eli was pretty excited to meet his new friend and clapped for him, after doing some poking and prodding to make sure he was okay. Thanks for calling guys! Great to see you all.

Is it Friday yet?

So we're not having the greatest of weeks, but we're muddling along. Eli began throwing up on Friday but we thought it was b/c he had a lot of drainage and didn't take any action until I got called to pick him up early from daycare on Tuesday. We went straight to the doctor (after the third episode of puking in the car seat, and I must say our carseat cover is the cleanest car seat cover in the universe now!) and found out he has two ear infections and a stomach virus. Oh, and he's teething again. Geez.

He's doing much better but is not daycare-approved, so I'm working half days this week and getting my work done in the evenings after he goes to bed.

Justin followed up on Wednesday with his own rendition of the stomach virus. He was in bed (and the bathroom) all day and attempted work for a few hours this morning but came back home. He seems better now, but you know how the after-effects of a stomach virus are.

I'm not having any of those symptoms but feel tired, nauseated and achy. I'm hoping its from taking care of my boys and working and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning up messes, and not actually the bug for me. We'll see.

That's our week for you. Oh, and our presidential candidate lost.

The Election

By Justin

How can you sum it up. My guy lost. My hope of a split Presidency and Congress did not happen. Now we have four years to determine if President-Elect Obama really is a genuine guy, bent on restoring hope to everyone. Or is he a left wing pawn bent on giving tax breaks and my money to others. Will he govern from the middle or slash and burn from the left. Will he really reach across the isle or will he just let Pelosi and Reed run the country from the top seat. Will he respect the Constitution and the rights laid out there-in? Or will he decide that national healthcare, paid for by you and me, really is in the 'common good' doctrine. Will he respect the lives of the unborn? Will he find a way to dig us out of this debt hole? Will he cut and run or leave with honor?

I don't know. But I know his time is limited in my head. There are mountains to climb, and as a person who didn't vote for him, he has precious little time to get his ship on track for me to vote for him in 2012.

Halloween Pictures!

In reverse order somehow...

Trick-or-treating at our friend Erin's house. She had a special treat for Eli- animal crackers, and a special treat for Mom and Dad- a baby bottle with mini candy bars! Yum. Thanks Erin!

All dressed up for Justin's Halloween party at SWA. Justin was BamBam, as part of the whole Flintstones cast with his friends from his department. Eli was the Sock Monkey and I was 'Justin: Southwest Employee'.

Eli sporting his Sock Monkey With Skinned Nose costume at his daycare's Fall Carnival. The Deputy Sheriff's badge was a prize for pinning the nose on the Scarecrow, with a little help from his teacher.

Well, Eli loves his pumpkin, especially the long stem! A little prickly in the mouth though. His shirt, courtesy of Grandma, says 'Peek-a-Boo!' with jack-o-lanterns and skeletons covering and uncovering their eyes. Very cute.

Mondays

by Justin

So you may or may not know that I work four ten hour days each week and have Mondays off to spend it with Eli. Honestly four ten hour days are grueling. I leave the house at 5:15 in the morning to get to work by 6 and leave work at 5 to get home in the neighborhood of 6:15. It is unfortunate that in this scenario I miss absolutely every stick of traffic in the morning, only to be in the thick of it in the afternoon. Catch me any day but Friday afternoon and I will tell you that it is absolutely worth it to spend my Mondays with my son.

What does a typical Monday entail, you ask? Well I am glad you did.

Most Mondays are spent around the house. We wake up and have our bottle. We bug Mommy in her office a little bit and then have our Breakfast. Hopefully we will spend some time playing on the floor and getting into things before our mid morning nap. After nap we try to get outside and take a walk. Then come back for lunch. About twice a month I meet a friend (Rene for those who know him) for lunch somewhere in McKinney or Allen. We have a good time then head hope for hopefully our afternoon nap. We bug mom some more to get through with her work so we can have some family play time and so I can take a child break. Then it is our normal nighttime routine of dinner, play, bath, play, book, bottle, then bed.

Often the schedule changes with things that come up. For example, today we ran a few errands to the AT&T store, The Home Depot and to get my pickup washed (or warshed). Sometimes we try to help mom out and get some of her things done. Other times we just do what we want.

I have learned a few things about my Mondays. One, I could not be a stay at home dad. I would go crazy. I would weigh 300+ pounds. I would not love my child well. Two, Holly is a saint to balance work and mom so well. Seriously, where does she get that energy and zest from? She never seems to want a day of from being a parent like I do! Finally, all the tiredness from work is worth it to have a quality time day (mostly) alone with my son.

Time for bed! Eli went to sleep at 6:15 tonight and hasn't quite learned what daylight savings time is all about. Could be an early morning tomorrow!

Fiesta!

Our church, Plano Bible Chapel, had its 40th Anniversary party tonight. It was quite a celebration complete with Tex-Mex, a mariachi band and lots of fun at Southfork Ranch. Great to see our friends, eat good food and just enjoy a party without any of the work.

Eli didn't get the memo about the time change, so he was up at 6:30 ready to go. I was not. But Justin and I take turns getting up on the weekends and today was my day. Eli and I had breakfast, played and took an hour long walk in the stroller and still had time to play again before getting ready for church. With the fiesta tonight we only had the 11:00 service and no Sunday School. He never naps in the nursery at church so he was reaching the end of his rope by the time we got back home. After lunch he went down for a nap and so did we. 2 1/2 hours later I woke up and realized we had to leave in 20 minutes for the fiesta! Yikes! Fortunately Eli woke up happy and we were on our way on time.

Okay- pictures tomorrow. And by the way, I never got around to checking on the couch cushions last night. I cleaned half of the bathroom, painted my toenails and watched the last half of the Tech-Texas game. Well worth staying up late for that!

Fight Raiders Fight!

Let's hear it for Texas Tech!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

National Blog Posting Month

by Holly

Okay Aimee and Krista, I'm in. I guess I have it easier than you guys since Justin and I can tag team posting on our shared blog. :) Since I'm exhausted and don't have it in me to walk to the other room to get the camera, no pictures tonight. I'll just let you know what we've been up to.

Last Friday evening was Eli's daycare's fall carnival. I love fall and everything associated with it so even though he didn't know what was going on, we went. He wore his Sock Monkey costume like a pro and even left the hat/head of the monkey on! Halloween continued with Southwest Airlines' humongous Halloween celebration this Friday. Eli and I went for a few hours in the morning and took in all we could before he had had enough. Justin's entire department was in costume, as was most of the company. It really is amazing that the whole headquarters is transformed into skits, spook houses, kiddie play rooms... Well done. Gary Kelly's employee-voted costume turned out to be ZZ Top. It was nice, but I've seen better from him in the past.

Skip forward to Halloween evening itself and we dressed Eli up for the third time in Sock Monkey, strapped him in the stroller and went trick-or-treating. Now, that only entails our friends Erin and Bryan's house, and a quick stop at a neighbor's who walked out to see what Eli was dressed as, but I think that's enough trick-or-treating for a 10-month-old, seeing as he fell asleep before we were back home!

Today was spent doing random stuff. Justin took Eli to visit Grandma, Pops and Nannie and I had most of the day to myself. I weeded the flowerbeds, did some laundry, made fruit dip and then spent the afternoon at my friend Rebecca's baby shower. She is expecting her baby girl Lucy sometime before Thanksgiving. I was in charge of the food for the shower and we planned for 75 so it was a big deal. We ended up having 55, so that's not too bad. Quite a shindig for a little girl that's not even here yet! And now Eli's in bed, Justin is at a birthday/football party and I'm trying to convince myself to clean our bathroom while Eli's not going behind me 'exploring'. Or maybe I need to make sure the couch cushions stay put...

Thank you for voting for Eli

We want to thank everyone who voted for Eli in the baby photo contest the last two weeks. He did not advance to the top 25 round, but we had fun with it while it lasted. If you want to see the babies that are still in it, the website is the same: http://www.1061kissfm.com/pages/contests/baby/.

Thanks again for your time and help with the votes!

Pictures Updated

I put a new web album up titled Pumpkin Patch. Check it out!

Round 2!

Thanks to all of you who voted for Eli in the baby contest! He did make it past the cut to Round 2, which is the top 100 babies. There are still a lot of cute babies in the running, so we would appreciate you taking the time to vote again this week. The voting for this round is today, October 20th through Thursday, October 23rd.

You may vote once per email address, per computer, per day so give Eli your full support!
He sends you all a big grin and a sloppy baby kiss as a Thank You!

http://www.1061kissfm.com/pages/contests/baby/

Most Kissable Baby Contest!

We have entered Eli into a baby contest- KissFM's Most Kissable Baby Photo Contest. There are so, so many cute babies in the competition, and this first round of voting will narrow it down to the top 100, then the voting will begin again. I am asking you to visit this site: http://www.1061kissfm.com/pages/contests/baby/, smile at all the other cute babies, and scroll down to vote for Eli Noble!

To vote, click on the circle by his name, enter your email address and a confirmation will be emailed to you. Your vote will not be complete until you verify the email, so please follow through so we can count your vote! You can vote once per day, per email address, per computer so if you have more than one, please vote again but you will need to do it on a separate computer! The voting goes through 10/17, so we would love if you would vote everyday! I'll let you know if we make it to the next round and ask for your vote again at that time if we do. Eli's picture is from his 5 month photo shoot and of course he has changed so much since then, but I love that picture. We hope you are all doing well and appreciate you taking a couple of minutes of your time to help us out!

Philadelphia for Holly

Now for Holly's take on Philadelphia. Justin read that if you aren't from Philadelphia, you aren't allowed to call it Philly, so I won't.

Here is Justin with Constitution Cow in the Independence Visitor's Center. Now that's cool!

Holly with the Liberty Bell. Its smaller than I imagined it would be. It was still amazing to see and to think about the history behind it and all of the people that have had contact with it over the last 200+ years.

Having a chat with George Washington at the signing of the Constitution at Constitution Center. This was a cool room, with statues of all of the signers standing around having conversations, discussing the importance of this document and what events are about to unfold.

This is the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the site of the first Congress meetings. The head chair is actually the original, where Washington sat to preside. We heard three different times during our stay that the sunburst pattern at the top of the chair was a conundrum for Ben Franklin, as he wasn't sure if the sun was setting or rising over our new country. At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, he declared that it was in fact rising.

I enjoyed the history of the town. Our hotel was on 18th and Market, which is just a few blocks from all of these tourist attractions. We rode the Subway a few times, but mainly walked a lot. This was nice since as you read in Justin's post, the Subway system is a bit lacking in cleanliness and clarity.

I was determined to have a Philly cheesesteak, but as we didn't find any offered (besides at the little street corner vendors that were a little scary), I settled for a Philly Cheesesteak Omelette at 'Jones', a fabulous 70's rendition of a diner. Shag carpet, bowl-like chairs, tator tots on the side, you can imagine. It was great- best atmosphere in a restaurant that we found.

We also saw Betsy Ross' house, Christ Church (amazing!), Independence Hall, the Delaware River, the Quaker free Meeting House, Ben Franklin's home site and publishing/postal buildings, Elfreth's Alley (the longest continously inhabited street in America) and so much more.

If you get the chance to go, take the opportunity. Besides cool buildings and such, you can almost feel the presence of those that formed our new nation, and that gives me goose bumps!

Philadelphia

So I am sitting around the house looking at our weekend plans last Wednesday and realize that they are full of chores. Knowing no limits to my desire to rid myself of chores, I decide to pitch the idea of flying out of town at the last minute. Holly bites and we are off to the races to see where we can get too. After some complicated digging I determine that the flights to Philadelphia aren't that full, a key to flying for free! So we make last minute plans to fly Eli out to West Texas and Holly and I b-line to the north east.

I really enjoyed Philadelphia. I love American History just slightly more than Texas History. I also am an immensely proud American and love the utter genius that is our form of government. To see and hear amazing stories about our county's founding and the unexplainable success other than by divine providence, was moving. I have tons to write, but I think it would be too boring. Lets just say that after D.C., I think every American should make a pilgrimage to our nations true first capital.

One of my favorite mental games to play while I travel is the social experiment in my head of "What does this city tell me as a tourist?" Meaning, while traveling about what broad generalities can one pull about the culture of the people inhabiting this city. Below are a few of my observations about Philadelphia.

1. Just like everyone expects that every Texan owns a horse, every street corner in Philadelphia does not sell Cheesesteaks. In fact I never ate one. I never found a place, in my standard milling about, that served them except for a pizza place.

2. Philadelphia is a lot less concerned about tourists. The subway stops were not labeled to relate to local landmarks that tourists would know. For instance, if you didn't know that Independence National Park was at 2nd and Market, you would have been completely lost on the subway.

3. The competition for cab fare is extreme. We could not walk along a street longer than a minute or two (no matter the time of day) without a cab driver honking his horn at us to see if we wanted a ride. Every time we walked out of our hotel the door man asked if we needed a cab. It was genuinely odd.

4. Homelessness is crazy rampant. I was amazed the number of people sitting absolutely everywhere. Dallas has its share, but this was amazing. Not a lot of begging, surprisingly, but still very noticeable.

5. For every Starbucks, there is a Dunkin' Donuts. I mean these people must hype themselves up on this stuff constantly otherwise the economics of it wouldn't support. Suburban Station alone has two DDs and a McDonalds.

6. The subway system is a mode of transportation, not a 'gateway to the city'. It was truly a disgusting place. I really reminded my of Mexico City Metros. The cars were nasty, the stations were nasty and the street level entrances were down right scary. There has been no effort to remotely spruce anything up to make it presentable.

So I don't know what you get when you combine all of that, but I think you get a city focused on bigger issues than tourists and vagrants. Maybe they are trying to solve issues the weekend tourist cannot see or fathom. I don't know, what I do know is that it is worthy of the trip. Just do your research first!

Eli's September Update

Eli is now 9 months old! He is crawling, has pulled up to standing on the couch a couple of times, loves finger foods and is a pro at 'mamamama' and 'dadadada' but doesn't associate them with us quite yet. He is just over 21 lbs and is 28 inches long, right in the middle of the curve for his age, but his head is in the 90th percentile. I wondered why his t-shirts were all so tight getting on! We attribute that to being his father's son. Here's a snapshot of this past month.



Eli next to his bag on his first day of 'school'. He started at a daycare in Allen 3 weeks ago and is doing great there. No, Mama didn't cry, but it is hard leaving him with strangers!

This is Eli's "I'm crawling now, and am going to get into something!" look. His favorite destinations are the ficus tree (in order to eat the fake grass out of its pot) and the loose floor trim in front of the fireplace. "Yes, I hear you saying 'no' guys, but I'm pretending not to!"

Here are the boys playing "Conquer Dad" or something like that. I believe it ended with Eli plowing completely over Justin's head and going for the no-no fringe on the pillow.

Eli got his first haircut last weekend by my grandfather. PawPaw was previously a barber and does all the boys' first haircuts in our family. Eli was fine until he heard the buzzing sound and then lost it. It took Justin and I both to hold him still so he wouldn't get an ear taken off.

I know you can't see it very well here, but this is the finished product. He looks like such a big boy now! And the tears were over as quickly as they had begun. That's Eli's tears I mean. Mine started after the drama had died down and I realized that my baby was growing up.

Happy Birthday Aimee!

Happy Belated Birthday to my long-time friend Aimee! Sorry I missed it yesterday, but hope it was a fabulous day and spent with the ones you love.

Check out Aimee's blog in our links to the right by clicking on 'Houston Family'.

In honor of Aimee, I'd like to share some tidbits about our friendship that most of you don't know. (Okay Abbey, if you do know its b/c you have an unfair advantage!)

*Aimee gave me my first Jimmy Buffett CD for my 17th birthday.
*Aimee and I lived together in the dorms at Tech our freshman year, and after many years are friends again. Praise God for forgiveness and grace!
*Aimee writes amazing poetry and I still have some of her very early work.
*Aimee and I played the flute together from 5th through 11th grade, with one year of bass drums thrown in for good measure.
*Aimee has a kind heart that gives beyond its capacity. (oh, if you know Aimee, you already knew this one!)

Happy Birthday!

Holly's Belated Birthday Photos

I didn't have my birthday photos available back when we posted about my party, but here they are! Still didn't use my camera as much that day as I should have, so if you have any photos from the party, please send them to me!

Heather painted a portrait of Eli as a birthday gift to me. She had never met him, but used a photo off of our blog as her subject. She is remarkable! Thanks Heather Feather!

The food table before the food arrived. We had Dickie's barbecue: brisket, sausage, potato salad, cole slaw, beans, rolls and peach cobbler. Yum!

Holly about to cut the delicious cake. If you are able to enlarge this picture, please do so and check out the amount of chocolate detail! Divine! Abbey made the wreath on the cake table, along with placing feather decorations on each of the guest tables. It was a beautiful evening. Thanks all!

SpongeBob SquareFeet

Some of you may know that Eli has been changed over to a daycare from staying with our friend Abbey. Things were great with her, but it was time for a change due to the distance between our homes. She was quite gracious and supportive of the move and that is much appreciated!

Eli is doing great in his daycare, claps his little hands and smiles when he gets there in the mornings, goes to whoever has their hands out and doesn't cry when I leave. This makes a mother's heart proud. He has three teachers: Miss N, Miss U and Miss B.

Yesterday, Miss U asked me to think about getting some soft-soled shoes for Eli, b/c he's having a difficult time getting traction with his socks as he's trying to crawl. Side note, Eli does not crawl on hands and knees, but on forearms and full body, so he pushes off with his big toes. I understood the dilemma and actually had some adorable camouflage soft-soled shoes that velcro that my mom had given Eli. Well, this morning I got him dressed and was attempting to put the shoes on his squirming little feet when I noticed... what? His feet are too thick for the velcro straps to reach across and well, velcro. Hmmm.... Yes, my baby is SpongeBob SquareFeet and I blame my mother's side of the family. Thanks Nana, for both the shoes and your genes.

Oh, well. Who needs soft-soled shoes anyway? His big boy shoes are super cool, so we'll move to those soon enough.

The Next Generation

So it is official. We are starting a boy's soccer team for sure, now. Dan and Margo Angermiller have announced the adoption of two beautiful twin boys, Bryce and Seth. The amazing little miracles were born on 8/31. Bryce Lawrence was 4 lb 15 oz, 17.5 inches and Seth Daniel was 3 lb 5 oz, 16 inches. They were born at 34 weeks and are eating and doing well.

Dan and Margo have come a long, hard and difficult road to this day. It has been amazing to watch from afar and see their reliance on God and each other to get them to this day.

Congratulations Friends.

Corporate America

For this installment of Justin's "Catch This" we will laugh at Holly's employer. Holly works for the quintessential corporate America company. Really, you should ask her. They send out memos detailing what is acceptable for your "holiday season celebration". She attends hours of training built around a fictitious family on their journey through "insurance land" or something equally as quirky. They have a lady who gets really mad if you unplug your phone to move it on your desk. She WILL call you. If you want to move your monitor you need to call the central support desk and they will send a guy to do it.

However...

Today's installment takes the cake. Holly has recently started working from home. As part of this we were going to get a second line so that she could keep her "business" calls separate. I'll spare you the details, but the monthly cost of the phone line was not worth it compared to the ONE phone call she receives a month. The best part is that she received an email today confirming her sign up for a two hour training class on how to use her new phone that they shipped to our house.

TWO HOURS FRIENDS...
To learn how to use a phone. Seriously? This brings to mind several questions. First, how on earth could you not know how to use a phone. This isn't rocket science. It isn't the most up-to-date, solve the world's problems type of phone. It doesn't even ring if Batman calls. Second, who teaches this class and how do they have any sense of value whatsoever?

"What do you do you do for a living?"
"Oh I teach people how to use their office phones."
"Is that a difficult concept to grasp."
"Well you have to go over what to do in case Batman calls. After that it is pretty easy."
"Oh, thanks."

Besides the phone thing, it gets better. As part of coming home they shipped Holly a docking station for her laptop. They shipped a very expensive wide screen monitor. They shipped a new keyboard. Do you know what they didn't ship? A mouse. When she inquired of tech support why they didn't ship a mouse, they informed her that they didn't ship mice. She would have to drive to Richardson to pick it up.

Now wait. They would ship a $300+ monitor, a new docking station, even a keyboard but not a mouse? I was dumb founded. Of all the assets you want to ensure that a real person receives you care about a $10 mouse. I laughed for days.

So ship your TPS reports to Holly. Just be sure to use the correct cover page, lest you didn't get the memo...

Okay I will get you another copy of the memo.

I'm a big boy now!

Eli is sporting his very first set of big boy pajamas- separate shirt and pants, with no feet! Thanks Grandma, for sending them our way! This was also the first night that I found him sleeping with his little bottom stuck up in the air. Yep, I risked waking him to take pictures.
He didn't budge.

Guess who's crawling now? Justin is working on posting a video but is having technical difficulties. (Michelle, let us know if you figure yours out.) Eli doesn't yet understand 'no' so he crawls wherever he wants to and then cries for us to rescue him. For some reason, under this table seems to be his favorite spot to get trapped. He also did a fine job of dust-mopping behind the couch- crawled from one end to the other, stopping for a moment to play with the dust bunnies and then moving on to Mama waiting at the other end. Unfortunately we missed that on film.

We took Eli to the zoo over Labor Day weekend for his first time. We rode the Dart rail down to the Dallas Zoo, which wasn't extravagant but definitely close enough to home and easy enough for us to do in just a few hours. This is Justin and Eli at the Stingray Bay pool. You can actually pet the rays as they swim by. Eli missed out this time but Justin and I both did and they are amazingly smooth. We had a great time even though it was very hot!

Boys Boy Number Two, Three

Welcome to the world Armand G. Fondren III. Good job on really making your mom understand the concept of Labor Day! While Eli is Boys Boy number one, don't worry you are destined to spend your life confused on if you are number two or number three. And you will surely get whiplash as we call you Trey and that guy from Chicago Trey as well. Anyway. We are praying for you and are eager to meet you. Now go spit up on your dad!

Time: 1:33 am, 1 Sep 2008 (Labor Day)
Length: 21 1/2 inches long
Weight: 9 lbs 11 oz.
Name: Armand "TREY" Gene Fondren III

Visit the 'Armand' link on the side bar for pictures to be posted soon.

Eli's First Campout, and our first with my family in 6 years!

Justin and I went on a hike that turned out to be grueling, but well worth it. We didn't have a trail map so we had no idea how far we had to go to get to anything. Turns out we hiked an hour and 20 minutes up a rocky trail without finding anything. Enjoyed our PB2 sandwiches and some Cheetos and came back down. Great time together!

My parents have been refurbishing this 12 ft trailer and had it ready enough for us to be the first to use it. It has a full size bed, sink, icebox, 3 burners and a stove, closet, some cabinets and a booth with two benches. Yes, we trekked to the outhouse when needed and bummed my parents' shower! Time ran out on getting the outside fixed and painted, but I can't wait to see it completely done. Most of the work was due to the trailer being shot up by someone before they acquired it.

Eli is sporting his camo with an inchworm that says "Inching Along". Well, he's not quite yet, but he made the most of his trip! He loves the outdoors and was fascinated with the campfires. Since we were a little cramped for space in our trailer, he slept in his pack 'n play in my parents trailer. We were definitely on vacation!

Eli kicked back in Papa's chair. He was content to just chill and watch Justin or Kelly chop wood, watch the campfire, or Jared and Tyler playing baseball.

***Thanks to Amy for the winter clothes for Eli! What a blessing!

We were camping in the Agua Piedra campground between Tres Ritos and Sipapu, NM. There were no electricity or water hookups so we haul water and run a generator when necessary. Otherwise, we rely on sunlight, flashlights and propane. Ah, the time went so fast, even though it was 8 days. Pan fried potatoes, s'mores, Justin's dutch oven peach cobbler, grilled corn on the cob, and so much more wonderful stuff to eat. We'll be going back next August if anyone wants to come!

Our group included Justin, Eli and myself, my parents, my brother Kelly and his wife Teresa and two boys Jared and Tyler, along with a family that Kelly knows from Oklahoma, and a two day visit from Bill and Wanda who are long time friends of our family from NM.

Great times, and I can't wait to do it all over again!

One Hundred and Seven

By Justin

107, that was the high temperature yesterday. We set a new daily high temperature and an new overnight low high temperature as well. If this keeps up I am moving to Phoenix with Dan and Margo, at least they know to expect it.

I know it is August in Texas, but still, 107? I am sure this has to do with the ice cap breaking in Canada or Gore’s book, but it is still extremely H-O-T. Today the high is to be 106 before a tropical depression slams poor Louisiana and we drop to 97. Hold on for that cold snap.

To beat the heat, Holly, Eli and I will be headed to the mountains of Northern New Mexico for a week on Friday. The high temperature there yesterday was 75. I’ll take it.

Share the Road

By Justin
On my home today in 6 o'clock traffic, on a busy city thoroughfare, I was trying to determine why traffic was moving slower than normal. It wasn't long before I realized the culprit, two people riding bicycles.

Ironically the car in front of me had a 'Share the Road' sticker and waved as they went by. I could have rammed them. For the sake of sharing the road you are holding up the normal flow of traffic. Who came up with the idea that a mode of transportation that impeeds traffic is okay? Who decided that I had to share the mode of transportation built for my truck with them?

So I have been thinking. I am going to saddle up my horse and ride it to work. In fact I am going to do it during the 7 am rush hour on Central Expressway. I am going to pull a huge wagon painted yellow behind my horse painted 'Share the Highway'. After that I am going to get a whole gaggle of teen age punks from the local skate park. We are going to skateboard our way down the two lane Allen, Texas main street during Sunday morning church rush hour. When we get yelled at, we are going to skate our way into morning service, just to see if their is any repentance or just scolds.

So when you hear of a lunatic in Dallas getting killed on US 75 Central Expressway, just smile and think. I guess sharing the road with cars is a bad idea. And I promise, it is... Now peddle the speed limit of 45 mph or get on the sidewalk with your kids, I am in a hurry...

Catch This

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

Way Behind

by Holly

Okay, so we have been slacking. Yes Trey, we did miss posting on J's birthday. It was July 6th and he did not have the most festive of birthdays. It started out well enough as we went for lunch at La Hacienda Ranch for the best TexMex around, and he ordered a steak with fried potatoes and a salad. We then went to IKEA to look around and had to leave unexpectedly as J wasn't feeling well. This began a 5-day-long stomach virus for him. He tried to work Tuesday and Thursday and I think he ended up working a total of 6 hours this week. What a fabulous birthday! :( Top that off with the worst mouth ulcer I have ever seen and even though his tummy is better, he's now unable to eat anything but thin soups and milkshakes.

I have been home all week too, but for a much happier reason. I am finally going to be able to work from home and this week was a pilot to make sure all of our programs were working for the official Work From Home date of August 4th. So far, so good. Justin was well enough to talk me through some computer issues, and I was here to take care of him while he was sick.

Great week for Eli to be at his grandparents' too! It allowed us to get through an unusual week and gave them some time to bond. He's been there since Monday morning, and I miss that little monkey so much! We're headed to pick him up as soon as Pops and Grandma (Noble) call and let us know he's awake from his nap.

Well, perhaps the madness will die down and we can post again soon. Its a shame it took that to get Miss Erin R to leave a comment! We miss you guys too!

Happy Birthday Holly

Well the party is over. The left over barbecue is in the freezer. All that is left now is for us to send the family back home to West Texas.

More than that, it is time to wish Holly a happy 30th birthday...

A New Joy in Parenthood

by Holly

I don't even know how to say this in a pleasant way, so here goes. Eli pooped in the bathtub for the first time tonight. You can't fault him for this; he's been constipated and hadn't gone all day. Why wouldn't prunes for dinner and a nice, warm bath elicit a long-awaited poop? It caught me completely off guard, even though I should have been prepared with the toots and the subsequent red face, but he's never done it during a bath before, so I was oblivious. As soon as it happened, I stood him up where only his feet were touching the water and yelled for Justin. By yelling, I spooked Eli and was trying very hard to assure him it was okay and I wasn't yelling at him. He didn't cry, but I got some very big blue eyes and a worried look. Justin wrapped him in his towel and proceeded with an impromptu kitchen sink bath. I cleaned up the poop. Ah, the joys of motherhood. I'm not complaining- its a little gross, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I needed to. I love that little man, but I would appreciate it if he would stick to using diapers from now on!

Catch This #1

I am starting a new irregular blog posting entitled "Catch This". My goal is to bring you interesting things that happen or are seen throughout my days.

In this first episode you need a little background. The City of Dallas is debating an ordinance that would require all non-breeders to have their pets spayed or neutered. The Dallas Morning News has a blog that tracks city hall happenings. The headline for the blog caught my attention and this is the story:

"King among all advocates of removing animals' genitalia is Bob Barker, venerable former host of the game show The Price is Right, who for years ended broadcasts with the sign-off: "Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered."

Now I love Price is Right, but the best part was the headline that read: "City to Install Plenko Board at City Hall".

Pure hilarity for my otherwise bland day.