Texas Springtime

I can feel it coming...it's springtime and it's coming to Texas!  Paige is so excited about the blooms on the ornamental pear in our backyard...

loaded with blooms....and bees!

And here's a few more pictures from our morning outing to the zoo...

Redbud blooms

Although the temperatures aren't very springlike (it's supposed to reach the low 80s today), it's been typically windy for our area.  The remainder of our week is supposed to be in the mid to low 70s...let's just hope the wind dies down a bit!  Hope you're enjoying Spring wherever you may be.
 

I...am...insane (aka Spring Break week)

It's Spring Break week for my kids and, in an effort to preserve the peace (and my sanity, at least what's left of it) I sat down and made a list of all the stuff we're going to do.  Mind you, I've NEVER taken off to be with them, just me, for an ENTIRE week...I may not make it folks!  My Mom gets my quilting stash if things don't turn out well!!

Monday, we organized both kids' rooms (I do so love a label maker) and....

we're going to CAMP OUT IN THE BACKYARD!

Now, Texas weather can be a thing of beauty, but generally speaking you never know what you're gonna get.  The saying goes "If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes and it'll change".  My kids are, oh, so ecstatic.   Me, I'm no nature lover.  Here's hoping for the best.

Fast-forward to TUESDAY morning:

We made it!  The wind HOWLED all night and for a while there I didn't think my daughter would stick it out.  It started raining sometime early, thankfully NOT a downpour; we stayed dry and cozy.  

Tuesday's been humid here in Central Texas, but the weather cleared up enough for us to head to Cameron Park Zoo this morning.

At the new Asian Forest exhibit

I won't bore you with animal photos...I can hear you cheering :)  although there's tons of new stuff to see.  The kids really enjoyed the expanded Asian exhibit with orangutans and a komodo dragon and the meerkat exhibit is always a favorite.  Tomorrow is movie day...Rango, here we come!

It's Wednesday, and we just got back from seeing the movie Rango.  The kids loved it!  I discovered a few things during the movie that I thought I'd share:
                                          1) This is NOT a kids movie.
                                          2) Children under age 4 should be muzzled while at the movies.
                                          3) Rango sucked and had me wishing for an
                                               arsenic cocktail.           
                                          4) My son does not wash under his armpits.
Post-movie, we made a detour to our local WalMart for heavy duty deoderant and "manly" shower gel.  He passed the sniff test...I consider this proof of God's sense of humor that I would HAVE to smell his pits and His infinite mercy because I didn't die while doing it.        

Thursday and my patience is wearing a little thin...not to mention that Mommy forgot to give kid #1 their morning medicine so "hyper" is the story of the day.  After a quick trip to town, we spent the remainder of the day at home doing art projects and making cookies for the local police department.

Rolling the dough in sprinkles

2 dozen each:  sugar cookies with sprinkles and chocolate chip

I've nothing witty to write today as I am utterly exhausted...not even my nap seemed to do much good.  Giving up soda and coffee for Lent may not have been such a hot idea.  Who knew 24/7 with these too was such hard work? 

Well, this is it...Friday morning, the last day of Spring Break.  It's 10:30am and us girls are still in our pjs while Seth snoozes the day away in bed.  So much for wrapping up vacation with a BANG!!  I'm not sure I'm excited it's over or sad I don't have more time off with them.  Yesterday, I was ready to pull my hair out; they were driving me crazy.  Today, I think "Just one more day"...how fast they're growing up.  On the positive side, that means I've succeeded so far...I haven't killed 'em yet!  Which is good, because frankly I wouldn't look good in an orange jumpsuit!! 

                     

Retreat Recovery

I am absolutely exhausted, but had the best time this weekend as my Mom hosted her first-ever quilt retreat at her home.  My Aunt Doris came down from the Dallas area and my good friend Linda joined us in Mom's converted 2-car garage for quilting, food, more quilting and very little sleep.  And also a smidgen of knitting!

Friday night...and they started the party without me!


My mom completed 18 fleece blankets and 2 baby quilts.

She and my Aunt were still sewing away when I left Sunday afternoon.

Here's our group:

My Mom, Janet

My Aunt Doris

My friend, Linda

My Aunt worked on an awesome circular, paper-pieced project (which I didn't get a picture of) and this project, made from homespun fabrics...


I stood at the short-arm machine Friday night and all day Saturday and managed to get seven tops quilted with another five to go. 


We also had a retreat mascot...my Mom's beagle mix, Chloe

We had so much fun this weekend...my muscles are sore, my eyes feel like they're full of sand and I could probably load the quilting machine in my sleep, but it was a blast!  And I don't know who was more excited to see me when I got home: my husband, the kids or the dog....which means I should do this more often!!
 

The Perfect Mother

I've had it!  Can I get a show of hands of all those other mothers who're fed up with the myth of the "perfect" mom?  For Pete's sake, I'm constantly reminded of how I fall short in the mothering department!  Their little ones wear only the finest designer duds, eat only organic produce and hormone-free milk and, perish the thought of allowing a vaccine to enter their little systems.   These women never yell, volunteer for all sorts of community and school endeavors, have home-cooked meals on the table every night and I'm fairly certain  they never tell their husband "No". 

My kids are the ones that will find the 6 month old grape, shriveled to its raisin-y perfection under the sofa and proceed to eat the dog-hair encrusted thing.  Yes, the occasional donut passes their lips, not to mention chicken nuggets, hamburgers and those detestable boxed lunches you find in the cold cuts section of the grocery.  You could eat off my floor...some people have the "5 second rule".  Ours is more like 20 seconds and it'll probably boost your immunity and render you dog-allergy free.  I don't insist on nightly baths.  I gingerly sniff their hair and proclaim them "clean enough".  Don't ask about the time I actually sniffed an armpit...oh, Lord!  And at my son's age (11), it doesn't matter how much or how often he scrubbs, he still smells like the hind-end of a water buffalo.  Their clothes come from that great capitalist evil, Wal-Mart and I'm sure are loaded with all sorts of gawd awful chemicals.  No unbleached organic cottons for us!  No, sirree!!  And yes, we vaccinate.  Religiously.  The worst we've encountered is fever and "soreness at the injection site".  Well, duh, of course it hurts at the injection site.  Someone jabbed a needle into them.  I'll take that over polio any day.

Today is the start of their Spring Break.  Lucky devils, since they go to private school they're getting 2 extra days off for the teacher's to attend a conference.  We spent our morning running errands.  Paige's hair is cut...you know, she really does have a face under all that!  We visited the bank and loaded up on lollipops (thanks Miss Candy...that's really her name), the grocery where I purchased pesticide sprayed fruit and veggies, the bookstore and topped it off with a stop at Sonic.  They were real troopers, no complaints, no fighting.  I occasionally checked each one for a pulse.  And when we got home, do you know what they said to me?  "We love you Mom.  You're the best".

No, I'm not perfect.  But I am "me".  My children love me, my husband loves me; and I love them with everything my imperfect little heart can hold.  They're mine and I'm theirs.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Retreat!

It's almost that time again...time for QUILT RETREAT!!  My Mom's hosting her first retreat at her home and we are so excited...I know you can't tell.  I've spent most of the day trying to get everything organized.

Goody bags for everyone!

I've also been cutting up fabric like crazy.  I've unearthed more quilt tops that need to be sandwiched and quilted...not my favorite part, which is weird since I call myself a quilter. 

Here I am auditioning backing fabrics.  Does anyone really care about the backing?  Personally, I like flannel but in Texas it's really not practical.

At the end of my cutting extravaganza, this is what I've wound up with...8 quilt tops with backing ready for the short-arm.  Just don't ask me about the binding!

Happy quilting!