Our Galveston Trip

So we three friends… we planned a trip together. 

Jessica’s parents have a boat down in Houston.  So Jess invited us and our husbands down for a trip to boat from Houston to Galveston for the Dickens on the Strand yearly festival.

Their boat docks at Clear Lake, TX (south side of Houston) so we all packed up into the Kerr’s mini van and headed south last Friday night.  Can I just say that mini vans are amazing?!  We fit 3 men, who are 6 ft and the other 2 are 6’4’’, 3 ladies (who are all very tiny of course) and a big ol’ carseat in the minivan without a problem.  Oh, and a stroller and ALL our luggage too.  Crazy!

Susan’s husband Trever (bless him) drove, and by the time we finally got to the Pier we were all so giddy and excited :)  We sat around talking and munching on leftovers and whatever else we could find (we hadn’t stopped for dinner on our way down.) After a couple of cocktails, Jess headed downstairs to put Joe to sleep and she never came back up.  The Kerrs and the Pecks probably stayed up too late, enjoying our childless freedom…at some point the camera came out. 

 

Oh wait, let’s see if I can do a little boat tour. 

Here she is – the Nancy III

There’s no way I can use the actual boat terms.  My dad asked if it had a galley.  I said, “You mean a kitchen?”  Well yes Dad here it is!

The galley is in an area with a large table and a big couch.  Behind that room is the door to the back patio. :)  You can look out there, I took these pictures because the water was so rough in Galveston Bay when we were heading back to Houston from Galveston.  And this boat can kick up some wake!

Ok, back inside.  From the galley/living area you walk up a few stairs to where you drive the boat.  The view…

 

This area has a big “L” couch, to keep the driver company of course.  From here you can walk up some stairs to the top deck (have no idea if that’s what it’s really called.)  The top deck can be open air but was all sealed up for our cold trip!  It has more seating and a table.  It also has a whole ‘nother cockpit if you want to drive from there. 

This is where we spent the ride to Galveston- It was so nice and beautiful views.  Plus, Santa was up there with wine!

The ride took about 2 hours.  I am told it was 25 miles and we went about 16 or 17 knots when we weren’t in a no-wake zone.

There’s an open deck on the back top- this was where Trever and Jeff relaxed, aren’t the cute? :)

We will be going back when we can sunbathe up here!!!

Back down at the main cockpit, you can step down the other way to get to the 3 bedrooms and bathrooms.  I took some crappy pictures.  This is the master bedroom.

and the front bedroom where Jeff and I stayed (Jeff is looking out the window at the waves)

This room we stayed in has a porthole right above the bed- it was so cool to stand up and stick my head out when I got hot during the night (not knowing we had our own thermostat!)  Susan and Trever’s bed just had a MIRROR over it- no porthole, nanny nanny boo boo! ((wink wink))

The 3rd bedroom has twin beds in it.  There are tvs everywhere, with satellite so don’t worry- the guys didn’t miss any football games!

Ok I think that is it for the tour.  Oh yes, the front of the boat- I got a shot of Trever out there exploring (he’s standing right by my porthole):

Notice how Nancy and Bruce had it so pretty and festive for Christmas!

Ok, back to the weekend.  Saturday morning we went out for breakfast in South Shore (is that right?) at Skipper’s and it was yummy!  We were so organized, we sat in perfect order.

This was the girl/boy/girl brown eyed, right-handed side of the table.

And across from us looking into the eyes of our favorite people, was the boy/girl/boy, blue-eyed, left-handed side of the table.

(We couldn’t get Jason off his damn phone, he wasn’t interested in our amazing seating arrangement!)

After breakfast it was back to the store to re-fuel (not gas silly!  Beer and wine) and then back to the boat to make way for Galveston.

I drove…..    

(not)

Jess and Joe really did drive.

Jess shot a cute photo of Jeff and me

In Galveston the Dickens festival was pretty cool.  LOTS of good food, and LOTS of people in costume.  Like, over half were in full get-up.  It was like you were in another world.

Later back at the boat, we were able to forego a nap and just hang out enjoying every moment.  We eventually got all ready for dinner.  Jeff got sick of Susan and I trying to get a good picture, so he snapped this one upside down through his legs.  It was the best one.

Ha!

The dinner was amazingly yummy.  Seafood.  On the coast.  Yum!  I can’t even remember what type of fish we got- Jess?  Snapper?  Yellowfish?  I dunno!  But if you’re ever at Willy G’s in Galveston, get a huge bowl of Lobster Bisque and sop it up with their garlic toast and thank me later.  Ok, now my mouth is watering.

The next day we noticed that a Carnival ship (the Conquest) had docked right behind us, I told the Meikles that their boat isn’t so big afterall! :)  Of course, we didn’t have to share with a thousand other passengers either!

The boat trip back to Houston was a little rough.  We all were fighting off the queasies.  But we made it back in one fine piece.

We loaded up in the van and headed north for about 30 minutes.  Then we realized Jeff had left his truck keys on the boat, so we headed back south for another 30 minutes (thanks to Bruce for meeting us!) and then we headed North AGAIN.  This time for good.

It was an amazing trip that we will always remember.  Great friends, good debates, lots of confiding and laughing and just relaxing.  I love you all and am so grateful to Jess and the Meikle family for welcoming us!

When can we go back?!?!  :)

You know you're a mom when...

...you ask your 4 year old daughter, who likes to tuck her jeans into her polka-dot socks "because they're pretty and people want to see them" and who puts stickers on her plain shirt you made her wear "because it wasn't cute without anything on it", which shirt and shoes you should wear to work. And you take her advice.

(Following friend's awesome post theme!)

Shelbyisms

I got my nails done last week and since then Shelby has been asking for her nails painted red like me.
Today after I picked her up from school I told her that I got her some red and green nail polish so she could do a Christmas pattern. I thought she would be so excited because she is always specifying that she wants a pattern. Her response to me was, "Well Mommy I'd like to do the red right now, and we'll do the green another day, and then when it gets closer to Christmas we can do the red and green pattern." OK High maintenance!

Another little priss thing she said, yesterday as we were leaving the mall in her Christmas dress from seeing Santa: "Mom guess what. No one said that they liked my dress! They all just like waved or somethin'."

Christmas is coming!!!!

Ok you people are in big trouble now that I have my new BFF, Live Writer!

Last week, I wrote about my stressed-out Christmas decorating.  Well, during all that, probably what all the chaos was from…was Shelby decorating her own tree that Gram got her last year.  And Cole decorating his own tree.   And then we got out Shelby’s NEW pink tree for her room. 
 

And then Cole wanted one in his room so Jeff went back up to the attic and got these other 3 trees down that were all tied together and a huge mess!  

No way, that chaos didn’t stress me out at all! :)

But in the end, we have our baby Jesus in our kitchen…

And our stockings are hung by the chimney with LOTS of care…

 

We have a jolly tree with all of our special ornaments…

And we are ready for Christmas to celebrate the birth of our Savior with the 2 most precious gifts we could have ever been given!

Fort Worth’s Parade of Lights

On the Friday after Thanksgiving we headed out to the Parade of Lights in downtown Fort Worth.  I don’t think we’ve ever been, but now that Dad and I work downtown, we have been getting emails about it and had a perfect and free parking space in our work garage, so we decided to check it out.

Sissy and Buddy were dressed in some Christmas garb.

Jeff didn’t get to go, he was working :(

But Tyler and Poppy walked around with the kids.  Our new campus is  a pretty cool grounds to explore with a waterfall and pond, a bridge to walk under, and lots to climb on!

I got some cute pictures, wish I had waited on making my Christmas cards!

Once the actual parade started, the kids LOVED it.  Shelby stood there and waved at all the people.

What a great parade it was- over 100 “groups” that were a part of it.  Shelby’s favorite was the cheerleaders that were with the bands.  She kept telling me that she wanted to be one of those!

Thanks Fort Worth!

Texas Tech vs. Baylor

This was our very first trip to the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington.  It really felt like we’re about the last people in the metroplex who hadn’t been there yet!

We packed up for the 5 hours of tailgating and headed out.

 

Jeff cooked all the meat…YUM!

We were pretty official with lots of current Tech students.  :)  Tyler’s friends were there…and there was lots of cornhole played.

Once inside the game, it was big and loud.  And no alcohol served.  (Was quite a shock!!!)

We were in the student section.

 

So we never sat down.

It was a pretty darn close game.  Fun to watch.

 

The end.

 

Now I just have to give a shout-out to Windows Live Writer and thank a fellow blogger for sharing it with me.  It’s a FREE DOWNLOAD!  This was a “test post” and guys…it was AMAZINGLY easy!  No photo uploads!  No manually resizing pictures…and they all have pretty shadows and easy dragable resizing, and are still clickable to the big original picture. 

I LOVE this thing and it will make blogging SO much easier and less time consuming!  Why doesn’t everyone know about this already?  All we ever do is gripe about how hard blogger is.  Well this is your answer!  Have fun!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Our Day of Thanks 2009 was spent in Dallas, Texas! Aunt Millie and Luke hosted their first Thanksgiving as husband and wife at their house and it was wonderful! Nana and Papa G came down from Powderly but I didn't get any pictures of them :(

Shelby was dressed in her pretty outfit from Misty at All Tuckered Out and she was workin it!





Within an hour she had wiped her red strawberry mouth all over both sleeves and somehow she ended up with red tomato seeds all over her back. Still, the outfit was just darling!

Jeff got up at 3 am to start smoking our turkey. It was his first time to smoke a turkey and it was amazing!




After taking a bite my mom said, "This is probably the best thing I've ever tasted in my life." Kudos Jeff!!!!

Sissy and Cole just ran around all day...Mill and Luke have several rooms to hang out in, and 2 huge backyards. The kids just explored and played.


Luke and Millie also made a turkey (using Alton Brown's brine recipe.)
It was SO moist and so good. The best roasted turkey I've had.



The host picture...


Reminds me of ours in 2007...

(Now what the hell was I thinking with that short hair??) YUCK!!!!

They put up one of the signs from their wedding. CUTE!



Here are the Jones girls in the kitchen. We all contributed by making/bringing a couple of things and therefore the meal prep wasn't stressful for anyone! That's the way to go!















Not sure what is going on here but it's a funny picture.


Oh yeah! Anna had fun too!


Family, laughs, fun. It was a great day!

Veggie soup

Last night I was driving home from my long day at work and thinking what I could fix for a quick dinner. I hadn't been feeling well all day and had to cancel some sushi dinner plans so didn't have anything lined up for dinner at home.
I wanted something hearty and good for you when you are starting to feel yucky. It was a COLD day yesterday (snow!) so I thought a hot soup would be good.
I threw all this together and it was GOOD! Jeff and the kids ate it all up!

Combine in stock pot:
32 oz chicken broth
1 pkg frozen carrots
1 pkg frozen broccoli pieces
1 pkg frozen peas
1 pkg frozen cauliflower
1 can stewed tomatoes

Then pour enough tomato juice over to cover all the veggies and make it a brothy soup consistency.

I had a can of chicken (not my fav!) so I sauteed it with some garlic and threw that in. It wasn't much chicken and the soup didn't really need it.

I spiced it up a bit with dried minced garlic, kosher salt, pepper, and quite a bit of Cavender's Greek seasoning (this stuff is great on sauteed veggies too!)

Just bring this all to a boil and we ate it in about 20 or 30 minutes. Very quick and simple!

Purrrrrty!

Would love to find this cat an INSIDE home...anyone?

Better mood and mushrooms

Much better mood today!
Jeff helped me trim the tree and I feel better! Admittedly, I am sure all the craziness and late nights leading up to last night had a bit of an effect on my mood, and not just the Christmas decorating :)
By the way, Jeff kept commenting on how many cool ornaments we have (ones that mean something) and I finally asked him a question. His answer was that NO he had never helped me decorate the tree before, and hadn't ever noticed all the different ornaments. Crazy man!!!

I just realized I have muchos photos from Thanksgiving, the Parade of Lights in downtown Fort Worth, the Texas Tech game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, and of course, "Purrty" the porch kitty. :) Shelby named her "because she purrs at me and she's pretty." Awww. I was gonna call her Maggie or somethin ;)

Oh and does anyone have a mushroom problem? I am amazed at the quantity and size of these "mushrooms" that grow in our front yard. They are DISGUSTING- like WET. If you step on them or squich them they ooze bubbly stuff out. They're alive!
These pictures are from ones that grew from NOTHING in 3 days. I had just scouted the yard and pulled them all, then these were this big just a few days later.



(my hand is so you can see the size)

And see how they just take over the grass? Some of them are even taking over my mums.

Happy December!

Stick a fork in me.

Wow.
I am exhausted.
Give me a weekend full of driving to both ends of the metroplex, having Thanksgiving, staying up until after 3 am twice, having family get-togethers, cooking meals, going to football games, playing with kids, I'm good. Ask me to put Christmas up at the house with 2 little "helpers"?...I'm done. DONE!
Where is my Christmas spirit? I can't find it! We have had Christmas music on the speakers since I got home- it's really just annoying me. I raked the yard today while Jeff put the lights on the house, then I griped about it. I am just dreading finishing this tree stuff after Jeff finally gets the kids to bed. (Note Jeff, not me...I am serious about being done right now!) And then in 25 days, we will have to take it all down! :(

Oh, and we now have a cat "living" on our front porch for 2 nights now. You know the dogs sure do hate that! And the kiddos love it.

Megamouth

You know, that was once my silly nickname...around 6th grade I think.

So my friend "Production Coordinator" with her awesome new blog space has inspired me to write more...more thoughts, more juice. I mean, she didn't mean to inspire me, but she's done several awesome posts without pictures! Can I do a post without a picture? Doubt it.
I really do have so much to say (Duh!!!)...I find myself having thoughts in FACEBOOK STATUS UPDATE mode- like when Cole does something, I think "My child just ran outside naked with shoes on to tell me he needed to peepee" as if it's something I would post instead of just going with it. That is demented, right? I mean, I don't really even OVER-facebook, in MY opinion. I don't, DO I???!! :)

But one thing I really do have a problem with, and I KNOW I do, is smiley faces... and ellipses... I just love them. :) So that is something we just have to deal with.
(If you don't know what ellipses are, they are the 3 dots in sentences, to me, signaling a break in thought...you are reading my thoughts, not sentences.)

Right now I am waiting for Bakerella's Pumpkin Pie Bites to finish in my oven. Jeff has a potluck tomorrow at work, and in brainstorming what to bring, I mentioned these. Then he told me that, well, there was actually a "Pumpkin Contest"---anything with pumpkin in it is free game for the contest....So it was ON! I'm not competitive or anything. I told him that if he calls to tell me that we didn't win, to please just tell me that he dropped them all in the parking lot on the way into work...that would be a much easier blow than actually NOT winning.

Oh one more thing---I did another card design tonight that I LOVE...Love so much that I wish I had done it for mine! I have had a good amount of orders this season and I still just love to do it. And there are still a few people in my mind who have mentioned me doing theirs---so just so ya know, there's not much time left people!!! Email me asap, I have done a few super cute new designs just in anticipation so I can get them out quick. I did Kylie's from scratch tonight...LOVE it! So much fun! I will definitely do them for a discounted price in the next couple of weeks if you like something that I already have...so let me know.

Next weekend (the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend) we are headed off to a KID-FREE (well, Kerr and Peck-kid free at least!) trip on a BOAT! A really BIG boat. I cannot freakin wait and will be excited to share all about it when we return! This will only be the SECOND TIME ever that Jeff & I have left our kids for 2 nights without us. (the first being this past January for our 5th anniversary.) No I don't need more time away from them...I'm a working mom! I get plenty of time away from my kids. But as much as I will miss them, I am so looking forward to our trip with my besties Susan and Jess, and the hubbies too.

So here's to more chit-chat and more nitty-gritty :)

November Ramblings by Mommy

Here we are - almost through November 09 and man the time is just flying by!

Last night when I was ready for bed, I went and got my sweet cuddle girl Shelby out of her bed and into mine with me...when do I have to stop doing this? I think I'll do it as long as she'll let me! Sadly I'm sure one of these years/days she'll be telling me to leave her alone. :(

(picture from Saturday night when she had us "Dress up for dinner")

Every single morning she HAS to wake up and "Watch Daddy drive off" to work. He leaves right around 6:30 which is when she wakes up... Doesn't matter that it's raining or 35 degrees outside and she's just in a t-shirt. She does it. She watches and waves as he drives off and he gives her a little honk, which delights her with a huge smile every time. Oh this little girl loves her daddy.



She has really grown up a lot lately- helping more, obeying better, being extra sweet to her brother. I am so proud of the little girl she is becoming. She still says she is going to be an animal doctor when she grows up, and she becomes more and more motherly every day. She is still obsessed with dolls and stuffed animals, and oftentimes lately I'll find her in her room, sitting in her rocking chair with a dolly in her lap, feeding her with a spoon. She just grins at me, so proud of herself.


(Picture from Chuck E Cheese!)

Cole Daddy is just a bruiser...last night he just ran into me full force and knocked my glasses off my face. He (and Shelby too) loves to wrestle around in the living room floor, and "Ride the horsie" (Daddy) and "Fly like SuperMAN!" (on Mommy's legs.) He likes to sing and often belts out his school song, "Oh it's great to be a HoneyBee! I'm thankful for my friends and I'm thankful for my teachers, oh it's great to be a HoneyBee!!!" He's a sweetie but oh so frustrating at times. He throws things. Hits things. Takes everything apart. He spits. His favorite word is "Buttcheeks!!!" thanks to cousin Matthew and he belts it out multiple times a day, regardless of our asking him not to. Last night at dinner, he reached over, got Shelby's cup full of ice water, and spit out his milk into it. This was right after he "scooted" his plate into the floor for the dogs to devour. God is teaching me patience with this little man! :)


But oh his sweet chubby hands holding mine, or his arms wrapped around my neck, and the way he cuddled with me this Saturday morning on the couch and contentedly said, "I wuv you Mommy."....he is the loveliest thing that ever was!



We have so many fun things planned coming up in the next year...
We are having Thanksgiving at Aunt Millie and Uncle Luke's new house- their first married Thanksgiving. Mill has got that house just gorgeous inside (so bad that it makes me want to re-do mine again!)
There will be a trip to Arkansas for Christmas with the family (not ON Christmas though.)
Then after a Christmas at home, we are heading to a cabin at Beaver's Bend, OK for New Years Eve with Nonnie & Poppy, Millie & Luke, Anna and Tyler.
We were seriously considering a ski trip to Red River over Spring Break but I think we've about decided to wait one more year to go, so that Cole can do a ski school as well (at age 4.)
In June Jeff turns 35 and I will be the big 3-0, and we are heading to Destin for a week-long beach vacation. My kids have never been to the beach. Never! I am so excited because they are going to love it! We are heading there with a ton of family- all of my dad's side, with Mimi & Jack, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" ~Psalm 133:1

Shelbyism?

Jeff just sent me this email... Where the heck does she get this stuff?!?!

You hear Shelby last nite in the bathroom? Cole was acting up in the bathroom. She said, "Ooh, Coleman...brush your teeth or Obama's gonna spend all the money!"

EDIT: Now Jeff told me that first, HE told Cole, "you better quit kidding around or Obama's gonna spend all the money!"
Now we know where she heard it, duh! Little sponge.

Silly Coleman

First of all, Cole just stood here in the kitchen and vomited his entire dinner and everything he's eaten in the past 2 hours. He said that nothing hurts, and he feels fine, and he ran off all laughing and happy....Ok??
Next, he ran back into the kitchen, hyper as ever...
C: "I'm so happy!"
M&J: "Why? Why are you so happy?"
C: "Because I missed you so much!"
J: "You missed who? Mommy?"
C: "No, I missed Megan and Jeff and sissy. That's 1, 2, 3!"

Little weirdo. Oh and yeah, he's started calling us Megan and Jeff all the time!

Baby girl

PK Lake

We had an awesome time at Possum Kingdom State Park this past weekend. We stayed from Friday - Monday. Friday night Jess, Jason, and Joey arrived with us (after dark!) It was kind of a pain to set-up in the dark, but we were very happy to wake up to the sunshine on the lake and no where to go!
Saturday Susan, Trever, Ashlyn, and Ryan showed up to join in the fun. They brought their bounce house, which was a huge hit. We even had people stop to tell us how genius we were to bring it! :)



We took tons of bike rides...with the 4 adult bikes, 2 kid bikes, 2 ride-ons and 2 bike trailers parked on our camping site, it looked like we were having our own bike rally!

We enjoyed lunch, dinner, drinks, horseshoes, rock throwing, breakfast, (because it's all about the food!) and much more!
Sunday morning the Kerrs and the Davises left, and we Pecks stayed to enjoy an entire day of relaxation and quiet. It was so peaceful out there...Cole and I took a long nap. I got to read. After dark a deer came right up to the campsite next to us! (Mary quickly chased her away!) :(

Sunday night while we slept we could feel the cold air blowing in and shaking the camper. We woke up to a COLD high wind off the lake, but were thankful for our warm shelter. :) The kids watched a movied all bundled up in bed while Jeff and I packed up. It was a perfect (yet chilly) ending to a wonderful family weekend!

Here are 3 of the very few pictures I took out there. Jess was the official photographer of the trip, so my camera didn't come out until they left.









Oh one more-
Love this one. Wearing Mommy's fuzzy socks, holding a wipe and a ice pack on her "ow-ee", bottle of water, taco soup, and of course the crossed legs...My little Priss!

Best Buddies

These little buddies love each other so much and play together so well! Joey is always asking "where's Cole?" and Coleman talks about Joey all the time. What a special friend to have at only two years old!!!

















For a post with more pictures of our camping trip to Possum Kingdom, head over to Jess at Planted Gypsy Feet!

Blessed

I am married to the best daddy ever there was.

The GIRLS weekend!

What a great girly weekend we had last weekend!
The boys (Jeff, Cole, Poppy, Uncle Tyler, Uncle Luke, and "Uncle" Ryan) headed out to camp at Mineral Wells state park and we girls had a "staycation" at Nonnie's house.

To start the weekend, we went to our FAVORITE (byow) sushi place.
It was Shelby's first sushi experience.
The chef made it special. He asked her to climb up on the counter so he could put a bandana on her just like his, then he took her around to the back so she could ring his gong. (Literally!)






Shelby then handed out our menus and chopsticks.


She found a new friend and got to watch the sushi rolls being made!


She had a great time using the chopsticks.


This is her gangsta face.


I don't think she used a fork at all. She improvised.


We went back to Nonnie's with FULL satisfied tummies!
(Reminder to self: Get more Vegas rolls next time...it was heavenly!)

At home we just talked and played and worked puzzles and took another picture of course!



The next day, we all went for a walk to the park and fed the ducks. Then, we went home and got all cleaned and prettied up for lunch and shopping!

We ate outside on a patio on a gorgeous day






After that, we spent THREE hours at an antique mall. Shelby was amazingly behaved for that long!


Then we still headed to do some more shopping at World Market. It was next door to pet adoption day at PetSmart so Shelby really enjoyed that, our little animal lover.

Back at home, Nonnie made some homemade veggie pizza and we got in the hot tub.


Girls will be girls!!!



Oh and here is my new piece from the antique shop!

I love it, it is in our entry way...my next step is to put a cool (red or brown) vintage patterned (damask?) wallpaper behind it in that little space!


The inside is left with the dark wood, and all three shelves are lighted from inside.



Happy Friday!!!