Indiana Vacation 2008

We had such a good time visiting family in Indiana. We saw my friends, Karen, Aneisa, Suzan, Jan, and Ann. But, unfortunately, the weather wasn't great for travel and I really didn't want to get my kids out in the cold more than I needed to. So, I'm sad we missed a lot of my friends, but I'm thrilled we had so much fun while we were there. My Aunt Barb was so sweet she baked a few of my Grandmother's cookies for us to ice. As you may remember from my cookie recipe post, the icing of these cookies is over half of the work! I love that she was able to do this with my Grandma. If you follow this blog, it's probably redundant to say this is one of my favorite childhood memories. But, it really is important to me! :)





Of course, sprinkles. Suzy LOVES sprinkles.

Suzy also enjoyed playing her cousin, Andrew's, guitar. She liked it so much, it inspired me to get her very own guitar from my mother this year. My little country star....

This is how poor Andy spent much of our vacation. I preach about not letting babies hang out in these carriers, but it was so dang cold! He's my little papoose...
Grandma Carolyn just couldn't get enough of this little guy.
It was soooo much fun seeing Suzy's reactions to all the snow and the wonderment that snow provides for toddlers.
Here she is tasting her cookie and playing the guitar (a little out of order, but oh well...)

My sister, Emily, has kids that bookend mine. So, we spent a lot of time at her house. After we tried to injur them in the snow, we decided indoor activities might be better for the remainder of the trip.... Here's our gingerbread house.
The kids had SOOOO much fun with this.
We gave them a bowl of candy and a bowl of popcorn in hopes that the popcorn would go in the bellies and the candy on the house... it worked out moderately well. Better than can be expected anyhow. ;)
I love this shot of Suzy on the snow-covered slide.
Here's my sweet sister, Emmy, with my little Andy.
Here's Emily's Andrew and Suzy doing "turtle races". I just love this age of make believe and creativity.
My brother's little girl, Sophie, was very intrigued with Suzy. She wanted to do everything Suzy did. Suzy isn't used to being the "big kid", so it was fun to observe. She was surprisingly sweet with her. It seems like a big difference now, but in a few years, the six months difference will be so minimal and I hope they are great friends!
Lyn had a great time with Andy as well. He's such a charmer. He just LOVES this little Sophie the girrafe.
Suzy had lots of birthday celebrations. This one at my brother, Jeremy's, house was her actual "cake" birthday. She played more in the frosting than anything else. I was fine with it. I'd rather it be on her hands than in her blood stream!
Here's Andy with my dad, "Dopadop". I'm not exactly sure how this name came about. But, I think it was Suzy's first attempts at "Grandpa Doc". I heard some of the cousins calling him that and I'm guessing that's what it's from. It originated after our last visit a year ago. At first, he was, "Noah", and then he became "Dopadop" after I explained that he was her Grandpa.
Andrew was fascinated with Andy and I think the feelings were mutual! Andy just "lit up" around him.
Here's Suzy's first birthday party. Emily and her kids came over for some cupcakes at my Dad's house.
Here are some shots my sister, Vickie, took of Andy. She's got a great eye for photography and I love her photos! I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse of our trip. We sure had a great time!

More Story Board Fun

Andy woke up at 4:00 this morning and then Suzy at 4:30. Uugh. Since I really couldn't go back to sleep at that point, I decided to have some more fun with my new story board skills in Photoshop. Suzy's teachers asked me for the recipe for the cookies I made this year, so I thought I'd make some fun cards to share the recipe. I'll be including these in the family Christmas cards this year as well. (I finally ordered the pictures, maybe I'll get the letter done today... high hopes).

My Grandma's cookies are the BEST!! The two things I think of when I think of her is her claim to fame as Miss Indiana 1940 and her COOKIES! I love her hand-written touch on this one.


The way she ices them is AMAZING. She uses a toothpick and it takes FOREVER to do these. It is truly a huge labor of love. I love that Suzy gets to do it with her. This year, my Aunt Barb was kind enough to have some pre-baked for us to ice with Grandma on our visit to Indiana this year.


I hope you enjoy! p.s. If you copy this recipe, please don't bring them to the same gathering I will be at. This is my "secret weapon" for pitch ins. ;) Besides, if you make them once, I promise you are likely to only save them for special occasions like I do. ;P

Merry Christmas!

Most likely, I won't get around to sending out my Christmas Cards until Valentine's Day (like I did last year - and even then, I only sent them to half the people on my list....). So, I thought I'd post my good intentions here. I just learned how to do "story boards" in Photoshop, so I was able to make my own photo cards this year. Very exciting. I promise I'll finish my vacation posts eventually. ;) But, until then, I hope you enjoy our e-card!

Suzy's first snowball fight

while in Indiana, Suzy couldn't wait to get out and play in the snow. We read several "winter" books before we left and she was very anxious to experience it first hand. She did say often, however, that she liked Texas better since it was warmer. At one point, I told her we were going to Aunt Emmy's house (a few miles from my Dad's) and she asked, "Does Aunt Emmy live in Indiana?" I said, "Yes." She replied, "Oh, then it's cold there. Let's go back to Texas."

Here are some fun pictures of Suzy's first time really playing in snow. It was a memory I will cherish. Well, at least until the part where we thought sledding would be a good idea... ;)

A Buddy and a Helmet

We joke about my childhood that you could do anything you wanted as long as you had a buddy and wore a helmet. We really have all survived some really stupid things amongst my siblings. Emily and I were often paired together since we were the two girls closest in age. We had a lot of fun, but got in a lot of dangerous situations as well. We thought we had matured since we are now older, but, alas, the two of us together still proves to be a bit risky. For example, we attempted to let Suzy experience the joys of sledding while at her house last week during the snow. Here, Emily is loading all three of the toddlers on the sled. Hmmmm.... should I be concerned? Nah, they've got buddies.

As she is about to let go of the rope, (I thought she was just going to pull them) I ask if she's sure about this hill. She assures me (jokingly - which unfortunately I missed all together and thought she was serious) that the trees will stop them. Now, sarcasm aside, even if I did know that she was kidding, why did that sound like a good solution to me? In what situation would that be a "good thing?" Oy, vey. Sometimes I wonder how I am as successful as I am. People pay me to think... if only they knew... ;)
Suzy was sooooo excited. Here they go on their first big "sleigh ride!"

This is the "hill" that we placed our dear toddlers upon. It's really just a little ridge with ghastly ravines on either side. On the left, is a pond, the right is a small creek bed. What were we thinking?
The last photo taken before the camera was hurled into the snow as we chased after our poor screaming children who were plummeting to the bottom of the ravine.
I took this photo the next day to show the path of the sled. Apparently, the trees did NOT stop them.

Andrew fared the worst. We were most concerned with Anthony, since he wasn't moving when we first got to them. But, he was fine. You can't really tell completely here, but Andrew's entire forehead and nose are very swollen. I've never seen the likes of a worse goose egg than this. Praise God he wasn't hurt more severely. Emily's husband went down the next day to retrieve hats and gloves and such and discovered a small tree that had been freshly broken in half. We assume it was Andrew's poor head that caused it. He should have been wearing a helmet.....

Suzy fared fine. She was pretty sandwiched between the boys and walked away with only a knock to her tooth. It's a little chipped, and she may lose it eventually, but overall, it wasn't too bad. Anthony was suspected to have a broken leg, but is cleared after X-Rays and fine now as well. Praise God for his protection of our little ones. I hate it when my life lessons are learned at the expense of poor little Suzy. Again, how did we think this would end well???? I guess some things never change when you get me and Emily together. Although, looking back, this may not be as bad as some of the other "adventures" we went on. Say, for example, the time we got in a van without windows with a bunch of locals in Grand Cayman who were taking us to a "really cool party". I was actually re-thinking that decision while still in the back of the van. Oddly, my brother ended up sneaking out as well that night and was at the same party! Crazy.

A Childhood Game of Tag

My good friend, Diana, tagged me the other day - thinking there were even more interesting things you may not know about me. Hmmmm, my life is a pretty open book. So, in the spirit of just returning from a visit back home, I'll play the childhood version. Things you may not know about how I grew up. Here are seven random childhood facts about me and my Dad's house that I just returned home from....

1. My parents are divorced. I grew up with my Mom and Step-Dad for the majority of my life (they married before I had memories). For the most part, I called my step-dad "Popa" and my biological father, "Dad". We had a strained relationship in my youth, and I often refered to Popa as my "Dad" and left many people very confused. Sadly, Popa passed away right before Suzy was conceived. However, since then, I have begun to have a really great relation ship with my Dad. It's odd how God works, but I'm really enjoying this new peace between us. So, that sets the stage a bit. I used to visit my Dad about 1-2 times per month and his house was always a huge playground. More on that as the post continues....

2. My brother, Jeremy, is a genius. I'm sure he's Mensa and such, but I just can't describe to you how smart he is. As a kid, he was a big nerd and I couldn't understand how some of my friends thought he was "hot". I mean, this kid won Lego engineering contests when he was like, five.... ??? He still has a bit of a nerdy appeal to him, but it's very endearing. He was recently written up in the local paper for riding his bike everywhere. It's not Austin, folks. In Indiana, that makes you a bit "odd". How smart is he? He builds entire homes from reading a "how to" manual. He taught himself photography. He ran a successful music business without ever taking a business class. While we were home, he decided he wanted to learn guitar and so he is teaching himself that as well. He likes classic rock and was learning the Beatle's "Hey Jude". He changed the words to "Hey Suz" and it was a huge hit with Suzy. Big brother, I think you are truly amazing.


3. There is a trampoline sunk into the floor of the rec room. My dad likes pools. He also likes to build things himself and such. So, we once had an outdoor pool. Then, we had an indoor pool here in this room. He has since boarded over the pool and made it a game room. First, however, he bought this trampoline at an auction from a High School and put it in the shallow end. If you lift the mats on the sides, you can still fall into the pool itself. My siblings (with children of their own who live closer) have since put mats all around the edges to prevent further "pool slidings". This was a HUGE hit with Suzy. All the little cousins (13 of them) really enjoy this part of the house.

4. So, now, the pool is back outside. He built this pool outdoors and then put a roof over it. Since it's so cold in the winter here, he has since bought a Swim Spa that is also a big hit with the wee ones.
5. So, it's like a spa here. There are three pools still and two steam showers. I think there is also a sauna that has been moved out here from the rec room, but the door was locked while I was here.


6. There is a full sized racketball court / basketball court attached off of the rec room. I didn't get any pictures this trip, but we used to just watch the clock to know when Dad would be awake so we could play down there for HOURS on the weekends. You would assume I'm good at racketball with all the practice I got, but I never really improved my game. My brothers, however, could kick your tush....

7. Like all families, we have a few skeletons in the closet. One of which, my father has named, "Jimmy". I used to be fascinated with this thing as a child and always wondered if it was, indeed, real like my siblings taunted. My dad is s physician and bought this to explain things to his patients before they were really common place out of plastic and resin. This trip, I found out once and for all that Jimmy is, indeed, a human skeleton. Turns out though, Jimmy is a small asian lady. Who knew! I had pretty well forgotten about "him" until I came to the house while everyone was still down in Kentucky (riding motorcycles - ho hum.... maybe next year). I opened the closet door to make Andy's little bedroom, and was greeted with Mr. Bones himself. It creeped me out a bit to think of Andy sleeping with a skeleton, so I moved Jimmy to another bedroom.


Andy's "not so spooky" bedroom for the duration.
So, there you have it. Seven random facts about my childhood second home. It was sure fun to relive the memories of how my Dad's house was such a playhouse. Oddly, to Suzy it's known as Mamaw's house and she has yet to experience some of the really big fun that will be coming in later years such as all the travel and motor sports....

I'm not tagging anyone else. Most of the poeple I know have already been hit. If you are reading this and feel left out, you can always tag yourself! :) Maybe later I'll come back and add links to Diana's blog and such. Right now, my children waketh....

Snow on Suzy's Birthday

Suzy awoke on her birthday morning to a light covering of snow! (We are staying at my Dad's house in Indiana for the week.)She was a little hesitant at first...
She touched it cautiously....
And was soon making tracks like a pro.
We made a small snowman, but my Dad said it looked more like a "snow rat."
He later got his carrot nose and raisin eyes. Andy's not too sure about snow yet.
I had to buy him a new little snow suit and found this one to be perfect. Go Colts!
Andy, you are such a ham.... He started doing raspberries while we are here. Sooo cute!

Four Words

I Have Great Kids. We've arrived safely in Indiana to visit my family and work a couple of conferences. Just me and the babies. We flew through Dallas on Friday and both kids did GREAT! I made a little "bed" for Andy and he slept the entire 2 1/2 hour flight from Dallas to Indy. He was quite the talk of the plane! Being the germaphobe, I had to cover the little "box" that he could reach with some Press N Seal. I LOVE this stuff for travel....



Yes, he literally slept beneath the seats in front of us.
Suzy had a bit of a cold, but was a real champ and traveled like her pro momma! (notice more Press N Seal on the tray table... those things are NASTY!)

Even the pilot noticed how sweet she was.
She was so good, they even let her fly the plane!
Suzy and Andy, I am so blessed to be your Momma! You are the bestest little travel buddies, ever! (Now, please be this good on the way home.... I'm exhausted... we miss you Daddy - especially at 4:00 am.... wink)