free, fun, software

Make your own digi prints into polaroid art with freeware from here. (It even makes you wait for the image to develop!) I am so in love...and maybe a little addicted. :-)

a few shots from our Christmas Eve and Christmas

getting ready for Santa...


tracking Santa with a little help from NORAD




The rice flour-almond butter-honey-chocolate chip cookies (with sprinkles) were surprisingly very tasty. :-)


The squares around the outside of the cookie were called muddy buddies. Aiden made them with Rice Chex, almond butter, butter, chocolate chips and powdered sugar. They were truly sinful. And just in case Santa is lactose intolerant, the boys left him vanilla soy milk. ;-)


Christmas Day at Granny and Grumpa's House...










We hope that your Christmas was a happy one, too.

A little fun with Picnik on Flickr...

another year...

another picture of my boys on the rock...
2007

2008


My motto for the Christmas card this year is, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Maybe next year I'll be a little more creative...or not.

never say never

Neither of my boys has ever wanted to take a picture with Santa...EVER! Yesterday, Tim's office had a Breakfast with Santa Party, and the boys did what I thought they would never do...

it snowed...a little

j.k. rowling rocks

Her latest work is currently in your local book store...The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

you are special.

yes, i mean you...just in case you ever have any doubts. :-)

"Busy hands are never in want." -- Anonymous

Thank you for teaching him, Mary. :-)

cute kids

make up for the blown out background...right?



from our trip to Artpace

self-portrait challenge

Here is a little diptych to represent a moment of our day, yesterday, as inspired by Shutter Sisters. Check out the blue sky we enjoyed! It was a perfect day to be out and about, and out and about, we were! We had an interesting tour and hands-on activity at Artpace, which is in downtown San Antonio. That would explain the pavement in the shoe shot. The little stickers on my shoe? They were leftover from the grass around the tennis court where my boys practiced earlier in the day. It makes me smile to see that they stuck around throughout our tour of Artpace. Persistent little fellows, weren't they!

concentration

NW Halloween Party

waiting for pumpkin pie...

I promise I did not stage this. Apparently, Scooby likes pumpkin pie too.

take 1

Each year, about this time, I start thinking about taking the photo for our Holiday card. Trying to get a shot of my two boys both smiling nicely at the same time can be a little tricky. Judging by my first attempt, this may be a very long and painful process...

"These are the days when anything goes...

...Everyday is a winding road."
--Sheryl Crow

This cool thinking game provides quality entertainment for all ages. Happy weekend to you!

regrouping...

the game we play...

...when we go to an art museum.



We go straight into the gift shop and each of us chooses a post card or note card with a piece of art from the museum. Then we hunt for them, and each time we find one, we really talk about what we see.

flashlight fun

This says, "Aiden :-)"...


my design...


O for Owen...

in the kitchen...

or my guys with knives...

Aiden...


Owen...


and Tim...

Mamaw's Steamer

I can still remember the contents of each of my grandma's organized kitchen drawers. It's easy after the countless hours I spent exploring them. Two items were my favorite: an interesting devise she used to chop up pecans for the crust of her famously delicious Chocolate Delight and this, her veggie steamer. When she passed away 10 years ago, her steamer was passed on to me. It is only a small, everyday kind of item that I doubt she had any special attachment to, but for me, it is a reminder of the many ways she touched our lives by just being there for us.

Cooking, cleaning, carpooling and insurmountable piles of laundry may feel like insignificant contributions to the greater good of humanity in an age where women can be leaders of corporations and nations. Self-doubt can start to creep in. Should I have pushed myself harder? Should I have gone on to law school? Could I have succeeded in the dog-eat-dog world of corporations or big law firms? Is it too late to even try?

On the days that those questions start to weigh me down, I pull out Mamaw’s steamer and make some broccoli or green beans. I think of how my Mamaw, who did not graduate from college or compete in the corporate world, contributed to the world in her own special way. While keeping her home orderly and clean, she managed to raise two accountants, a teacher and a lawyer. She went on to shower her grandchildren with limitless unconditional love. She made the world a better place by being a housewife, mother, grandmother and eventually great-grandmother. I hope that one day the same will be said of me.

first piano lessons

My boys have just started taking piano lessons. It is so nice to hear our old piano at work again. :-)

Family Day at the McNay

It was a bit crazy, bordering on zoo-like, but the boys had fun...as you can tell by their smiling faces.

North

Aiden found a magnetized needle, so he decided to make his own compass. It worked. :-)

It's been too long...

I post a new photo every day on my Flickr account, but I have been forgetting to post them over here. Here are a few shots of the boys over the last few weeks, and let's hope I don't wait so long to post next time...


This is Owen, doing a jump shot. He has shown a recent interest in my favorite sport, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. He has even been listening when I try to give him pointers on dribbling and shooting. And look...he is actually off the ground while shooting! Ya gotta love it!


Aiden and his best bud, Pierre, love to play Yu Gi Oh! at our weekly park day.


Aiden attended two sports camps this month...first tennis and then golf. He enjoyed both, but was ready for a break when the two weeks were over.


While Aiden was at camp, Owen and I had our own adventures, exploring downtown Boerne's little coffee shops and restaurants.

Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg, TX

The boys and I went out to Fredericksburg on Thursday, in search of Wildseed Farms' yummy honey. We came back home with four jars of honey, tummies full of peach ice cream, and a few cool photos...







It was a successful trip, I think.

tennis :: day 1

My boys started lessons with a new (to my boys) coach today. All of the kids had a great time, which is how I measure for success. :-)


A lefty? The coach thinks so. Watch out Nadal!

caterpillar forming chrysalis

on the post of our back porch.


first day we saw it


two days later.

With any luck, we'll get to see the butterfly emerge!