Why Hello There Friend

Baking Cookies

I am not a baker, but I can't resist my little girl's pleas to bake.  This was the second time around for baking oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and I have to say this time was definitely more fun.  Phew!

Mmmmm, Donuts.

First Day of School 2012

Today was the first day of school.  Trey started 3rd grade (W O W) and Paige started Kindergarten (H O L Y  C O W).  What does all this mean??? It means I am getting old.  No no no, well yes, but it means that life moves fast and you should cherish every moment you can.  Yes, all those people who told me while I was pregnant "they will grow up so fast right before your eyes" were right on target.  I am posting this before the kids get home from school and am so excited to hear all about their first day.  My life is in fast forward so I am going to mentally hit the pause button since there will never be another day like this one.  You should too!

San Antonio revisited

We were able to take a family vacation this past weekend.  We went to San Antonio and stayed at the Westin La Cantera again.  The kids still loved the water slide and pool and smores, etc.  Then we tackled Six Flags Fiesta Texas.  It was fun, but HOT.  We were able to cool off a little with some of the water rides so that was nice.  Then we ran into some trouble the night before we left when my minivan wouldn't start.  After towing it and waiting all day long at Honda, we had no answers.  We headed home in a rental car, only to find out the next morning that they figured it out (rodents chewed the wiring/electrical in case you wanted to know) and fixed it so I had to drive all the way back to get my car.  I am glad to be getting back into the routine now and done with all that!  School is right around the corner and there is much to do still!

Smores

Smores

Smores minus the marshmallow

Lovin' those smores

What a loooong weekend!

Karaoke time

This is giving me a headache...

Note the barf bucket on the couch.  Good Times.

Updated Landscaping

I was pretty unhappy with the way our landscaping looked after five years so we did a mini-overhaul.  Below are the before and after pictures.  We took out the huge and puny rose bushes and salvia greggii, added river rock and new mulch, trimmed everything up and transferred a few plants.  I will add a little color after this heat wave!  Hopefully this will look better for longer than five years!

Before - weeds galore and puny rose bushes in front of the hedge and salvia on the right.

Before - huge, messy rose bushes blocking the hedge and more weeds weeds weeds.

Before - yep, more weeds and salvia (on left) to be removed and nana nandina (behind the rock and crepe myrtle) to be replanted/spread out around the crepe myrtle.

Before - salvia on right to get rid of.

TA DA!!!!!

After - I will add some little flowers for color in front of the columns/by the walkway.

After - with crushed granite under the oak tree.

After

After - will put some lantana or plumbago in the open pocket of mulch on the right.