okay here is the second picture

flower arranger i'm not

i thought i'd show you my feeble attempts - this is what happens when you attempt to do a flower arrangement from a picture in a magazine. it never does quite look the way you want it to. the first attempt had to be scratched and the second was a little better.

I'm a big kid now!

So, some mothers of young kids might wonder what the next big milestone is after potty training?
The first ROAD TRIP!!! Bekah drove to college station with me in the passenger seat. would you believe that I don't think my heart rate even got elevated? This is really amazing.
We got to be roomies with jen and her 2 roomies and jen was our college tour guide as we traipsed around aggieland visiting the education and business colleges, bought college t-shirts and did other collegy stuff. the "girly" movie we picked (that one with bees in the title) was not romantic or funny as we had hoped, but it is good to know that daytime tickets are still only 3.50 in aggieland!
bekah is watching the mailbox for her acceptance letter. Then, hopefully she can sit back and enjoy the rest of her senior year. She has her college car - a toyota corolla that matches jen's except is a different color.
I don't think i'm quite ready for another birdie to leave the nest...but these things tend to happen whether or not you're ready.

Highlights of Summer 2008

Well this summer is beginning to draw to a close. some of the memories that will not long fade away are jen's gall bladder surgery- very hard on parentals!- but also unforgettable laughs from jen coming out of anathesia. then there was jen's incredible opportunity to live in london, thanks to her big bro and his wife.
It has also been the summer of learning to drive stick shift for jaj, however, we did not get as far along in the curriculum as mom wanted to. sigh. that was my biggest goal. rachel got glasses today and jared goes to the orthodontist today, so we are in the throes of adolescent changes everywhere.Rachel will also be entering public school for the very first time on the 25th. Bekah was ordering her t-shirt today that the seniors are all going to wear on their first day back. A banner year for all of us.
our d.c. trip was truly unforgettable and brought back many happy childhood memories.
This is the first summer in 15 years that I haven't been headed back for inservice next week - so a big change for me as well. Luckily I can live vicariously through my sharone's teacher blog!!!

Bekah avoids lightning strike

We had a bit of excitement last week. Bekah was spending the night at a friend's house on the second story and it got hit by lightning - about 6 feet from bekah and kelly!! It took out a lot of their electricity and messed up their plumbing and they as well as several of their neighbors are having lots of repairs. It only took out our modem. This morning in our front yard I noticed how one of our trees had a long strip down it where the bark had been stripped off and it looks like lightning may have done that. So I had to run inside and blog about it before I finished doing my yard cleanup work!
I also must mention our fun but short trip down to austin to see our beloved sharone, ross, and grandpets minnie and peyton. I was forced to play golf...on the PS-3!!! Jared and Rachel liked swimming in their pool and jared played in a basketball tournament. We loved going to SHAKES for ice cream!! and sharone and I had fun at the mall. she bought me some very comfortable reef flip flops for an early b-day present. we also got a new recipe for guacamole at HEB which I love. It is made with a Sweet Chile Lime sauce and cream cheese.
Today's blog is dedicated to Mawmaw.

to blogger ch

i know i'm a bad blogger, but i wanted to let ch know that i fixed my eldest son's blog address on my blog. also, i am still awaiting a blog about the a&m game you attended. our loud yellers were behind us again but thankfully left at half-time to eat bbq. this is the only thing they yell: come on fran!!! this is added to with various expletives. they also were threatening to mail back their aggie ring. i don't think they should have had one to begin with. their voices make your ears hurt more than the flyovers, of which we had two of by the way yesterday. you really get a free airshow with the price of your ticket which is really cool. MAJ, you would have liked the fact that they recognized the 1st student body president. it's really getting embarrassing that i still am crying during the a&m commercial they play about the greater good being a required course, reveille frolicing in the grass and people with their arms around each other whose backs spell out howdy. the man who does the voice over for it should be hired for brainwashing, because i see no way that listening to that commercial over and over wouldn't make any child want to go to a&m immediately! by the way, s.a. of baylor bears, can you email me your son's phone and email so i can give them to my baylor niece as an emergency friend contact.
(yes, writing to you personally on my blog lets me know if anyone is still checking it)

A Visit from a Londoner

Well, having a visitor from London definitely gives one a reason to blog... and a reason for RKJ to make buttermilk pies and RAJ to grill NY strips and marinated chicken. RAJ, RKJ and RKJ (yes there are two girls with those initials) teamed up to make for the first time ever... bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers on the grill. We had a fun time with our london visitor and her family. Then the next day it was off to the airport. She of course had to stop at wal-mart for a supply of products made in the U.S.A. - namely velveeta cheese and reese's peanut butter cups- the former being to have parties for americans and the latter to satiate Reese's deprived office mates. She also got to have her last U.S. meal for a while- at Rosa's cafe, compliments of my papa who was brought by nana. ABJ took some tortillas to her hubby-we haven't heard if they made it all the way across the ocean.