nbd

nbd = no big deal. I just really like saying that right now.. : )
We have been in a bit of a whirlwind lately, lots to do! Soon summer school will be over (3 days!) though so I'll have more time!! Woohoo!
Last week, I got to see lots of friends!!
I met up with Mariez at the Galleria for shopping and Cheesecake factory!
Thursday I got to see Danielle who is in Houston for an internship!

Friday evening we went to College Station to visit Trace and Kelley and our friend Patrick was staying with them too! So fun!
Saturday we came back to Houston to go to Alex's bday party. HB and I had matching coverups (of course!)
Then we left there to head over to Scott and Ashley's for dinner!
Sunday we went to the Astros game and got to sit in the first level which is by far the closest I've ever sat at an Astros' game!!

Cody watching the game

Me pretending to watch the game..I have trouble not smiling when the camera's out! : )

And on our way back to our car, we saw the three tower cranes that are working on Cody's building!
Such a fun weekend!! We have a work week then get to head home to Longview for a few days!! Enjoy your week and happy 4th to all!

Gotta love the kids!

From my five year olds..
I overheard a conversation one day this week that went like this:
Boy 1: "Her name is Mrs. H!"
Very adamant Boy 2: "NO! Her name is Mrs. Stage!"
They argue for a few minutes before Boy 1 comes up to me and says "Mrs. Age"

This week we've been talking about how animals use camouflage to protect themselves. They were completing a task today that required them to make a list of spotted animals, striped animals and solid animals. They were confused as to what solid meant so I gave my skin as an example. One little boy stared at his arm and found freckles. He said "I'm kind of spotted. I think God gives us those spots when we've been good."

One little boy looked like he was stuck during our writing time, so I walked over and asked what he was wanting to write. He said "nothing, I'm just sitting here thinking about how much I love my daddy." Somebody didn't want to write...

Family Plaque

Cody and I received a Family Plaque this year for Christmas. After closing on our house, it was the first thing we put up and the first thing that I took a picture of. I put it up on my blog and linked it back to the Family Plaque website from which the founder of the company, Roxanne, saw our "plaque" story. Roxanne and I have been talking back and forth for a while about a new feature they have on their website called "My Story." Cody and I are now on their blog as their first "My Story!" Woohoo!! Go check it out and then go buy a plaque : )

TOMS

My new TOMS came in! I'm so excited!! For every pair of TOMS that you purchase, they give a pair of shoes to a child in need!!

Happy Father's Day!

I know its late in the day, but Happy Father's day! How blessed we are to have such Godly, loving men as our fathers!


What a busy weekend to end a busy week!! This was my first week of summer school and a first week of school always has its crazy moments : ) Only 9 days left of SS though!
Friday night HB came up and we went on our semi-annual VS sale date : )

Then we got the boys and went to the drive in to see Year One. What a fun experience! We decked out the bed of the truck with chairs for the boys and blankets for me and HB and ate our CFA as we watched the movie! It was a double feature but we only made it through one movie..we're getting old : )

The girls! (the boys never both cooperated for the same picture..)

Saturday, Cody and I got up early and began working outside. Cody dug holes, and put posts in the ground to concrete in for a fence. We have a side part of our back yard that we fenced off for Ellie to stay in during the days. We went to Houston Garden Center and bought all kinds of flowers, plants and grass to fill in our yard. We worked outside ALL DAY Saturday!!
Saturday night Natalie, Brett, Lindsay and Chad came over to grill out. We had so much food!! It was a very fun night!

Then today we went to church, ran some errands, then got back to finishing the outside tasks that we had started yesterday! Only one flower bed to go! The weekend flew by so fast!

Before (I don't think the picture does justice to exactly how overgrown it all is! It was a mess!!)
After
Still looking for the right stones to edge this bed


Back yard flower bed. You can see some of the new grass we put down. We need to add more and fix the flower bed thats just to the right of this picture : )

Cody's fence!! Now I don't mean to brag or anything, but my husband is amazing!! He built this like it was no big deal : )

Wicked Weekend

Wicked...as in the musical : )
Friday morning I headed out to San Antonio with Meagan, Dinah, Ashley, Lindsay, Meghan and Dawn! Once we got there, we met up with Meredith and checked in the Grand Hyatt

then headed to the Riverwalk Mall for a little shopping : )

then we got all dressed up and headed to dinner at Paesanos for some yummy italian food!

Afterwards we went to see Wicked, which is the best musical that I've ever seen!! If you haven't seen it already, you should get tickets : )

When we got back to the hotel we ran into Warren and Danee who just happened to be staying at the same hotel for their one year anniversary!!

Saturday we layed out, went to the Alamo, ate lunch and headed back to Houston!! It was a perfect girls weekend!

While I was in San Antonio, Cody was fishing in Freeport! He caught a shark and they caught a lot of crabs!
Today has been a relaxed Sunday with church, getting ready for summer school tomorrow and Cody cooking the crabs!

Last week one day Ellie played with her mom and dad (who live across the street!) Look how much Ellie looks like her mom!!

There's a Light at the end of the tunnel

What an exciting first week of summer! So far this week I have spent close to three full days weeding out the 4 flower beds in the front of our house. In noting the color of the pine needles (they are gray and match the siding) in these flower beds, I am thinking that the beds have not been touched since the house was painted 5 years ago! Needless to say this was not your average flower bed weeding job, it was tough, but proved worth it! Hopefully we'll be planting super soon and I'll have pictures to share!
While I was outside in the Houston heat, my insulin pump got moisture in it, probably from the humidity! My pump did not survive and I had to call Medtronic to get a new one! They are amazing though, I called about 5pm on Wednesday night and had my new pump before 10am yesterday morning!!

Mine looks like this one, but its clear instead of blue!

I also had training this week for summer school and got to set up my classroom. As much as you would think I would dread summer school since I've just finished the regular school year, I'm excited! I like going into different schools and working with different kiddos! I'm also excited to teach Math/Science with the new curriculum they gave us!
On Wednesday I drove downtown to eat lunch with Cody! I got to see their building that they're working on.

Its so tall that I couldn't get it all in a pic

And then we went to eat lunch. Let me just tell you that downtown Houston has an underground tunnel system with restaurants, stores, doctors offices, banks, ect! I have been intrigued by this since I've first heard about it! I have always pictured it as an actual tunnel with occasional restaurants, which is not what it turned out look like. It looked more like an underground mall!


I'm off to San Antonio today with some girls to go see Wicked and play on the Riverwalk! Woohoo! Happy Friday!

School's out for the summer!!!

Well...technically school's out until summer school starts next Monday, but its only 14 days, so we won't count it!
This weekend we got to go home for three days (woohoo) to spend time with our families! We got into Longview late Thursday night. Friday morning, Ellie experienced swimming in a pool and she LOVED it! She probably swam 2-3 times a day each of the 3 days we were home!

Ellie swimming

Ellie and Speedy

Chlo won't get in the water, so she runs along the side when other dogs swim

Later that morning, mom took me up to the Primary. This is the school that we went to kindergarten and first grade at. The past 10+ years it has just been the pre-k, K campus. My mom has been teaching kindergarten at Pine Tree Primary since I was in 5th grade!! Well, the school is super old and they've built a new primary! We went up for one final look at the school and drove by the new school on the way home!

Mom's class all packed up!

Mom has pictures of Brad and I right here from our first days of kindergarten! : ) *Note that I am sporting a Primary shirt!

I got to go on a lunch date with my daddy and spend time with him while Cody went on a lunch date with his mom and went golfing with her. I also got to lay out by our pool, oh how I miss that! Then on Friday night, we went up to the church for Leanne Fruge Atwood's rehearsal (dad and I sang in the wedding) and then on to Jalapeno Tree for dinner (yum!).

We walked outside to see Speedy eating Chloe's breakfast that we had put up on a tall outdoor counter so Ellie wouldn't eat it : )

On Saturday, mom hosted Chrystal Slack's wedding shower at her house, so I went over for that and then we headed up to the church for Leanne's wedding, which was beautiful! I didn't get any pictures though! Mom and I then got to go shopping (of course!). I live in Houston, but probably do more shopping in Longview than anywhere else : ) For dinner that night, the Browns and the Sages ate all of the wonderful food that Roger grilled for us!

On Sunday, we did church at OHBC, lunch at Butcher shop and then headed back to Houston. Neither of the puppies moved on the 4 hour trip home. They were absolutely exhausted!

Me and my girls! : )

Oh and I finally got a lantern for our outdoor table!


A few pics from last week:
Last "Thursday" morning breakfast at our house


Last 08-09 Kteam pic!