5 on Friday

1. Got some girl time with my friend Cheryl at the mall and was able to only take Claire which was a much needed thing. We all had Cheesecake brownies and Claire got a glittery horse shirt, a carousel ride, and Dillards was giving out free webkinz. Total Score for a 3 yr old! I also got a free candle at Bath and Body that smells just like a discontinued scent I wore in college, except now it's called Island breeze. April, remember May Bouquet? This smell just like it!
2. My sister is coming tonight!!!!!!
3. I fell asleep last night at 9pm with the girls and it was wonderful. ( normal bed-time is 11:30)
4. Kirby bought us a SWING SET!!!!!
5. concentrating on "building my house" is really helping with my relationship with Gwen.......really.

No Kids Day

That's what Thursdays are for me. Until 2:30 at least. This day comes around faster than I would expect and I always forget it's coming. Then like a ray of sun shining warmth on me I wake up on Thursdays and as I'm climbing out of bed to tip toe and brush my teeth with out waking anyone, it hits me! My step is a little lighter and the morning rush is well, a little more rushed. The first couple of Thursdays I spent at my favorite bookstore soaking up the smell of coffee and yummy bread, people from all walks of life either reading or in interesting conversations. I was able to listen and see and smell it all with no distractions, it was amazing. Well today my sunshiny feeling quickly diminished when I remembered it was also pap smear day. The good/rotten part of this was I had to Wait almost a whole 2 hours in that cold, unfriendly, room full of bored people, BUT I had my book in which I read like 6 chapters! When I finally got out of there I still had enough time to get my eyebrows waxed and stop by a new coffee shop I wanted to try. So all is well that ends well I guess.

Proverbs 14:1-2

Proverbs 14:1-2

" A wise woman builds her house, a foolish woman tears hers down with her own hands."

I'm gonna see how much building I can do today and hopefully get a clue where I'm tearing it down. Amazing what an imfluence the woman of the home is. " Where much is given, much is required" Proverbs something.

Sun Harvest

Okay didn't make it to Sun Harvest because I knew i would want everything and spend like $5 on some cereal I thought looked good but really tasted like cardboard. I also knew I would feel pulled to the homeopathic isle in which I would spend half and hour trying to figure out what I needed and then remember I already have junk at home i haven't even tried. So, it was HEB plus! for me.
My tasty treat was some kinda Vegetable chips that were actually vegetables just dehydrated with a bunch of salt. I somehow think dehydrating has to take every ounce of vitamin out of them but I felt good eating them anyway. For those of you who think, " She is disgusting me with her "treats." Well this the thing, Health is like my craft. I'm not "crafty" but I do enjoy creating a healthy diet. Plus on the flip side I still love Dove chocolate, bread, lots of coffee and pop tarts( cinnamon no icing toasted with butter).
will blog my very fun double date later but need pics I think.

Ten on Tuesday

1. My bathrooms are not super clean but worked on floors instead and still feel good
2. Excited about a double date with the Wagners to Dragon Fly tonight.
3. After 4 nights of endless waking up, Kirby is home tonight and I will sleep like a baby
4. I'm about to go to SunHarvest for JUST FRUIT and please God don't let me buy a bunch else
5. Race is sitting on the counter playing in the sink while I do this and he loves it!
6. My hives are gone!
7. I have a TON of clothes to fold.
8. I would kinda like to be blonder, considering a hair app soon. ( I know this makes you smile M)
9. Tomorrow is our BAF Padre church meeting and I'm praying a lot of people step up to lead and serve
10. The verse I'm thinking on today is, " He will provide all you need according to His riches and Glory."

I went to Training seminar last weekend on how to teach Hygiene classes for a mission organization named Living Water International. http://www.water.cc/ Very insightful and educational. What I can't get over is the whole problem of feces. It seems to be the number one contaminate for water and food. It gets on everything and the flies and mosquitoes carry it everywhere. In 3rd world countries it is such a huge issue. Well to us , because we can identify it as the problem. The people in those countries on the other hand cannot, and it doesn't bother them like it does us. Our class was specifically on hygiene lessons we would would teaching, while another team is drilling a water well. Most of the these places being quite remote , don't have fresh water to begin with. Even in the bush of Africa a lot of people had water wells and I didn't see poop anywhere. However, I guess this is a common deal in a lot of undeveloped areas though. I'm just wondering if God knew what a problem feces would be. Why didn't he design us with out it? Or in such a way where it didn't spread disease or stink even? Maybe it didn't do either of these things in the garden of Eden? Who knows? My friend in the class, pointed out that maybe one day we will run our cars with it or something else ingenious we just haven't figured out yet.

more radomness

Kirby bought me a power juicer from Craig's List and I LOVE IT! I made at least 3 today and I'm gonna save so much money by not buying those Naked fruit drinks anymore. Today my fav. concoction was : Pear,Apple,Banana,and Grapefruit.

am also loving my Cherry Vanilla Granola which was my special treat at HEB Plus!

Kirby left me 5 Dove Chocolates by my coffee pot the other morning. ( why do I keep talking about food?)

I have hives on one half of my face, so I feel kinda like an alien. Not sure why they are there but would really like them to go away. When I go out in the sun it gets worse. Kinda embarrassing.

Can't seem to finish a book with out starting another one for the life of me. I used to always do this until the last say 5 or so years, but it's out of control again. I think I have 4 ( Warriors don't cry (about school integration, A Nancy Drew mystery( Yes I still read these) , Leading a child to Christ( Needing a little help explaining some things to Claire) and The Act of Marriage( Yes, I've recommended this book to just about everyone, but haven't actually finished it myself))sitting on my nightstand that I'm half way through and 2 ( The Judge, and Sit Walk Stand) that I think I'm gonna start any day. Why can't I just finish one? OH, maybe that's cuz my only reading time is when I lay down for the night and I last like 2 pages and I'm a zonker. Maybe I should stop this nonsense blogging and get to reading...

oh, one last thing. Tomorrow is Monday which has been my designated cleaning day. I have done this I think 3 Mondays in a row, and it is soo great and feels so great when it's done. However, I am already bored of this routine. So maybe I'll change it to Wed...........I don't know, by the middle of the week is there really a point to cleaning? I mean your half way to Friday and that means your kids are home all weekend to wreck the place. Humph..........maybe I'll just do the bathrooms. Man, I used to love Mondays.Now instead of dreaming of a fresh start to an unknown week, I get to think about with the smell of Bleach and old pee.
I obviously need a better attitude about this. Maybe my quiet time in the morning will give me a better perspective.

Just gonna blog what I want for a while. Sorry if I bore people but this is what I'd like to do. Just write about the stuff I do and how I feel and well I guess it's all about me for awhile sorry.
5 facts that I'm super proud of

1. I ate fried pickles last weekend with a vengeance and it felt REALLY good.

2. I absolutely love my flower pajama pants that my neighbor gave me. They are really fugly.

3. Kirby bought me a Juicer that I cannot wait to use tomorrow morning.

4. Riding around in Kirby's convertible truck rocks the free world

5. My teeth look pretty white lately

Cottage Time in Baton Rouge

Well, technically Gonzales is where my Dad's cottage is, but it's right outside of Louisiana. We spent Easter weekend there, complete with egg hunts and movie nights, my mama's roast , Meg's constant entertainment and the best part, Dude reading the Easter Story to the family. Well, he was gonna read it but decided to majorly paraphrase and had the girls totally enthralled. For those who don't know my Dad had to take a job in Louisiana so he and my Mom are going back and forth as much as possible to see each other every weekend. It's not easy and they will be glad when they can be together again. Anyway, the cottage is completely adorable. My sis, Meg and my Mom have totally put their creative artistic stamp all over it. You can see in some of the pics the old window pane my sister painted , I love that! It's a really cute place that my girls absolutely loved. I love Claire's face with her Hannah Montana shirt that she got in her Easter Basket, she was a little excited, to say the least. The Egg hunt was really fun, until a family of wasp invaded our space. The drive back was REALLy long, but thanks to Meg we have many memories from it. And thanks to her my kids were too busy laughing to even know we were sitting in traffic FOREVER.
I'll end with my two favorite quotes from the weekend: Mom: " You go ahead and start dinner Meg, but keep in mind we don't want to help you." Hilarious. Mostly because my Mom loves to say " keep in mind..............." so this just made my night.
Second quote: Meg (to my girls in the van): " Open your mouth so I can poot in it"
Fun fun fun....

The Rest of Spring Break..........

My Janes came for a few days and we had a giant slumber party for 2 days and nights. Kirby was a trooper, even helping Mariah and her sis, Bekah, get rid of their gas issues after too much yummy food. Our reunion was as much fun for the kids as the mommies, as seen in their Hannah Montana jam out session on our coffee table. And last pic is of Mariah clutching Crissy's oh soo delicious pretzel, jello, cream cheese dessert at about 3am! She was leery of this concoction at first, of course, then became obsessed, as in seen in pic.
Good times girls, good good times!

Costa Rican Re-union!


Our very good friends from Costa Rica visited Texas and made the drive down here to see us.

Maria and Alfredo were our neighbors in our first apartment in Austin. Ironically we had just been to Costa Rica for our honeymoon. They had only lived in the states a few months when we met and they learned fluent English super fast. Now they are living back on Maria's parents coffee farm and have just build their first home. Their beautiful daughter Cristina was like a live Dora to my girls. They fell in love with her . We hope to make a trip there in the next few summers to sit on their porch and take in the Costan Rican mountain air. Being with them really grounds me. They remind me that life is mostly about being the best you can be for your family first.

Spring Break Begins


We began Spring Break wonderfully. Kirby toted the kids to the beach while I cleaned the house for Guest. I got done in time to even have some suntan time in the back yard. When the kids returned completely wiped out they took a nap on the swing. ( only Race really slept) This was the best Spring Break I've had in ages. It was like College all over again. Kirby had some days off, we had two different sets of guest and then me and the kids traveled to houston and then Lousiana. Okay not exactly like a college spring break i.e minivan, toting around snacks, and still needing to think about what to feed people, but it was something different from the norm, and we needed that. More pics to come!

Wake up Daddy, it's Spring Break!

Gwen's Turn

Gwen had a LoneStar Stampede at school. Here she is Two-Stepping with her partner. She was very serious about getting the moves right, and it was completely adorable to watch her. Everything Gwen tries, she tries to perfection. The fancy Red Cowgirl boots were her Good Behavior Prize. She had been hinting that some of her friends get prizes at the end of each week for Good Behavior at school. I told her I expected Good Behavior and prizes from me came unexpectedly or for something outstsanding, "Well how long have we been in school," she asked. " About 7 months." I said. Then I realized 7 months of perfect behavior at school, is pretty outstanding!

Is she cute or What???

Today was Western Day at Claire's school. She took her stick horse, Flicka, and we added some freckles to her face, which she totally loved, since it meant she had make- up on her face.
This girl is just a hoot. Everyone needs someone in their life that can make them "bust out" and Claire is that person for me. Sometimes when I'm not paying good attention to her and she says one of her funny things , she'll say " Mom why are you not Busting out like regular?" I do regularly laugh with this girl and her funny sayings. Most recently what I can remember off hand went something like this:
Mom: " Claire when are you going to stop wearing Pull Ups at night and go to the potty like a big girl."
Claire: " Mom, a Pull up is a potty."
So there. Guess I better just get rid of the comfy sleep-in pottys she has so graciously being wearing for almost 4 years!

Looking for something different?


Does your cake decorating need a little zip? Well Mariah's Cakes will spice up any occassion. There are many options available. Featured here is the best seller " Playing Ball with Jock Itch" And don't worry about getting that so very annoying smooth icing , there is a guarranted "Iced by a child" look every cake has. You can learn more about Mariah's cakes by going to www.kcjane.wordpress.com
( bites taken out of the cake on request only , as seen below)
ps. I love you Mariah because you are soo darn REAL!

Girls and Horses................


Well I had no idea "horse fever" could last so long! My girls are in no way getting over their love for horses any time soon. 2 weeks ago I was able to take the girls to visit Gwen's friend , Victoria and her horse named Flash. Victoria's sweet Mom instructed the girls on the proper way to brush, feed and lead Flash. Even for a person who doesn't know a thing about horses it was clear this horse was a prize possession. Shiny and clean, Flash was a delight for my girls to brush , rub and even ride (very briefly) bareback. Race had fun just kicking back, as usual.
The trip to this beautiful farm gave the girls and little bit more of a clue of why our backyard is not fit for horses. They still strongly argue that a miniature pony would be fine. Gwen thinks I'm stifling her dreams but I just told her I'm helping her really appreciate the pony she can get when she has her own money and farm!

So I walked into Gwen's room last weekend and found a mock photo shoot in progress. I had to let Gwen use a real camara when I saw the effort being put forth from both of the girls. Claire was soo happy to have a good reason to wear her very fav. dress and Gwen loved dictating her every move. Claire loves this dress so much she wore it with jeans and a sweater to a birthday party last weekend.

So my friend Crissy said it was cool to do a top ten or something on tuesdays. So I'll do a top 5 wacky Reed occurances for Wednesday

5) my hubby bought a truck. and 86 toyota 4-runner. It's very beachy because the cab comes off and it's like a truck/Jeep. He's already named it Beach Tar. I'll let me him post pics.

4) I thought we would say bye bye to old blue civic boy when Beach Tar arrived but unbeknown to me, men have a hard time letting go of vehicles they have bonded with. So Blue Civic Boy meet your new brother Beach Tar. However girls like black trucks better than little blue cars so you'll be on the b list with us. We all do appreciate all that Blue Boy has enabled us to do. ( no car - payment allows room for spending in other areas) Crissy I know you can completely relate!

3) I started getting up at 6am again to read bible, pray and make my list for the day and now realize why life has been so wacky for awhile. I really have to do that, to make it sanely through the day.

2) Gwen has made plans and begun work on a book, a jewlery design company and a map of the United States. This girl takes her free time seriously!

1) Tomorrow begins the first of Free Thursdays! Free for me at least. Race is going to a home day care one day a week so I can "find myself" or just take a nap.

Feeling Very Blessed Lately,

My neighbors, Jen and Blue. It's wonderful when God brings people in your life that feel like family from the get go.














Christmas eve with the family. Kirby hanging with his boy. My sister and her husband looking great. And my daughgter shooting an real bow and and arrow. She is really good!
And these are just the pics I had access to. I fell asleep last night thinking about how blessed I am and laughing about how I thought nothing could beat college. God has given me soo much in friends and family that I can barely take it all in. So this week I just decided to soak it all up. I realized while reading the girls to sleep, that in about 10 years they may not even be home at 7pm and moments of them laying on each arm dozing off will be rare and far between. Right now it's a nightly ritual. So soak soak soak that's what 'm doing right now.

Publish Post

Backing up to Christmas eve...

Whit and Jason came down as tradition and we baked our little hearts out. Jason and Whit are expert bakers and the most awesome Aunt and Uncle ever! The girls made snowmen with my sandtart dough (which sadly melted into a huge heap once in the oven) Race cried because we barricaded him from the kitchen and me, well I was jut in it for the coffee.........