Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Trick-or-Treat!

We actually went door to door trick-or-treating tonight! This was Elise's first time. She really enjoyed getting candy, and even tried to actually go inside a few people's homes! I don't think she understood the concept at first. Luckily we only took her to the homes of people that we know. When the door would open, I would ask her, "Elise, what do you say?", and she replied "Please!" I got a good laugh out of that. By the 2nd or 3rd house she finally started saying trick-or-treat instead of please.

We decided to trick-or-treat up and down the street where I grew up. Many of those families used to pass out candy to me as a child, so it was neat to take Elise there. We got to see everyone that I wanted to see, and of course, we made a trip to Ken & Mary's house. Her decorations are always fabulous! We didn't stay out for too long, which was fine with me. Elise really doesn't need any more candy! One house we went by had a spooky porch, and she got scared and wanted to come home. She is just like her mommy - I used to do the same thing when I was a kid! Mary made some great wassail and Jamie enjoyed talking football with Ken while we made the rounds to see all the decorations.



Trick-or-treat, Pa Pa!



Here we are with Mary:




And I have to share the amazing decorations that Mary had in her entry...



Now that our Halloween festivities are over, I am already starting to think about all the food I am going to eat on Thanksgiving!!! YUMMM! I love the holidays!

Monday, October 29, 2007

My Love

Jamie has been so great lately (always really), I decided to devote a whole entry to telling him how much I appreciate and love him!

YOU ARE THE BEST, MY LOVE!!!

I love our daily routine. I love the way we get up together every morning and get ready and kiss each other on our way out the door. I love coming home to you. I love our family time when we have dinner, give Elise her bath, read stories and tuck her in. And I love our alone time in the evenings - whether we are side by side with our laptops or cuddling in bed watching Dirty Sexy Money. I couldn't ask for a better partner in life.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Me and the boys

I love my boys!



And it is really no secret who is my favorite...


Is it mean that I love one of my dogs more than the other one???

Halloween Carnival

One of the other football coaches and his wife invited us to a fun little Halloween carnival today. There was a petting zoo, pony rides, games, pumpkin painting, and of course...candy! Elise had a good time and we enjoyed visiting with our friends. We took the kids to the carnival then had BBQ together.





This is the first petting zoo I have ever seen that had a turtle!

At one point, the rabbit and the turtle were sitting side by side. I almost took a picture, because it reminded me of The Tortoise And The Hare.


When we were eating dinner, the guys started talking about the game last night and asked us if we remembered a few plays. We had to own up to the fact that we were chatting and not paying attention. They took it pretty well.


The only downside to our fun evening is that Elise's costume is not holding up very well considering how much I paid for it! She was tugging at her skirt a bit, and it actually ripped in 2 different places. I am going to have to try to sew it up so we can use the costume one more time for trick-or-treating on Halloween. So, here is my public service announcement for the day: Don't buy Halloween costumes from Gymboree!

Friday, October 26, 2007

It feels great to win again!

My post about tonight's game is going to be pretty short and sweet. I confess that I didn't pay very close attention to the game and spent most of my time chatting with friends and neighbors instead! The score got out of hand quickly and I lost interest. SORRY HONEY! Love you!

It was perfect football weather and I was surrounded by a lot of good friends. It's been so fun going to games at home, because I almost always run into at least one person that I haven't seen in years.

Jennifer, I saw your mom and Nicole! That was a really nice surprise! I was telling your mom how we've been keeping in touch through our blogs. We had a patriotic halftime show and it was great. You would have LOVED it.

Friendswood Mustangs 41, Angleton Wildcats 13

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Commuting Sucks

I've been commuting into town for my entire career. For the first five years I was commuting downtown, which was about 25 miles one way. It doesn't sound that bad, but when it takes you an hour and a half to drive 25 miles, believe me, it gets OLD! When I accepted my new position I added about 5-10 more miles each way. I decided to do the math today (I am such an accountant):

Let's take 52 weeks in a year. I subtracted 4 weeks (3 weeks of vacation plus 1 week of holidays). So, 48 weeks remain. Out of those 48 weeks, I am working 5 days per week for a total of 240 workdays per year. If you take an average commuting time of one hour and 15 minutes (which is really probably a low estimate) each way, that means that I would be commuting for 2 hours and 30 minutes per day. If I did that for 240 days in a year, I would be commuting for 600 hours per year. That is 25 DAYS. IN ONE YEAR. I have been doing this for 6 and a half years. This means that I have spent approximately 3,900 hours or 162.5 days commuting!!!!!

That is outrageous. Staggering. There goes over 162 days of my life that I will never get back. I had to double check my math 3 times before I could even believe those numbers.

My commute time has really been getting me down lately. When I first began working it didn't bother me too much. I didn't have a husband at home waiting for me and Elise wasn't born yet. I used the time to listen to the radio and think or talk on the phone. Over the years, it has really started to get to me - especially lately because: (A) I have a wonderful family and hate that this time is taken away from them, and (B) I swear the traffic gets worse and worse each year! The drive that used to take an hour is now taking at least another 15 to 30 minutes. And if there is a wreck ANYWHERE on the freeway...forget it! I will be sitting in traffic for at least 2 hours.

This morning it took me an hour and a half to get into my office. That is ridiculous considering the same exact drive could be made in 40 minutes without traffic. By the time I walk through the door I am already frazzled and stressed and my work day has not even begun yet! Not to mention that, but after a full day's work the last thing I want to do is fight people on the freeway for over an hour to get home to my loves. I've tried varying my work hours. I've gone in at 6. I've gone in at 9. It doesn't seem to matter. I was shocked one morning 2 weeks ago when I got on the freeway at 6am only to find myself in bumper to bumper traffic. WHO are all these people on the road at 6am????? Are they all insane?????

When we end up relocating for Jamie's career, I am really going to take a long, hard look at where we live in relation to where I am going to be working. I seriously cannot do this for the rest of my working days.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

General Update

I've been a little bit out of commission. We were really busy all weekend. Elise had a nasty stomach virus starting on Saturday morning. Today is the first day she's been 100% back to normal. I had planned already on Sunday night to stay home with her and left messages for people at work to let them know. Not long after that I ate dinner and began to feel bad myself. You can probably guess where this is going. Luckily I feel much better today, so I was able to go to work and Elise was able to go back to school. Yesterday we were in bad shape, though. I had a feeling this might happen last Wednesday when I was greeted at the door of the daycare by a note informing parents that five children had been sent home with stomach virus symptoms that day. It was just our luck that one of Elise's favorite friends in her classroom was one of the five! I thought maybe we had made a narrow escape after a few days went by with no signs of illness, but apparently not. Anyway, thankfully that is behind us!

Jamie was his usual wonderful self last night. He took great care of us. I just crashed in bed all night and he played with Elise and got her ready for bed. He also brought me sprite and medicine. I fell asleep somewhere around 8:00, and when I woke up later last night he had covered me with an extra blanket. I even noticed this morning that he cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes! What a guy! I am so glad that he didn't get sick too.

I felt so bad that I had been sick yesterday and unable to really spend much time playing with Elise that I went out and bought her a big balloon tonight. She was so good yesterday. I really couldn't do much with her, and she watched her shows and played mostly on her own all day with very little complaining. I felt so bad - I never let her watch that much TV. But I just did what I had to do to get through the day. This balloon is really neat - it's eyes light up and flash.


Jamie has taught her how to play some games at http://www.playhousedisney.com/. She thinks it is just great, and it's so cute to watch her operating the computer! She amazes me with how smart she is. She is really good at these games! There is one that is modeled after Little Einsteins where you have to identify the instrument based on the sound it makes - she has it completely mastered.


Since she loves Playhouse Disney so much, I got some discount tickets through work to Playhouse Disney Live at the Toyota Center. It will feature Little Einsteins (one of her favorites), characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, and Tigger & Pooh. The show isn't until late December, but I am already so excited that we are taking her! We will be on the 7th row, so we should have a great vantage point.

One of the things I love most about Jamie is that he's a very motivated person. He applied today for a master's degree program to get his M.Ed. in School Administration. I am so proud of him! I am planning to finish my master's degree eventually, but I've put it on hold until Elise is a bit older. Once Jamie finishes his, it will be my turn to get mine. Hopefully with this degree he will be in an even better position to get a head coach/athletic director position in the future. It is his goal, and I am so glad that he has this opportunity to do something to make it happen.

Speaking of motivation, we knew that we had yard work to do this weekend, and I just did *not* want to do it! Jamie kept trying to convince me that we should work on it on Saturday, but I put it off until Sunday. He mowed & edged while I raked leaves and scrubbed off our back patio. It gets pretty muddy with the dogs, so it really needed to be done. That kind of stuff is never fun, but it has to get done! Everything looked great when we were finished.

Mom is already trying to plan Thanksgiving dinner. Since this will be our last holiday season to celebrate in my childhood home, I am feeling a little bit sentimental. I'm sure I will take even more pictures than usual this year (if that is possible!). Jamie will do his chocolate pies and I know I'll be doing deviled eggs. I'm not sure what else we will be in charge of yet, but we enjoy preparing food for the big family gatherings over the holidays, so I know we'll come up with a lot more good stuff to cook!

The weather has been seasonably nice so we are also enjoying that. I am looking forward to another nice evening this Friday night for the football game. We will definitely have hot chocolate again in the stands. I'm also going to have to get out my blue and white sweaters! I can't believe that Halloween is next week. It should be really fun this year now that Elise is old enough to really understand trick-or-treating.

I hope everyone is staying warm and healthy!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Good News & Bad News

The good news is that we won tonight. It was a lot closer than we would have liked, but Friendswood defeated Brazosport 21-20.

The bad news is that Texas City defeated LaMarque. This means that Texas City and LaMarque will almost surely get the #1 and #2 playoff spots, leaving spot #3 up for grabs. We would have to win both of our remaining games and Dickinson would have to lose both of theirs in order for us to get that last playoff spot. It sucks when you don't control your own destiny, but it's like I told Jamie: We can't control what the other teams do, so we just need to focus on our team and getting the job done in our 2 remaining district games.

We had perfect football weather tonight. It was very pleasant and just cool enough to require a light jacket. Coach VanMeter's wife brought hot chocolate, and there is just something fun about sitting in the stands and sipping on a nice hot drink! Our team looked flat tonight. We (the wives) talked about it all the way home in the car, and we decided that the kids have heard so much hype about how good they are this year that it's affecting their play. It is a lot of pressure for a teenager. I know I have been on a team that underachieved and it is one of the worst feelings ever. I think that parents can get a bit overly aggressive too. It sounds like there may be some finger-pointing going on, and we really just need to put a stop to that and come together as a team.

My favorite phrase seems to be appropriate here: It is what it is. Now we just need to make the best of it.

It sucks that so many people have worked so hard only to find ourselves in a situation where we may end up staying home this year. It is hard to believe that a team could be 8-2 and not make the playoffs...but it is a very real possibility for us.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Disneyland, here we come!!!


I am so excited! We booked our trip to Disneyland today, so it is official! We've been planning on it for months and we finally got everyone coordinated. Jeremy and Candice booked the same resort for the same dates, so they will be bringing their 3 kids (one is fairly close to Elise's age). They invited one of Candice's friends to stay with them in their suite and she will also be bringing her children. We invited Richard & Sarah to come along with their kids (and possibly their niece) and stay in our suite. So we have 2 three-bedroom suites all booked up together. It's going to be a BLAST!!! We will have 9 or 10 kids and all 8 adults together in Florida for a fun-filled week. The kids are going to have a ball, and I couldn't pick better people to be traveling with. I just adore Richard, Sarah, Jeremy, and Candice!! I haven't met Candice's friend yet, but I am sure anyone that she chose to come along will be wonderful.

Jamie and I are really anxious to check out our deeded property in Orlando. It looks fabulous from photos, and Jeremy and Candice have seen it in person and thought it was beautiful. Here are some pictures:






Every suite is equipped with a full kitchen, individual bathrooms for each bedroom, and a washer and dryer. It should be very similar to the suite we had in Hawaii, but Jeremy and Candice seemed to think the rooms at our resort in Florida are nicer. Plus the treatment you get in the resorts is first class if you are an owner. It will be great to have the kitchen, because with all the kids it is going to be much easier to eat at the resort than drag them to restaurants 3 times per day.

I am already plotting a trade with the guys whereby they get a golf day while we stay with the kids in exchange for the ladies having a spa day while the men have the kids. Candice, Sarah, and I will need to put our heads together on that one. I am sure we can convince the guys - they all love golf!

Candice is a wonderful person to vacation with, because she thinks of things that would never cross my mind. I was talking to her on the phone and she mentioned booking restaurants within the Disney parks in advance. Apparently you can book reservations up to 6 months in advance. She's done her homework and discovered that if you don't have the reservation, it is nearly impossible to eat in the parks. So, once we hit that 6-month mark, we are going to try our best to figure out where we'll be eating and get on the list! She was also telling me about all the different hopper passes that are available for the Disney parks. I still need to look into that more thoroughly. Right now I am thinking we will do a 3-day pass, then a day at Sea World. That will still leave us with a few days to chill at the resort (or the spa - wink, wink). Anyway, we have plenty of time to figure that out since we won't be going until school is out.

We are just really excited to have this to look forward to...and even more excited that all of our favorite people are joining us. I am sure that we will make some wonderful, lifelong memories as we watch Elise explore the Magic Kindgom for the first time. I can't wait!

This Nonsense With Ellen's Dog

I don't even know where to begin. I guess I should start by saying that I am a fan of Ellen. I love her stand up routines and her show. I think perhaps she is suffering from temporary insanity!

I'm sure everyone has heard about this now since it seems to have saturated the media. Here is my basic understanding of the events.

*Ellen adopted a dog from a shelter/rescue service called Moms and Mutts. She signed a contract at the time of the adoption that stated if things did not work out with the dog, it would be returned to the shelter. Well, actually, her girlfriend signed it. But whatever.

*Ellen spent approximately $3,000 on training and care for the dog.

*As it turned out, the dog did not fit in with her family and did not get along with her cats.

*She gave the dog to her hairdresser who has 2 young children (I believe I heard they are 9 and 11 years old). The kids loved the dog and all seemed to be well in the world.

*The shelter made a follow-up phone call to check on the dog and Ellen informed them that she had given the dog to the hairdresser's family.

*Per their policy (which was outlined in the signed contract), the shelter basically did a doggie repo.

*Ellen appeared on her show and (bless her heart) had a nervous breakdown in front of millions of people. She begged and pleaded with the shelter to return the dog to the hairdresser and her children.

*The shelter refused, because they have a policy that does not permit them to adopt dogs to families with children under the age of 14.

Okay, first of all...we have men and women over in the Middle East fighting a war. We have an AIDS crisis in Africa. We have an upcoming election. There are children dying of cancer. I am literally embarrassed for Ellen that she would choose this issue to sob over in front of her entire viewing audience!

Second of all, I heard this morning that the owner of the shelter is now receiving death threats and arson threats! You mean to tell me that there are people out there who would be willing to take a human life over a dog???

And most importantly, I am so tired of hearing about this! Why should Ellen be above the rules that everyone else has to follow?? This is just one more sad example of celebrities being above the rules/laws that the rest of us must follow. Policies exist for a reason. Why should exceptions be made for Ellen? Why would someone want to kill the owner of the shelter for this?? Seriously, this is one messed up situation. Don't we have more important things to focus on in this country? I am truly sad that a few children had their dog taken away - really, I am. But come on, Ellen...buy the kids a new dog and let's all move on with our lives.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

New Blog

I love having this blog to share the fun day-to-day stuff and pictures, but I have been wanting another outlet to share more private thoughts. Tonight I created a second blog that is open to invited readers only. It is called Life's Best Laid Plans and there is a link under my Favorite Blogs on the right hand side of the page. If you are interested in reading, leave me a comment with your email address and I will send you an invite. I just wanted to restrict it so that strangers don't have access to the more personal things that I have to say.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Light A Candle

Sunday, October 14, 2007

For all the baseball fans...

While my mom was in San Diego a few weeks ago she met MLB Hall of Famer, Dave Winfield. He was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. She got a really nice autographed photo for Jamie. Dave even let her take his picture while he was signing. Pretty cool, huh??



Saturday, October 13, 2007

A Look Back

When I was framing some of Elise's Halloween pictures yesterday afternoon, I started thinking about all of her previous costumes. I got out a bunch of old pictures and had a good time looking back on her very first Halloween and the others in between. I thought I would share some of my memories.


Elise's First Halloween - She was my sweet pea! I knew when I saw this costume that it was absolutely perfect, because "sweet pea" was my mom's nickname for Elise. I also had a pumpkin outfit for her, because I was a bit torn. She wore the pumpkin to daycare since it was more comfortable than the pea outfit. Then we changed into the pea to go visit some friends that evening. I apologize for the quality of this first picture - it is a scanned image. I was not as good with the computer back in 2004 as I am now!




Elise's Second Halloween - I think this is still my favorite costume of all. My mom and I have a thing for ladybugs. I love the pictures from her 2nd Halloween. She was able to do some minimal trick-or-treating and enjoy the carnival at her school.





Elise's Third Halloween - We took the easy way out last year! I had ordered a cheerleading uniform for Elise to wear to football games. Since it was custom made, it was pretty expensive, so I decided that it should double as her Halloween costume. It worked out well! I am very pleased to also say that it still fits this year, so we are getting another year's wear out of it.





It really is fun to see how much Elise has already grown and changed. I am looking forward to many, many more years of watching her grow up to become a beautiful woman someday.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Homecoming

I was really optimistic that our guys might pull off a huge win tonight at halftime when the Friendswood Mustangs led the LaMarque Cougars 20-14. Unfortunately the defending state champion Cougars showed us why they are so successful during the second half. We just couldn't get any additional points on the board and their endurance proved to be superior. The final score was LaMarque 27, Friendswood 20. It is a respectable score. But as Jamie said, it doesn't really matter if you lose 0-50 or 20-27 -- it still gets recorded as a loss. He was really down after the game, because now we face a situation where the complicated tie-breaking rules may come into play. Dickinson lost to Texas City tonight, and since they beat us last week we may end up in a tie situation if LaMarque beats them later.

I don't really fully understand how it works, but if we end up having the same record it will come down to a complex points system. We absolutely MUST win the rest of our games, and even then we may end up staying home at playoff time. It is not enough just to win either...the margin of the victory counts. The team who wins by the largest number of points will be given the advantage. Basically, even if we beat a team in head-to-head competition, if they have larger victories over other teams, they win out over us.

To put it simply, our backs are against the wall. We can't afford to lose another game, and we need to win by the largest margins possible in our remaining district games. Still ahead are 3 tough teams in Brazosport, Angleton, and Texas City. None of these games will be easy ones, but I think we are up for the challenge. One of the distinctions of a great team is the ability to find a way to win when it really counts.

Next week we take a long road trip to Brazosport. I imagine that the coming week will be full of intense practices and the realization that it's do or die. I was just looking at the calendar, and I can't believe how quickly the season is progressing. There are only 4 weeks left in the regular season (we have one week off at the beginning of November). We only have one remaining home game in 2 weeks vs. Angelton.

On a different note, tonight was our homecoming game. The stadium was packed and we had a great crowd. I saw a few people that I went to school with but could not manage to fight my way through the crowd to say hello. Even though it is our class' 10-year reunion year, we didn't have a get-together at the game. I did see the Class of 1988 in the stands, and as I was looking at them, I thought to myself, "Okay, so that will be me in 10 more years." I know that it will fly by and be here before I realize it. For now I am just enjoying life as it comes and even after a loss, I am still thankful for just what I have - a great family and a happy home.

Fall and Halloween Portraits

I wanted to post an entry to share Elise's fall and Halloween portraits that we had taken today. As you can see, she is going to be a bumble bee for Halloween this year. I asked her what she would like to be, thinking that this year she would have a preference. I don't think she really understood yet, so I jumped at the opportunity to pick her costume. I'm sure this will be the last year I will get away with that. She is very happy with her costume luckily! She even cooperated and wore the headband - I was a little worried about that! Our photographer was not great, but I think we got some pretty nice pictures in spite of that.






Playing in the Pumpkin Patch!

At last the fall weather has arrived! It is gorgeous outside today, so Elise and I visited the pumpkin patch. Poor Jamie is working, so he missed out, but we got some great pictures to show him what fun we had! Elise decided that she didn't like the big pumpkins (because she can't pick them up), so she collected a bunch of small ones. Once we were ready to pay, of course she insisted on pulling the wagon even though it was really a bit too heavy for her. I've put a slide show at the top of the page, and most of these pictures are duplicated there. I just thought I'd post them within an entry as well.







I started buying her fall clothes about 2 months ago to space out the cost (and also because I was excited to be shopping for fall), and I bought size 4T for the most part. I expected her clothes to be a little too big at the beginning of the season. When I pulled them out today to prepare for her portrait sitting, I noticed that they are fitting her just right already! Now I am nervous that I have a house full of clothes that she will outgrow before the end of the winter! I guess time will tell.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Dirty Sexy Money

Jamie and I think this is the best new show of the season. We recommend checking it out! Just thought I'd post that little tidbit, since we are watching it right now.

Cheese and Crackers

This picture is actually from the weekend, but I haven't had a spare moment to post it yet. Jamie and Elise are truly 2 peas in a pod at times! They were sitting together on Sunday, and he was showing her how to eat cheese and crackers. He bought the little snack packs with the cheese on one side and the crackers on the other. It also comes with a little red stick that is to be used to spread the cheese. It's not the type of snack food that I really prefer, but those 2 thought it was great. He taught her how to spread the cheese, and then she was showing him how to make a sandwich out of 2 crackers with cheese in the middle. I just sat back and watched and I thought it was so cute, I snapped a few pictures too.


Better Late Than Never!

We normally have our pumpkin out by the first weekend in October, but things have been crazy this year. We finally got it set up tonight. Elise was really into it this year, so it was fun! She was helpful and really excited to see it. Last year she was afraid of it (do you see an ongoing theme in my posts??). This year I had to keep reminding her not to jump on it!


And of course, we had to include the boys as well...

I know that is not a great shot of the dogs, but trust me, that is as good as it gets!! It is harder than it sounds to get 2 lab puppies to sit nicely and stay long enough to get a decent picture.

We had fun playing outside tonight, and the weather is starting to cool off nicely in the evenings. I hear that the weekend is supposed to be beautiful with high temps only in the 80s and lows in the 60s! It should be very nice football weather.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Still a twenty-something!

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. I was a little worried that our loss on Friday night might carry over into Saturday, but luckily it didn't! I should have known not to worry about that, because Jamie would never let a football game ruin a special day for me. I had a nice morning with Elise while Jamie watched film at the school. She came in and told me Happy Birthday and woke me with a kiss! When I went into the kitchen to make my coffee (which I had given up, but lately it doesn't seem to matter as much), Jamie had left me a sweet note, along with some money to go get a manicure & pedicure.

Michael came to pick up Elise around lunchtime, and he had Elise give me a birthday card. I know that was really Ashley's doing, because it's not the type of thing that Michael would do on his own, but it was very nice nonetheless. She even signed her name.

Then I was off to the nail salon for a few hours of relaxation and pampering! When I got home, Jamie was home and had a gift for me. He and my mom know how much I love Halloween, so their gifts were all centered around holiday decorations, candles, magazines, etc. I loved it! We got some lunch to go from Cheddars and then took a nap (which was wonderful!!!). I couldn't believe that Jamie opted for napping during the Texas/OU game - that just goes to show you how exhausted we were. Things have been especially tough this past week, because I have been going into work really early due to a series of early morning meetings at our downtown office. It's been an exciting time for me at work, but also a lot of extra work. It finally caught up with me this weekend.

When we woke up, we got all dressed up and went to Benihana's for dinner. That was really special, because Jamie and I (along with our good friends Candice and Jeremy) ate at Benihana's twice while we were in Hawaii. It brought back some great memories of our trip, and the food is always excellent. I had my very first mojito last night, along with some Benihana Punch (of course!). It was pretty good...very different. It reminded me of some strange variation of a margarita.

While we were sitting at dinner, Jamie leaned over to me and said, "Well, this is your last birthday ever to be a twenty-something." Until he said that, I had not even thought of that! Age doesn't bother me, but I had a fleeting moment of panic at the thought of saying goodbye to my 20s next year. So, thanks a lot honey! *wink*

We had another thought-provoking conversation this morning. Since Elise spent the night with her dad last night, we were able to sleep in this morning. I didn't get out of bed until 10:30, which is RARE for me. Jamie was up around 8:00, as usual. Since meeting me and moving in with Elise and I, he says that he can no longer sleep past 8:00 or 9:00. This made us start talking about life before kids. It's amazing how things change, and I really can't even remember what it was like before Elise came along. Jamie has only been with us since she was about 18 months old, and he has also forgotten what he used to do with all of his free time. He was telling me that while I was still in bed and he was just hanging out with the dogs doing laundry this morning, he started to wonder what life would have been like without kids. It was ironic, because I was thinking about the SAME thing when I woke up and saw that it was already 10:30 this morning! What on earth did we used to do??? We were talking about how empty our previous lives must have been, although we didn't notice at the time.

We were talking about Elise last night on the way home too. Jamie was telling me all the cute stuff she had said to him last week in the mornings (since he had morning duty so I could get into work early). She is just the cutest, and we are SO thankful that we have her.

My parents are in San Diego, and I think they were a little sad to have missed my birthday. I got quite a few text messages from them throughout the day. My dad is so sentimental - he sent me a text at exactly 5:23pm CST, telling me that exactly 29 years ago, a little 19-inch baby entered the world. That took some planning and consideration on his part too, because he was in a different time zone in California. I also got a phone call from my maternal grandmother and a card from my paternal grandma & uncle. I felt very loved on my special day!

So the official countdown to my 30's begins. So far I am off to a great start.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Final Score

We lost 17-21.

That makes for an all-around crappy start to my birthday weekend. We've been doing so much winning that I think I forgot what it feels like to be on the other side of things. How quickly you remember, though...

This is a first...

You can probably tell from the date and time of this post that I am not at the football game tonight. We drove out to Dickinson, and literally the moment that we sat down in the stands it began to POUR down rain. We took refuge underneath the stands and stayed there for nearly an hour trying to wait out the storm. All of the other wives who brought their children left after about 10 minutes. Elise and I tried to stick it out, and we made it through the first quarter. After that, I just could not justify keeping Elise out in the weather. It is KILLING me to not be there, especially this week. Jamie has been stressed all week long about this game, and I know how important it is. I feel like we have let him down by not being there to support the team when they need it most. To make matters worse, we were down 7-14 when I left, and as we were leaving the parking lot, I heard Dickinson score again. I've been getting text message updates from one of the other wives, and she tells me that it is halftime and we are down 14-21.

As much as I wish we could be there, I realize that this is one of those times when I have to put my child ahead of what I would like to be doing. Little love is nice and dry in her PJs, and that is what is most important. I got a sweet text from Jamie right before the game telling me to take "little love" (his nickname for Elise) home. He said it is just a game and we are still a team no matter what. This is the first football game that I have missed since we met.

I will update once the game is over and I hear a final score. In the meantime, I will be trying not to go crazy wondering what is happening.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Jumping Fun With Friends!

The pictures that I am about to share are from our trip to Jumpin' Jungle last Friday. Now that I am off every other Friday, I have the opportunity to get together with some other mommy friends and their little girls for play dates! Last Friday, Elizabeth & Miriam (2 of my great friends from my former job at Ernst & Young) brought their daughters Elena and Camille for some fun. Elizabeth is still on maternity leave, so she brought baby Joshua along too. He was so well-behaved, and he's quite a cutie! It is fun to see a glimpse into the world of a stay-at-home mom every now and then. Sometimes I wish I could stay home, but we were talking about this and pretty much all agreed that we were better mothers when we had our careers and some time away as well.


Aren't our girls looking like dolls?? From left to right: Camille, Elise, Elena...



Elizabeth, Joshua, Elise, and I:


And here we are!

We have several more outings planned for our future Fridays off. I think the girls really enjoyed the company of each other, and I know the moms had fun catching up. All 3 of the girls cried when it was time to go home...and after that busy morning, we got in a GREAT afternoon nap, which is always the perfect ending to the day. I can't wait to get together again.