I Can't Carry a Tune: My First Karaoke Experience

Saturday night, I went to Jessica's birthday party. She is quite the singer and wanted to celebrate by doing karaoke. She is the one holding the mic in the pic below.

Jeff, her husband, rented a private karaoke room...oddly enough at Main Event, the same place we celebrated Cheyenne's birthday party like 3 hours prior. When I arrived to the karaoke room, there was some technical issues, so the manager provided a few rounds of drinks on the house and also refunded their money for the room, to make up for it. An hour later, we were singing. By that time, we had our playlist and we were off!

I met Jessica and Jeff through Cheyenne.
Last year, Cheyenne became good friends with her classmate, Sophia.
Sophia is Jessica and Jeff's daughter. Interesting fact, the live several houses down from us.

Trey stayed at home and watched the girls. I told him all about it and now, I'm trying to convince him to have his holiday party there.

I'm so glad Jessica and Jeff invited me.
I had a blast singing and rapping.

Cheyenne's Birthday Party

Saturday, we celebrated Cheyenne's birthday at Main Event.
We decided to have a little get together. Cheyenne wanted to invite 3 girls from school and luckily all three were available to attend. We had a blast!

Amy's Abilene Baby Shower

This past weekend, we went to Abilene for Amy's baby shower. She's due around mid-November. It's hard to believe that we're finally going to have a boy on my side of the family!


Tasha made Amy a mum.



Mom and Tasha made these.

A Happy Birthday

Last week, we celebrated Angelica's birthday at our house. She is 12 years old. We had her birthday party on a weeknight. So, I went all out and made cupcakes from scratch, you know...

Look how much she's grown. (Christmas 2006)

Birthday Party at Mine By Design in Abilene

Saturday morning, we celebrated Brianna's 5th birthday party in Abilene. The Party was at Mine by Design - It's a painting/pottery studio.

Brianna, the birthday girl!

The Ballerina Birthday girl, got a homemade, handcrafted cake made by Erin.



The studio was so colorful. I loved it!

Chey picked a mug to paint.   
While the big kids were painting, Dakota walked around wearing an apron...

or in her case, an over-sized bib. She was eating applesauce.



It was another great day trip to Abilene. While I was in town, I picked up gifts from both sides of the family. Based on how many gifts are already under our tree…the girls were good this year.

Later that night, we went to Prairie Lights with Drew, Amanda and family. We all piled into there SUV, kids and all. The wait to get in the park was 2 hours long! I'm glad I was in good company and it made the lights and wait, worth it.

My Week in Photos

Yesterday afternoon, Tasha and I went to Abilene for a quick trip.
We were there to celebrate Meriah's  sweet sixteen birthday. It was a quick trip indeed, I was on the road, to head back home - Sunday (this morning), at 7 am. Chey and I had a tea party to go to, more on that in another post.
  
My mom and all her girls.

Tasha bought that dress, literally 5 minutes before we went to the party. As soon as we got to Abilene, I dropped her off at the store. She went in, bought this dress and then walked out wearing it.

Dakota was walking all over the dance floor!

And Chey was dancing all over the dance floor. For a shy girl, she sure does like to dance in front of people.

The hardest decision I had to make this week. Fur boots or riding boots. I've had those fur boots for several years, I should wearing them more often. P.S. I love my riding boots. Last week, some random man approached me and said my wife loves your boots and I was like - I KNOW! They are awesome, go buy her a pair for Christmas! I got them at nordstroms.

And now, for my random pics….
See all the boxes that went to the attic. Thank you ice storm! All the "down time" allowed me to organize the girls closet.

Christmas card from TBT. Ok, that's all I have. It's 10:54 pm and I still have not got my 1 mile in for the day. Time to go running, I hope!

Cheyenne's 5th Birthday Party at Flight Deck Pt 2 of 2

Hi! We are still talking about Chey's birthday at the trampoline park. My friend, Erin made this wonderful Chica Show cake for Chey's birthday party. I think she has some cake making talent.

It was so nice playing with friends.

and tackling them…

I wouldn't mind having a date night there.



Well, that's all I've got. Have a great Sunday.

I have a confession to make

I missed church on Sunday, to run.

But seeing this landscape was praise and worship to my senses. How great is our God? 
I missed trail running. Nowadays, when I go for a long run, I stay close to home and by that, I mean I circle the neighborhood. I needed this trail run! 

I ran a little over 10 miles at a moderate pace. I over-dressed BIG TIME and hated my long sleeve pullover, especially at mile 5. You know it's hotter than hades, if an 8 month post-partum momma would rather run in a sports bra than a long sleeve sweater. And I did.

Runners tan line in February is possible -- only in Texas.

Super Bowl: 
Last night, Trey and I hosted a super bowl party. We had four couples and a lot of kiddos at our house. I counted heads and there was a total of 18 warm bodies. Who cares about the game...What was your favorite commercial???l Hands down, I loved Clydesdales Horse. I had to fight back tears, I'm not even joking!

Meow! And Putting Things Off

Yesterday, we went to a birthday party and Cheyenne got her face painted like a kitty-cat.

I keep putting off my 10 mile run. What is wrong with me? I only have a few more weeks until the race, so I suppose I'm just ready to run 13.1, not 10 miles of training. It's already 8 am, so my LR that was originally scheduled for Saturday morning was moved to Sunday morning and now it's been moved, once again to tonight. I will be shocked if it actually happens.

Laundry Maid

This little girl is happy because I taught her how to load clothes in the washer.

After we were done she asked, "What's next????" I'm brain washing her at a young age -- chores are fun. But really, when she's old enough to cook my plan is to never step in the kitchen again.

Yesterday, we celebrated Trentin's 4th birthday. It was smokin' hot outside. I want to say it was 200 degrees, that sounds accurate. I showered a few hours before the party, but afterwards I had to take another one.

Something Random About Me: 
When I'm all sweaty, I hate sitting on the sofa. I'll sit on the leather recliner and if that's not available, I'll resort to the floor.

She's growing too fast and looking less like a big baby and more like a little lady.

And this girl, is growing every hour. Ohhhh and this is one of the few pictures I have of her smiling. Expect more, though in the future.

Since Dakota is still floppy, she has to sit in her bouncy chair and watch us eat. One day, she'll be sturdy enough to sit in the high chair.

This stranger had the weekend off. Two weekends in a row, I could get use to that. I'm sure he could too.

Taper Time, Pregnancy Style & Lots of Changes

I'm about 2 weeks from my due date (technically 15 days) and if I was training for a race, I would begin my taper, right about now. You know, naturally, I will taper during pregnancy too. I'm a runner, so this is how my brain works. But first the important question: Is it too early to start carb loading???? Pasta, sweet potatoes, come to mommy!

During a taper, one can become irritable, so don't be surprised if in the next two weeks, I start acting crabby. Blame it on the hormones and taper. I can only use this excuse for a short period of time, so I might as well make good use of it. Trey might say, I have already started acting this way and have been like this for some time -- watch it, mister!
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...But I Don't Want to Say Goodbye
Yesterday, we went to a farewell party for two families who go to our church. One of the families moving away is Mike and Erin! I just want to cry and hold their ankles and tell them they can't go.

Erin has been watching Cheyenne for two years. Erin means so much more to me, than a childcare provider, she is my friend. I'm going to miss her and her family dearly. The good news is her husband recently graduated and he has accepted a Pastor position near Abilene. Yes, Abilene, Texas. So, that makes me feel a little better. It's not like they are moving out of state or anything.

Cheyenne understands her best friend, Brianna is moving away. She'll be fine, but I know she'll miss her Bia-Boo.

Childcare Change
Erin gave me plenty of notice about moving, so that allowed Trey and I to pray and find someone else to  watch the girls. A friend in our Sunday School Class was eager to talk with us about the possibility of watching the girls. We had her and her family over for dinner, talked about all the details and we all agreed we were on board.

Sometime, in mid-July, Tonya will be providing childcare services for Chey and baby Dakota. I'm thankful and relieved we found someone we know and trust. Tonya and her husband have 3 children, the picture below is of her with her daughter, Jolie. OH! Did I mention they live about 2 miles from our house? YAY!!!!!!

More Changes
Next school year, Chey will not be attending school (She attended a mothers day out program for two years). This makes me sad, but I'm thankful Erin took her while she was also teaching at that school.

To wrap it up, here are the major changes coming up:
- new baby
- friends moving
- new childcare provider
- no school for Chey

Change is inevitable and we can only learn and grow from it.