Happy Memorial Day

You know you have girls when...

We spent yesterday afternoon at Daniel's work Christmas party. Yes, I know it is May, but business is too crazy in December to have it, so they wait until the weather is nice to hold it in a park. It is always a nice time. They have barbecue, drinks, and a clown to distract the kids.

So, we get there not long after it starts and make our way to the picnic area where they have everything set up. Oh, the drama just trying to move the hundred feet there. Both Ava and Leila are wearing their cute white sandals they typically wear everyday. Only the ground there is covered in a lot of dirt that proceeds to make its way into their sandals. They both start flipping out over this insisting on removing their shoes for me to fix the issue. Only it keeps happening over and over again. Leila was particularly upset by all of this, so I spent most of my time cleaning out her shoes and calming her down.

The other drama for the day has to do with the outdoor creepy crawlies. Oh man, I have never seen kids so upset by an ant three feet away. At one point, Leila walked a few feet from where we had set up our chairs and was watching some people kick a soccer bawl around. Suddenly, she turns around with a look of horror on her face and begins to move back toward us crying. Apparently, a bug had flown up and landed on her arm. Of course, it had flown away by the time she reached us, but still....

Oh, the joys of having girls...and not just any type, girlie-girls.

My Mother's Day/Birthday/Push Present/Christmas Gift...

I have been wanting a digital SLR camera for a while now. I have a number of friends that have bought one recently, and the vast difference in quality over my decent point and shoot has been driving me crazy. I love to take my own pictures of the girls. I have actually never had professional studio pictures taken because they drive me crazy. Thus far, I have really gotten some great shots, but I know they can be so much more with a better camera.

So, Daniel was checking his email the other day and, from what I can only assume, had not bought me a Mother's Day gift, yet. He had an ad in there from Costco for Nikon cameras. This happens to be the exact camera we had decided we wanted to buy after a lot of research. It was between the Nikon D40 and the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Xti. They both had their pros and cons, and we decided on the Nikon after noticing what most professional photographers use.


Anyway, Costco was offering an excellent deal on the Nikon with an extra lens. All of my friends with the camera already kept swearing that finding a deal that included an extra lens was definitely the best way to go, so you don't have that on another wish list in the future when you realize you want more zoom.

Well, my camera arrived today, and I couldn't be more excited! I have already been playing with it trying to figure out the manual modes. So, you can expect to see a number of new pictures coming your way in the near future.

I am still laughing over this one

So, Tricia's comment in my last post made me have to post this here. I am still just blown away by this story. I simply can not imagine what her parents were thinking when, I can only assume, they helped fund this custom creation. I am just glad there were no kids at the park while she was there. She would have really done some damage.

By the way, this local story made national news this weekend.

Watch the video here:

Teen handcuffed for wearing skimpy prom dress
http://www.khou.com/video/index.html?nvid=243976

Happy Mother's Day

Update on the last post-- Wedding

I had so much fun last night at my friends' Crissy and Edgar's wedding. As I mentioned before, it was a luau theme. I must say, it was one of the best weddings I have ever attended. It was just so perfectly them. They kept the traditional wedding stuff to an absolute minimum. They even had Mac Stevens officiating the ceremony. It was just perfect. I had so much fun catching up with old friends that are all marrying off and starting families of their own. In other words, they get out as much as I do...never. Here are a few pictures from last night.

Adventures in maternity fashion

I am so excited for Saturday because a good friend of mine that I have known for several years is marrying another friend of mine. I could not be more excited for them because they are both just wonderful people that deserve one another.

Anyway, they are having a 1940's luau themed wedding. They have been planning for about a year. I have had a great vintage dress picked out for the occasion since hearing their plans. Well, I did not really factor in being pregnant for the occasion, so I was really freaking out on Sunday when it occurred to me to try the dress on to be sure I hadn't already outgrown it.

So, I pull it out of my closet, and I swear, light was shining down on this thing with heavenly voices singing all around. I wiggle myself into it praying I could zip it up. I get halfway up my back when it stops. I could still close the top, though, so I was hoping I could force it the rest of the way up. No such luck, and I was scared to death of busting the seam. Grrrr....non-forgiving vintage fabric.

Of course, this sent me into a panic of what to wear to the wedding. I pulled out all of my dresses that could come anywhere close to appropriate for the occasion. No luck at all. UGH! I was being forced into the realm of searching for a *gulp* maternity dress. I H-A-T-E maternity dresses. There is just something about them that make me feel like a beached whale no matter how small I still am. I have only found one maternity dress in the past that looked good, but it is more of an evening attire kind of dress. Not appropriate for and afternoon luau themed wedding.

The whole idea of having to shop for something the week of the wedding really upset me, but it was something that had to be done. So, I decided to just check things out online before actually hitting any stores. The first place I looked was Old Navy. I clicked on the maternity section, and staring me in the face was THE PERFECT dress and priced just right. I could not believe how lucky I was.

So, I look to order it and realized that their $5 shipping takes 4-7 business days. I could do 4 maybe 5 days at the most. I couldn't chance it, so I looked at their 2-day shipping costs--$15!!! No, no, no. There was no way I was going to spend that much on shipping. So, I decided to just try my local store that carries the maternity line to see if they had it and in my size.

I run over there on Monday in the middle of a good Houston rain to find it. I walked in and made a bee line to the maternity section, spot the dress, grab the first one on the rack the read 'S', and raced to the register before it could disappear from my hands.

Mission completed!!!

I am so excited for the wedding now. I even have the perfect shoes for the dress already. It is just all working out so well. Here is a picture of the dress.