leaving the big kid behind and a vivid dreams

not much longer and this will be me again! (hawaii 2011)

1.  for the last 2 years, the kids have been on the same spring break. this year, ham is a week later so that means he will not be going with us!  it makes me sad.

2. he asked his professors if he could take exams early but they said they can't do that unless its for a death or something really big like that. a+m gets a finger salut on that one- hahaha!

3. so we told him we would take him somewhere over the summer since this is the second family vacation he's had to miss.  we're going to wing it and wait for cheap flights to someplace and go there.

4. i had the most amazing dream last night, in color even!  i magically appeared to a place called langford market (its a name of clothing store here) and it was cape cod type houses all along the water.  the houses were beautiful colors of yellow, reds, blues.

5. there were clean streets and gigantic pools with people swimming. i was eating outside of course and said to the guy sitting in front of me: "you have a lot of food there." because he did have a lot of food.

6. the girl sitting close to him said, his wife is around here.  which was weird because i was just making a statement, starting a conversation not hitting on the guy. (i find this happens in real life too)

7. so another house that was a contender sold. as of right now, there are 2 left that we're interested in. one of them isn't in an ideal neighborhood- being its not as fancy as the others but its on the right side of town. (the school district we want and on the right side of the railroad tracks and its a brand new house.)

8. also told mike that while our budget is x amount, i really want to go about 50 grand under that. (some of the new houses we liked were 50 grand under)

9. my motto: i want to own our house, not our house own us.  

10. plus, i'm keeping mike to his word that if we move back to indiana, we will be able to do more and travel more.  AND, i'm leaving a kid back in texas who needs a visit from his mom every once in awhile- hee hee!  

back to normal

a birthday present (fathead.com)

1. this guy finally went back to college. he had a whole stink'n month off!

2.  forgot to mention we celebrated this guy turning 22 in my last post.  TWENTY- TWO! how is that even possible since i'm only 29? ha!

3. so today we are back to normal. kaylee went to school. mike went to work and i went to target. (to pick up toiletries for mike to take off shore)

4. the house is a mess and i have a sink full of dishes that needs to be done. 

5. so to keep up with the normal i went shopping. 

6. after target, went to surlatable but didn't find anything. then went to francesca's and found a cute skirt in a size SMALL.  haven't seen that size in a few years. yeah for plexus and bootcamp!

7. speaking of bootcamp. we did a different baseline yesterday and i was the fastest! (they changed the 400M run to a 500M row and 10 pull-ups/rings instead of burpees)

8. looking for some cute stuff to decorate the new house with even though not having a new house makes it kinda difficult.

9. but i've been stalking following my new girl crush (@browneyedfox) on instagram and want to decorate my house like hers. LOVE her style.

10. in the meantime, i've been decluttering and got the pantry all cleaned out.  nothing goes back in that won't get eaten or used quickly.  also been fluttering around each room and getting rid of stuff i don't want to move. (my neighbor said thats what her husband says she does-nothing but flutters around the house)

brain dumping + nothing too exciting going on = this blog post

 1. this is how my house looked for a few days early december. big house + not enough decorations = christmas decorating block.

 2. kids + funny faces while decorating the christmas tree = a post on my blog!

3. pretty ornaments + lights = beautiful tree.

4. last christmas + texas = kinda regretting the decision to move.

5. indiana + family = happy kaylee and mike.

6. mean girl + telling the class that kaylee's a spoiled, selfish little girl = something mean girl's mom is probably telling her at home.

7. mean girl +  mean girls mom = us talking to the principal to get kaylee moved out of her current class = no more drama! (she will be moved after winter break)

8. birthday + kaylee = double digits. which has been hard for this mama to take.

9. birthday + ham = even harder for this mama to take. (his is in january)

10. both kids + annoying their mom about opening an early christmas gift =  jimmy kimmel horrible gift prank on the kids.  will post video.

catching up with pictures

 went to san antonio for a few days over thanksgiving and it was awesome!

 we stayed at the elian resort and spa. this is the back of it and its such a cool place. if i could, i would move here. (san antonio is beautiful with its hills and all the trees!) its a mix of resort and apartment complexes. it also had a restaurant, bar and business's.  see the black and white awning? perfect spot for me to open a home decor/photography business.

 we got to meet ricky williams. he played for the longhorns and the dolphins and he was in town.

made mike's day! (he got the jersey he's wearing signed.)

 while in san antonio, the dad's and kids went to six flags and sea world. while us mom's shopped and just chilled at the resort. again, it was awesome!  we ate thanksgiving dinner at a little place called mimi's cafe. their turkey was very moist and the food was delish but ham and i both think homemade is better.

 making taco's in my new shoes. 

 decorating the christmas tree with funny faces. oh boy- kids are funny!

 went and painted christmas presents for my parents.  reindeers are grandkids.

 my neighbor's house. he does this all by himself every year. 

 friday lunch date 's at her school.

best friend coming over to decorate gingerbread houses.

it's so cold in texas today- high of 55 (has nothing to do with my post)

 1. ummm, not liking this photo booth pic that she did. pull up that sleeve girl!

2. this is more like it and this is what she gets for taking pics like these- ha!

3. we got new furniture from our favorite furniture store.  the owner even knows us by name and gives us awesome discounts! (new tv stand and 2 end tables for the family room and a coffee table for mike's area)

4. we want to get the cool stuff before the move. yes, a garage sale is in the works for spring.

5. we headed up to visit ham on saturday. on the way there we had to make a pit stop at the worlds cleanest bathroom, biggest gift shop gas station- buc'ees! (its tradition)

6. seriously, they are the cleanest i've ever seen and i'm super picky about them and their gift shop is die for!

7. once we got to ham's we took him out for a late lunch at bj's brewhouse. then dropped the boys off at bar so they could watch the aggies win while kaylee and i got ham some groceries. we even got him a plant.

8. i feel bad that his apartments so bare- no pictures or anything on his walls! (his next apartment will be better!)

9. sunday mike left for houma, louisana for training though i'm thinking it was excuse to hang out with the guys because he didn't go to bootcamp last night. (tired and probably hung over)

10. we made it official and told my parents we are moving back to indiana. to say they were happy is an understatement! 

keeping busy, planning and more decisions

 1. i was standing by the counter one day and found ollie staring at me. he does that from time to time and it kinda freaks me out.

2. i've been doing some swaps on instagram. this is my latest one that i sent. it was from your hometown theme. so much fun but so expensive once you add shipping. (that long thing in bubble wrap is a texas shot glass, of course.)

3. for either kaylee's birthday or for christmas, i signed her up for subscription box (poshpak). she loves getting mail and she's always trying to scam my goodies.

4. instead of heading up to indiana for thanksgiving, we're thinking about taking a few days and head up to san antonio with one of mike's co-workers/running buddy+ family.

5. we want to make use of our sea world season pass and hit six flags even though mike's the only one who rides roller coasters.

6. it would of been too busy of a trip to head up to indiana for the week especially since we were wanting to drive.

7. plus, it doesn't make sense to look at houses when they could be sold by the time we put our house on the market. though the houses around here sell a lot faster than back in indiana.

8. ham texted me yesterday that be got admitted into A+M too!

9. he's been doing a semester at a community college up in college station since he's changing his major to commercial architecture???  engineering was too hard and you must be a genius if you are one ; )

10. so now he has a big decision to make. stay at A+M or transfer to purdue.  

heart pounding, waiting patiently...

that's ollie sleeping

1. so a lot has been on my mind lately and yet nothing has been going on.

2. i spent the last 3 days of last week babysitting window guys. they're coming back tomorrow to finish and clean up. (we got 15 back windows replaced. if we had the money, we would replace the other 53-56 windows this house has!)

3. so i had to miss lunch with kaylee on friday but she understood.

4. sunday ham went back to school bummed which made me bummed too. (kaylee was bummed that her brother was leaving and that she had school on monday)

5. and i still felt bummed on monday knowing that ham wasn't happy and i couldn't fix it.

6. so its been mentioned that he transfers to purdue. (he got an acceptance letter already and he found a place to live. all signs thats what he should do)

7. and we're waiting to hear if mike will be going off shore as his next job assignment. if he does, that means we will moving too.

8.  and since no one reads my blog, i can say it will be back to indiana.

9.  while this decision was a hard one for me (there's so much more to do here and the weather!), in the end family matter most.  i want kaylee to grow up with her cousins especially since she has 6 girl cousins all close to her age. i want her to know her grandparents and aunts and uncles.

10. so i'm here with my heart pounding, fingers and toes crossed, waiting patiently for mike to give me the news.

brain dumping thursday

1. this is kaylee's first day of school photo. i'm still too lazy and won't get my phone to load up ham's. he wouldn't let me post it on facebook.

2. mike said i should do it anyway but i'm friends with a few of ham's friends and they will tell him and then he won't send me any more photos of himself.  i still have at least 2 more years of school photos of him to be taken. (he's a junior but decided to change majors)

3. my grandpa jack was in my dreams last night. i miss that guy.

4. yesterday at boot camp we did time trials to see how much we've improved.  i'm happy to report that i kicked boot camp's ass and finished it. i came in 3rd in my group and my time was 6 minutes.

5. we had to run 400 m, do 40 squats, 30 sit-ups, 20- pushups and 10 burps.

6. we also had to see how many sit-ups, push-ups and squats we could do in 60 secs. i improved on everything.

7. we start a new session on monday. mike has decided to give it a try as well. just to change up his workouts.

8. ham texted me yesterday needing more money and how his car is not running right. i've dubbed him H.A.M = huge amounts (of) money! haha!

9. still dog sitting. i'm ready to be a one dog person again. 3 more days...3 more days....

10. okay, off to find something to make for dinner tonight.

since i've been gone [in photos]

 1. payed ham to sweep and steam mop the kitchen.

 2. made kaylee clean up her room. this is just from her closet.

3. mike surprised me with dinner and a this show. it was awesome! 

 4. this is what kaylee texted me when asked for mike's car keys. (thought ham was taking her for ice cream. i thought wrong.)

5. my sister and her girls came to visit for a few days.

6. i got bit by a few fire ants. think i'm slightly allergic. both of my wrists got all swollen and they were in lots of pain!

 7.  took the girls to the pottery's wheel to paint some ceramic pieces.

9. signed her up for tennis camp. it was only for 4 days.

10. ran The Color Run again this year.  it was HOT and SWEATY at 8AM!

a trip to the ER

mother's day 2014

1. after ham returned from the dentist on friday, he complained that he had loss of vision for a brief second and a horrible, horrible headache.

2. so after the inspections lady left, i took him to the eye doctor. [since he was getting ready to head back to summer school, i wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong.]

3. she didn't find anything abnormal but suggested i take him to the urgent care center 2 doors down since he was shaking, feeling like puking and had numbness in his hand/arm. [she said he must be hyperglycemic]

4. i have never seen him in so much pain before and all i could think about is the high school student who worked for my parents, who died from a brain anyursm a few years ago. 

5. the urgent care center suggested we take him to first choice ER for a CT scan since they couldn't do one.

6. thank-goodness the scan turned out normal and he was suffering from a migraine.

7. he ended up sleeping in our room for the rest of the day/night since its dark and one of the coolest room in the house. [we need to get a new a/c unit for his side of the house]

8.  i think it had a lot to do with going to the dentist on an empty stomach.  all the different smells and pressure from teeth cleaning often gives me a headache and since he hadn't eaten breakfast, it just made it worse.

9. i think he's learned to give himself enough time to eat breakfast from now on.

10.  the last time i had to take him to the ER, he was probably 5 years old and had to get stitches on his forehead. 

wow- its almost march

1. her outfit last friday for her school's fun run. she completed all 36 laps and then some.

2. i still take outfit photos of her every school day but just too lazy to post them for what she wore wednesdays. [wsww]

3. went to my favorite local furniture store called the perfect piece and got a new end table and buffet. the end table has a crank that still works to make it taller or shorter.  photos coming soon.

4. ham came home friday and stayed till saturday. he needed more food so i had mike grill about 4 pounds of chicken, shrimp, salmon and sausages while i made potatoes and blackened tilipia, all done in an hour!

5. he said he could wait on the broccoli and asparaguts [what we call them] so i could finally stop cooking. he's generous like that.

6. saturday kaylee stayed over night at a friends house, mike and i got invited to play pool and drink over at the johnson's house. [a guy who use to work for mike in indiana and was willing to move so mike got him a job here who still works for him]

7. i think i have paint colors picked for the master bedroom and bathroom. going with a navy blue-ish for the bedroom and a purplish color for the bathroom.

8. just need to finish the rest of the painting projects i have going on but at least i have colors.

9. we lost power last night. not for very long but again, it reminded me that i really need to get an emergency kit put together.

10. we are in a hurricane zone.  our neighbors/friends said they went about 2 weeks without electricity when hurricane ike striked. [the strong winds knocked everything down]

a mug, an addiction and a new purse??

1. the husband got me this to add to my collection. so far i have houston, (2) florida and a chicago.  a friend of mine is moving back to the mainland so hopefully a hawaii one will be in my hands soon.

2. phew, man have i been having the horrible case of the IBL's! (I BE LAZY)

3. but today i actually got somethings done and made dinner. and a cake!

4. monday we went and got ham the current iPhone since his stopped working for some reason. this has happened before so it makes me go hmmm...

5. he did think about giving me his iPad as an exchange but i told him to keep it if he's still using it. it was the thought that counts.

6. i've mentioned my filofax addiction before. i should say planner addiction but i'm just trying to find the right one. so far i have an erin condren, mom agenda and 3 filofaxes with another one on its way.

7. i'm hoping to sell the ones i don't use after i check out the newest one.

8. is it weird that i use baby bags as my purses?  i wanted a new camera bag for vacation. i like my timbuk2 eula messenger but its ugly and it has velcro that super loud when i open it.

9. after hours of searching, i had an aha moment. i really love my dwell studio transportation bag but its too big and not hands free but its water proof-ish and cute so i checked to see what else they had.

10. what luck! they have a cute, striped messenger style that opens from the top with lots of space inside! (i didn't pay that much for it though, i have reward points)

my 5 uncool and 5 cool for the week

fiddle leaf fig

uncool:

1. ham turning 21 then leaving for school.

2. itchy eyes due to the weather change.

3. eating too much at lunch.

4. having a smelly and dirty house. [my own fault. as kaylee would say : "thats no fun!"]

5. august: osage county not playing in any of the 5 movie theaters we have in our area. [i have to go 30 minutes away]

cool:

1. eating lunch with kaylee every friday is back in routine.

2. the weather is in the low 70's. just how i like it. [even when its raining]

3. i don't have to clean my house unless i feel like it. [we have no friends to invite over so no one will see it]

4. my fiddle leaf fig that i got from ikea. i need to find a new pot for it since ikea didn't have one big enough.

5. planning to see august osage county on sunday...

ollie, worried mama and naps

edited in instagram

1. when i'm on my computer in the craft room, this is where i will find him, at the window next to me.

2. he's looking towards his girlfriends house.

3. and most of the windows in our house are his height. it was meant to be.

4. ham went back to his apartment tonight. we will see him saturday but it still makes me a little sad. i want my family all home and safe.

5. plus, his buddies are taking him out tomorrow night to celebrate his 21st birthday. he turned 21 three days into the new year. [makes this mama worry]

6. tuesday i went and ran some errands and bought groceries.

7. wednesday i had to go back to mike's work health center for lab results. i'm low on iron. then we had a lunch date at his cafeteria then i went to ikea.

8. i found a fig plant i've been wanting at ikea for $12.99. dirt cheap in my mind.

9. since mike made fun of me last night after i told him i was going to the woodlands to take back the jacket i bought ham i stayed in today. [ham likes the jacket but wanted a different color which they don't have and mike said thats all i do is go shopping]

10. so this morning was a little boring but by 1pm it got to be okay. it was rainy which means its good napping weather which is what i did.

big nostrils, ham's decision making skills and mike's the neighborhood hero

1. i found this on photo booth. she's not going to be happy when i show this to her future boyfriend.

2. i told you she has big nostrils. she's very proud of them.

3. did i mention that we went up to the woodlands on friday? yup, ham wanted to return his laptop, again, to get the one he first had. i knew it when he said the mac air didn't have the retina display.

4. it wasn't too busy with black friday being almost over and we got to eat pf changs for dinner.

5. i finally decided to make a hair appointment and got to spend 2.5 hours at the salon.

6. i got partial color and partial highlights w/a haircut. it looks gorgeous! and makes me want to do my hair. [till tomorrow morning and it doesn't turn out as nice]

7. of course, while getting my hair done, mike texts me about 6 times and calls about 3 times. something he never does on a normal basis. just when i want to relax while getting my hair done.

8. he called the electric company and got them to come out and actually fix our problem that we've had since september. [it ended up being the transformer]

9. i think its been a problem ever since we moved in and from what our neighbors were saying, long before but never knew who to call. [it just finally got bad enough for us to call- again]

10. when i turned off the water in the shower sunday, the shock was more powerful than ever and its taking my dryer longer to dry clothes.  one neighbor said they've replaced 2 washer and dryers and a fridge while another neighbor replaced a dryer and their a/c unit caught on fire all due to this problem i'm sure.

wsww and her first concert

 week 11

week 10

1. i'm not sure where i've been. i've been here just not on the blog.

2. week 10 on what she wore wednesday, it rained for a few days if you can't tell.

3. week 11, on tuesday, it was dress in 50's for their 50th day in school.

4. ham finally sold his desktop computer. the one he built himself.

5. so saturday we went to the apple store and got him a laptop for his early birthday present. [he payed for half though the money was probably from his allowance we give him to buy food]

6. kaylee was super upset-like tears in her eyes because he got his birthday present [january] before she got hers. [december]

7. and she called him the golden child of the family. [kids sure are funny!]

8. but i think we got back in her good gracious when we took her to  the children's festival in the woodlands. 

9.  zendaya was going to be there and tickets were only $12.00. can't beat a $12 concert. 

10. we got her a zendaya t-shirt and a photo just in case she got a chance to meet her. [found out they handed out meet and greet wristbands at noon. we didn't get there till around 1pm.]  

weekend and sacrifices i have to make

she grabs my hand every morning while we walk to school

1. i love how much kaylee loves her brother. when i told her was on his way home thursday night, she said " oh good!"

2. he got a haircut on friday and he looked so handsome.

3. saturday morning, mike ran a 5k hosted by kaylee's school district. she wants to run a 1k now.

4. so i signed us 3 up for the color run taking place downtown houston in october. [i also found a living social deal that took 10 bucks off each of us]

5. mike ended up getting beat by a 10 year old girl. in fact, lots of people did. she came in 8th place over all. she's going to be a famous runner one day.

6. mike ended up injuring his leg/foot so we got to call him gimpy all weekend.

7. saturday night we went to pf changs for dinner. i got made fun of because of my parking job. [it was your typical asian parking job]

8. sunday was spent running a few errands, fixing the pool filter and cooking so ham had food to take back with him.

9. i ended up grilling 4 different kinds of chicken, steaming broccoli, asparagus and corn on the cob. i also made thai beef curry with sausage and shrimp and garlic scallion noodles for dinner.

10. then ham decided that i was right, that a whole set of dishes, silverware and cups would be better so i sacrificed [sarcasm] my morning by spending it at home goods.

bake camp, company and some tears

 turtle cake

 special kaylee cake

 a car cake

side view of car cake

1. these photos are from her cake camp she did back in august. 

2. we still have the car cake in the freezer and she gave her kaylee cake to the neighbor for letting her practice piano at their house.

3. holiday weekend was good. we had company come over sunday for fajitas. [i used the pioneer woman's recipe]

4. i also made jalapeno peppers, chips and salsa, mexican potatoes and a new dessert- snicker, brownie triffle.

5. i also made a new drink- hippie juice. its delicious. has watermelon vodka in it.

6. saturday i went to ikea to get ham a new desk, side table and a tv stand. it was crazy busy!

7. ham just sent me a photo of his desk. its kinda skinny but it will do the job. 

8. i really hate it when he leaves, the house always feels empty for a few days. [i know i say each time but its true]

9. kaylee cried tonight before bed. she doesn't want mike to go to work and she doesn't want to go to school.

10. i am so proud of her though. she's been sleeping in her bed for a whole month now! and she says she actually likes it better. she has more room. [thats what i've been telling her all along]

school is tough

 first day of school went pretty well. she came home happy.

 ham didn't say how his went but i'm glad he listened to his mama and sent me a photo.

 today was a different story. none of her friends are in her class and the girls that are in her class aren't very friendly.

so after watching some videos and dancing with some awful singing from me, she smiled and was happy which then called for a "fivebucks" run. 

 here's hoping for better days. 

mom sick= sucks!

i'm recovering from being sick over the weekend so i'm welcoming the quiet house. here are a few photos from weeks before.

at the dolphins vs texan pre-game. look at how close our seats were!

he was happy at the game even though the dolphins lost, he has high hopes for his team.

daddy getting lov'ns and kaylee getting ollie kisses

my one of my spa days

my beautiful stylist soaking shampooing my hair with a water bottle

kaylee hugging her weird-o brother good-night

i hope my kids have a great day today and get some really rad teachers. i'm off to rest and see what movies are on while drinking some warm tea.