not in any order but what's been going on

 surprise birthday present from the husband and kids (favorite hawaiian artist)

 invited to a crawfish boil. did not get enough of these!

 mother's day cards from all the kids- even ollie!

 finished painting lots of doors and trims and walls

 kaylee doing a better job with my make-up

we got hail! (been raining a lot this year)

 almost done painting and i finally fall 

(one foot was on window ledge and other on the counter. fell on/over tub)

its official! (sad face)

 leg bruise a few days later

just glad it was not my face/eyes or broken bones

surprise birthday cake from my nerd herds when visiting Indiana

busy march and fingers crossed

1. *phew* march was a busy one! we counted that we were home for 8 days- 8 days! less for mike since he works off shore. 

2. went back to indiana to go house hunting. we wanted a newer home but still had a budget to keep.  we also planned for renovations within that budget if need be.  after looking at 13 houses on monday, we were kinda discouraged.

3. i told mike about a house that i loved in a neighborhood that i loved and we drove past it. our budget got raised! (see how i did that? took him to some crappy houses first- ha!)

4. funny thing, that house ended up being our 3rd favorite. 

 5. i found this house driving by and looked it up on zillow. (photos courtesy of zillow)  i was kinda dishearten when i saw the inside (very outdated)  and that it was a foreclosure.  they did put in new, dark, hardwood floors [love] and new carpet.  they are also going to finish the half bath in the basement.

 6. but once i saw the outside, i knew mike would love it too!

7. and he did!  the deck is brand new and the yard is big enough for some fun get togethers around the fire pit or a friendly game of corn hole.

8. the pond or "lake" is also usable for paddle boating and kayaking.

9. pretty much all the bathrooms need new everything but cabinets. i'm hoping to just get new doors for them and get them painted a new color.  same with the kitchen cabinets. the countertops are perfect.  we also plan on doing the smaller bathrooms ourselves.  just the vanities and toilets.

10. unfortunately it's not ours yet and that makes me very anxious. [my heartbeats a mile a minute just thinking about it]

while we could put an offer on it we don't want to risk the paper work getting done faster than normal and be stuck with yet another house payment. (foreclosures have no contingency on them and paperwork usually takes longer than normal but i can see with our (non) luck, it would get done right away.)

hawaii 2015

unfortunately i can't get these photos to go in order but thats blogger for ya!

we had about an hour layover in phoenix and got to kona about 3:15pm their time. Kaylee had a hard time with the take off and landing hurting her ears. its amazing how sensitive you get to things as you get older. when she was 3, it didn't faze her a bit. (i'm noticing this with me too!)

as i waited for mike at the car rental place, i took in my view and got a little sad that ham wasn't there to enjoy it with us.

 mike and kaylee @ sheraton resort  thats a different place behind them.  we ended up just staying at the resort and taking in the views and eating a pricey dinner at their restaurant- rays on the bays. (mike got a flatbread for about 18 bucks!)

 more at the sheraton resort- thats lava rocks the waves are crashing on!  since we weren't quite use to the time change, we all woke up before 6AM!  mike suggested we drive to the volcano national park which was 90 miles south of us.  we stopped at a local coffee shop which had the best iced coffee, according to mike, and the best breakfast sammies.  kaylee got donuts and juices and apples from the local market next door.  it was a pretty cool drive getting to see the local, very small towns and the views were amazing!  lots of lava and the ocean!

we didn't get to see the actual volcano, need to take a helicopter for that but this was a crater.  we also got to see/feel steam vents and went through a lava tube. 

 on the way home, we stopped at black sand beach.

 kaylee and i at black sand beach.

 more from our resort.

 our view from our balcony!  at night we saw some boats out there wondering what they were doing.  guess they were night time sea diving for manrays.

 on our way to the volcano.  thats all lava rocks!

 also on our way to the volcanoes- mike got a speeding ticket from a hunky officer- ha!

 pano view of black sand beach.  we stopped and had lunch at a local panini place.  it was good.

then kaylee and mike went swimming till dinner time.  the water was cold. we got to watch some guys jump off a cliff behind us into the ocean. one guy even did a flip, it was pretty cool- yet scary!

spring break

@sheraton resort in kona

1. we are back from our 10 day hawaii vacation.

2. it was nothing less than fantastic, of course- its hawaii!

3. will try and post more if i can get off my lazy butt.

4.  kaylee's been a trooper and went back to school on monday. jet lag and 5 hours lost didn't seem to faze her.

5. still house hunting and will be leaving soon to do the actual house hunt.

6. 2 more have sold that we really wanted to see. i think that makes like 5 sold that were our favorites.

7. its ham's spring break this week. he was thinking about going to south padre but decided it was too expensive especially when you have very little to no money.

8. he is thinking about going up to austin since its sxsw week and it will be cheaper even though they don't have a place to stay.

9. i like that he thinks things through and won't go and spend money he doesn't have. 

10. and because i'm his mom, have to remind him this is what summer jobs are for. (to have some extra money)

i'm kinda bored at the moment

1. a few weeks ago ollie got a hair cut. its been a little chilly so i got him this jacket since he weighs a whole 6 pounds of nothing!

2.  um why yes thats kaylee changing into her pj's in the family room.  she drops her clothes where she wants.

3. we're currently dog sitting ollie's girlfriend for a week. i can't complain because they will get him for about 12 days while we're gone to H.A.W.A.I.I!

4. meet up with a high school classmate of mine that lives about 20 minutes from me.  it was good catching up over lunch.  went to luby's- never been there.  it wasn't bad but not my favorite.

5. went to marshalls this morning and walked out with some stuff i didn't need. got 2 pairs of brook brother's dress shoes for $57! (ham said they must be ugly then. he's so funny!)

6. also got a few bowls and another white decorative dish.

7. then headed over to whole foods to look for some instant steel cut oats. i've been to every grocery store in my area and no one is selling it anymore- boo!  (don't like the irish oatmeal and i keep forgetting to make the regular steel cut oats at night)

8. while at whole foods i did buy some flowers (friend of mine gave me a crystal vase) and finally found almond butter that i like! ( it's freshly made)

9. did i mention that sprouts makes the best oatmeal, cranberry, walnut cookies?! i might have eaten a whole box in 3 days time.

10.  a nap is sounding really good right now. didn't get much sleep with having ollie's girlfriend over.

can i be busy yet not busy at the same time?

1. one of my favorite photos of my kiddos at sam houston national park for a hike. the big one just farted on the little one who thinks its the funniest thing.

2. not much going on yet a lot going on. mike was gone for 2 weeks since he works off shore now.

3. i cleaned and organized my closet.

4. started to clean and organize the craft room but that lead to more of a mess because it needed to be painted like 3-4 years ago!

5. another house we wanted to look at has been sold. we really had big plans for this one because it  was on the river.

6. hawaii is coming up and i don't even have a list ready. gasp! by now, i usually have a list of how many days of clothing, toiletries, camera etc...

7. we finally got a new tv for the family room.  ham said its not cooler than his but told him its 65", smart, curved, hd cooler than his- ha! (my parents gave us some christmas money towards it and best buy is having a sale right.)

8. still boot camping. even had a friend join.

9. did a #handmadeval swap for the second year in a row.  loved what i sent out- so cute!

10. we also worked on the yard this weekend.  and i even planted a few flowers.  it feels pretty good getting things checked off the to do list.

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)

what we did the last 2 weeks

1. lots of baking: gingerbread cookies, 4 mini bundt 7-up pound cakes, peanut butter blossoms and ooey, gooey pumpkin bars for friends/neighbors.

2. lots of shuffle board tournaments. ham won till mike took over his title a few days later

3. lots of cooking: made thai beef curry with garlic noodles for christmas eve. think i made that last year.  deviled eggs, applewood ham, ribs, roasted potatoes with peppers and roasted garlic broccoli for christmas dinner,

4. lots of gifts from out of town family. (uncle dan + aunt terri, nanny and poop poop)

5. probably the second time in both of my kids life that they were up by 8AM.  ham was by default. kaylee went and woke him up.

6. lots of smiling faces as everyone opened their gifts. (mike got me an anthropologie gift card besides my ixchel triangle purse a few months before)

7. lots of wearing comfy clothes including sweatpants on christmas day. so awesome!

8. my parents came to visit with their dog, mandy.

9. the boys went to the rockets game while us girls hung out or went shopping. not a good shopping trip this year, didn't find anything. did get to eat lots of good food though!

10. lots of board games: pictionary, trivia pursuit, aggieopoly, just dance 2015 on the wii.  * played over and over

11. lots of movies: the maze runner, divergent (numerous times), big daddy...*can't think of any more

12.  lots of sleeping in, chill'n and relax'n.

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.

waiting for the happy mail trucks

this year i didn't want to fight any houston traffic/crowds and i also wanted to support small business's  so i took advantage of a few cyber monday sales. a win win in my book.

on Facebook,  instagram and email 1canoe2 stated they would have an hour where they will put everything 50% off. i made sure i was home for that announcement and had everything ready in my cart.

i got ham these 2 prints for his empty apartment. hopefully he will like them.

 he can't hang anything on his walls with nails so for the time being we will find a way to hang them till he gets a permanent residence. then we will frame them up.

i got this download from lindsay letters.  one of my brother's and his family are building a new house and i wanted to get something pretty and inspirational for my three niece's rooms.

 i also got them stain glass stars from kurt knudsen. (no sales from kurt)

these are for me since i'm lacking in the holiday decorating department. i'm going to leave them up year round though.

more of the prints i got for my niece's and kaylee.

i also ordered some aggie gear for ham and my nephew's from a local business but i got bad news that they had to refund me so i'm waiting to see who i still need to buy for.

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.