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We're leaving today!!!
Sing it with me now ...
"New York, New York!!!"
Can't wait!!! I LOVE Christmas in New York. LOVE it!
We are taking Caroline and we are so excited. She has wanted to go for years and now is her chance. Bill is in meetings Wed-Friday so we figured two free hotel nights! so we are flying in tonight and joining him.
We'll sight see Thursday and Friday just the two of us and then Saturday and Sunday Bill will join us. I think it is going to be so neat to see her face when she sees NEW YORK CITY. It's amazing, it makes your heart pump a little faster (mine anyway) and it's a city that was just made for Christmas time!
And I'll tell you all about it when I get back.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Cold and Hot
Well, my last post was about snow and then today the high was 76. They say in Houston if you don't like the weather ... just wait a day or two ... and it looks like they are right. Saturday I was sipping cocoa and today I was sporting shorts.
Bill has been working CRAZY long hours. Like Saturdays, Sundays and well into the night ... and off again early in the mornings. And Friday when all of Houston went home ...? Well, he was still in the office.
But when he made it home, his biggest fan (besides me) was waiting to play in the snow. And so even though we had a party to attend and he had to be exhausted, Bill donned his coat and hat and made some memories with his son.
And while I was downloading these pictures, I also found a few I had missed of our Houston snowman:
Make that ... snowmen:
And Saturday (after all the Pioneer Woman excitement), I loaded up the kids and we went to find a Christmas tree. We literally bought the display. Home Depot had three lined up showing the prices and various types of trees. We walked in, saw it ... (it was still very, very cold) ... and we asked if we could buy the one right in front of us. They said yes and in about two minutes flat we had ourselves a tree.
Jacob hung his ornament from Sunday School on it while it was still in the driveway the next day. At midnight last night Bill added lights and tonight we put some ornaments on and called it good. It wasn't exactly the "sitting around listening to carols and sipping cocoa" moment ... seeing how we were also watching the season finale of "The Biggest Loser".
But no one seemed to mind.
And now if you'll excuse me, I've got an "Elf on a Shelf" that needs to find a new shelf.
Bill has been working CRAZY long hours. Like Saturdays, Sundays and well into the night ... and off again early in the mornings. And Friday when all of Houston went home ...? Well, he was still in the office.
But when he made it home, his biggest fan (besides me) was waiting to play in the snow. And so even though we had a party to attend and he had to be exhausted, Bill donned his coat and hat and made some memories with his son.
And while I was downloading these pictures, I also found a few I had missed of our Houston snowman:
Make that ... snowmen:
And Saturday (after all the Pioneer Woman excitement), I loaded up the kids and we went to find a Christmas tree. We literally bought the display. Home Depot had three lined up showing the prices and various types of trees. We walked in, saw it ... (it was still very, very cold) ... and we asked if we could buy the one right in front of us. They said yes and in about two minutes flat we had ourselves a tree.
Jacob hung his ornament from Sunday School on it while it was still in the driveway the next day. At midnight last night Bill added lights and tonight we put some ornaments on and called it good. It wasn't exactly the "sitting around listening to carols and sipping cocoa" moment ... seeing how we were also watching the season finale of "The Biggest Loser".
But no one seemed to mind.
And now if you'll excuse me, I've got an "Elf on a Shelf" that needs to find a new shelf.
Monday, December 7, 2009
It doesn't snow in Houston at Christmas. Or at least it's not supposed to snow then. This song even proves it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtQ487kXh-A
But you know what? Friday Houston had the earliest snowfall ever in the history of Houston ... and it's Christmastime. Which means global warming aint all it's cracked up to be. And it means we had an awful lot of fun. The kids went to school in the morning and by noon they were on their way home. BIG fluffy flakes falling from the sky.
I mean, who really wants to go to school when it's snowing in Houston?!?
We did what you do in snowfalls ... and tried to catch snowflakes.
As I heard a lot of people say ... it was the best Friday EVER in Houston!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtQ487kXh-A
But you know what? Friday Houston had the earliest snowfall ever in the history of Houston ... and it's Christmastime. Which means global warming aint all it's cracked up to be. And it means we had an awful lot of fun. The kids went to school in the morning and by noon they were on their way home. BIG fluffy flakes falling from the sky.
I mean, who really wants to go to school when it's snowing in Houston?!?
We did what you do in snowfalls ... and tried to catch snowflakes.
And after I took a few more pictures everyone piled in the house for some hot chocolate. Brittany wanted to make pancakes so we had pancakes and hot chocolate... and a really good time.
As I heard a lot of people say ... it was the best Friday EVER in Houston!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Live and in person ...
So Saturday afternoon I met the Pioneer Woman! THE Pioneer Woman. Ree Drummond. Live and in the flesh. It was very, very cool. I even showered on a Saturday morning to get ready which I rarely, if ever do. But PW is a celebrity so I had to look my best. Plus, if she happened to take my picture for her blog (yeah right) only hundreds of thousands of people would see it. The pressure!
All I could think about when I was getting ready was ... HOW is she doing this book tour ... in DECEMBER!?! Bill and I are taking Caroline on a trip later this week and between lining up carpools, writing down who wants what in their lunches, trying to put out a Christmas decoration or three ... well, it's not leaving me anytime to sleep. And PW's been at this for several weeks now....and she even has to leave schoolwork assignments.
To make myself feel better about how she can apparently "do it all" - and I can barely "do" ... I've decided two things. One, I'm believing that she has a very large staff. They are cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, etc. etc. The second thing is that she must be doing all her Christmas shopping on line ... or maybe she's bringing an empty suitcase wherever she goes to load up.
Not sure how she is doing it, but regardless of how she is doing it, she seems to be doing it well. Myself, ... I can barely figure out what we're having for dinner and she has time to take pictures of hers. And then she writes down the recipes and blogs about them and creates websites for recipes ... and homeschools.
Forget what I said earlier, I still don't know how she does it all - even with a staff!
But I loved meeting her. I don't usually get nervous meeting people, but right when I walked up to her, I kind of froze. This is why ... when you read someone's blog it kind of feels like you're friends with the blogger, but in reality, you're not. I wanted to say ... "Hi Ree, I'm Darla." And then I wanted her to say .... "OH Darla, I'm so glad we're meeting in person ... I love your comments on the blog, they crack me up." Or something like that.
Instead I (stupidly) said ... "isn't it weird how you feel like you know someone when you read their blog but really you don't". TOTALLY LAME. Felt like a moron. So, needless to say, she didn't whisper to me to meet up with her and her people for dinner afterwards or anything ... which really kind of bummed me out because there are lots of cool restaurants right around here. But after my weak and awkward approach to her, I can't say that I blamed her.
Instead, we took a picture (which they had to remind me to take because I guess in my starstruck craziness I FORGOT that I had given someone the camera to take a picture. Like I said ... I did NOTHING to impress PW!):
Which, for whatever reason, turned out YELLOW. My one shot with PW and we're yellow. And she even has a photography tutorial tab on her website! Apparently the person taking the picture hasn't read it. Bummed that we're both yellow ... but it's O.K. Because, you see, she said during her Q and A session:
that she is planning on publishing her online novel ... Tractor Wheels and Black Heels. So, hopefully she will come back to Houston and I'll say something different and more impressive and then she'll ask me to go to dinner and I'll tell you all about it here. You'll be the first to know. :)
Here is the deal about PW ... she has four kids, homeschools, cooks, writes, enertains, decorates, does photography ... in fact, I'm getting tired just writing all that. I, on the other hand, can never find the time to peruse the recipes, make a list, go to the store, buy the food, chop the ingredients, prepare the meal, etc. I want to do all those things. I love recipes, love reading about them and trying them when I can (the easy ones) but most of PW's involve fancy knives that I don't own so I have never made a single one. I'm thinking of making it one of my New Years Resolutions to try one ... but I haven't officially decided. All that to say, I wish PW would add an "how I do it all tab" to her blog. I'd be the first to read it every day.
And lastly ... a bit of a Darla story from the book signing. Just as I was getting ready to leave ... new scarf (check), camera (check), ticket (check) ... I couldn't find my cookbook. Like the BOOK TO BE SIGNED. No idea where it was. I had another one I was giving to my sister so I had her sign that one for me and PW signed a piece of paper that I am, ever so carefully, going to glue into Deah's cookbook.
Once I find it.
Oh, and last thing ... I met (live and in person too) another blogger who we "comment" on each others blogs every now and again. I'd seen her pictures so many times that I recognized her right away. Her and all her "twenty something" friends. So I got our picture together ... and we didn't turn out all yellow. This is Chelsea:
It made me feel like I was too old to be a blogger. Until I remembered that I was the same age as Ree.
So it's all cool.
All I could think about when I was getting ready was ... HOW is she doing this book tour ... in DECEMBER!?! Bill and I are taking Caroline on a trip later this week and between lining up carpools, writing down who wants what in their lunches, trying to put out a Christmas decoration or three ... well, it's not leaving me anytime to sleep. And PW's been at this for several weeks now....and she even has to leave schoolwork assignments.
To make myself feel better about how she can apparently "do it all" - and I can barely "do" ... I've decided two things. One, I'm believing that she has a very large staff. They are cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, etc. etc. The second thing is that she must be doing all her Christmas shopping on line ... or maybe she's bringing an empty suitcase wherever she goes to load up.
Not sure how she is doing it, but regardless of how she is doing it, she seems to be doing it well. Myself, ... I can barely figure out what we're having for dinner and she has time to take pictures of hers. And then she writes down the recipes and blogs about them and creates websites for recipes ... and homeschools.
Forget what I said earlier, I still don't know how she does it all - even with a staff!
But I loved meeting her. I don't usually get nervous meeting people, but right when I walked up to her, I kind of froze. This is why ... when you read someone's blog it kind of feels like you're friends with the blogger, but in reality, you're not. I wanted to say ... "Hi Ree, I'm Darla." And then I wanted her to say .... "OH Darla, I'm so glad we're meeting in person ... I love your comments on the blog, they crack me up." Or something like that.
Instead I (stupidly) said ... "isn't it weird how you feel like you know someone when you read their blog but really you don't". TOTALLY LAME. Felt like a moron. So, needless to say, she didn't whisper to me to meet up with her and her people for dinner afterwards or anything ... which really kind of bummed me out because there are lots of cool restaurants right around here. But after my weak and awkward approach to her, I can't say that I blamed her.
Instead, we took a picture (which they had to remind me to take because I guess in my starstruck craziness I FORGOT that I had given someone the camera to take a picture. Like I said ... I did NOTHING to impress PW!):
Here is the deal about PW ... she has four kids, homeschools, cooks, writes, enertains, decorates, does photography ... in fact, I'm getting tired just writing all that. I, on the other hand, can never find the time to peruse the recipes, make a list, go to the store, buy the food, chop the ingredients, prepare the meal, etc. I want to do all those things. I love recipes, love reading about them and trying them when I can (the easy ones) but most of PW's involve fancy knives that I don't own so I have never made a single one. I'm thinking of making it one of my New Years Resolutions to try one ... but I haven't officially decided. All that to say, I wish PW would add an "how I do it all tab" to her blog. I'd be the first to read it every day.
And lastly ... a bit of a Darla story from the book signing. Just as I was getting ready to leave ... new scarf (check), camera (check), ticket (check) ... I couldn't find my cookbook. Like the BOOK TO BE SIGNED. No idea where it was. I had another one I was giving to my sister so I had her sign that one for me and PW signed a piece of paper that I am, ever so carefully, going to glue into Deah's cookbook.
Once I find it.
Oh, and last thing ... I met (live and in person too) another blogger who we "comment" on each others blogs every now and again. I'd seen her pictures so many times that I recognized her right away. Her and all her "twenty something" friends. So I got our picture together ... and we didn't turn out all yellow. This is Chelsea:
It made me feel like I was too old to be a blogger. Until I remembered that I was the same age as Ree.
So it's all cool.
Friday, December 4, 2009
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ...
I know! I know! It's Christmas time and I've spent the last four days writing about Thanksgiving. Trust me, I'm always running behind schedule. It's just how I operate ... no matter how many New Years Resolutions I make to stop it. I really would be so appreciative if Congress or the President or someone could move up Thanksgiving a week or two into November so I'd have a little more time to prepare for the holidays.
I mean really ... we're celebrating Christ's birth!! I want time to do it right!
Which is one reason why I love this new blog that I found.
It had a BEAUTIFUL Christmas cake on it and here is the best part ... drum roll please ... she used a cake mix. And I saw some other recipes where she used a cookie mix. And I thought ... now here's someone I can understand!
(I mean I love Pioneer Woman's pictures and her recipes look delicious ... but I don't have the knives, ingredients, proper pans ... and most importantly, the time to make most of them. Makes me feel like a total slacker because she has four kids too. But between you and me, I personally think she has a staff. Maybe it's not a staff but I want to believe that it is a big staff in my mind. Makes me feel better. And on Saturday I can ask her because I'm going to meet her at a book signing right here by my house!!)
But back to where I started ...
I love this Christmas Cake. It's pretty ... and it uses a mix. Genius!
This is copied from Amanda's blog (click on the link in pink if you want to see all her great stuff!).
This is the easiest Christmas cake ever... and your will for sure get rave reviews and people asking you for the recipe!
(added the year)
*OK, here is a SUPER condensed version of the recipe and instructions.
You will need:
3 Boxes white Cake
3 Containers Cream Cheese frosting (or flavor of your choice)
red and green food coloring
a ziplock or piping bag for decorating
You are going to have 6 layers total. Three need to be red and three need to be green. I made a box at a time.
Put cake in fridge or freezer after its has cooled or between baking cakes.
When ready to assemble, get cakes as level as possible... stack one, then add frosting. Stack alternating color, add frosting. Continue to do this until you have used all six layers.
When done, cover outside in frosting, and add any decorative touches you would like!
And if you are like me, sitting around trying to figure out how she got her icing so smooth, I can tell you because I asked her.
She said she watched a video on youtube that taught her how. Which made me like her even more because that's something I would totally do.
If I had time to make a cake. And time to frost it all perfect like.
Which I don't.
But y'all enjoy! The cake AND the Christmas season!!
I mean really ... we're celebrating Christ's birth!! I want time to do it right!
Which is one reason why I love this new blog that I found.
It had a BEAUTIFUL Christmas cake on it and here is the best part ... drum roll please ... she used a cake mix. And I saw some other recipes where she used a cookie mix. And I thought ... now here's someone I can understand!
(I mean I love Pioneer Woman's pictures and her recipes look delicious ... but I don't have the knives, ingredients, proper pans ... and most importantly, the time to make most of them. Makes me feel like a total slacker because she has four kids too. But between you and me, I personally think she has a staff. Maybe it's not a staff but I want to believe that it is a big staff in my mind. Makes me feel better. And on Saturday I can ask her because I'm going to meet her at a book signing right here by my house!!)
But back to where I started ...
I love this Christmas Cake. It's pretty ... and it uses a mix. Genius!
This is copied from Amanda's blog (click on the link in pink if you want to see all her great stuff!).
Christmas Cake
This is the easiest Christmas cake ever... and your will for sure get rave reviews and people asking you for the recipe!
(added the year)
*OK, here is a SUPER condensed version of the recipe and instructions.
You will need:
3 Boxes white Cake
3 Containers Cream Cheese frosting (or flavor of your choice)
red and green food coloring
a ziplock or piping bag for decorating
You are going to have 6 layers total. Three need to be red and three need to be green. I made a box at a time.
Put cake in fridge or freezer after its has cooled or between baking cakes.
When ready to assemble, get cakes as level as possible... stack one, then add frosting. Stack alternating color, add frosting. Continue to do this until you have used all six layers.
When done, cover outside in frosting, and add any decorative touches you would like!
And if you are like me, sitting around trying to figure out how she got her icing so smooth, I can tell you because I asked her.
She said she watched a video on youtube that taught her how. Which made me like her even more because that's something I would totally do.
If I had time to make a cake. And time to frost it all perfect like.
Which I don't.
But y'all enjoy! The cake AND the Christmas season!!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Pearly Whites
The other day Caroline got out of the car and walked into school and I seriously asked myself ... who is that? She is somewhere between 5'7 and 5'8 and it seems like everyday when she comes home from school she is a little taller.
And today when she got her braces off I could not keep my eyes off her.
Thought I'd give you a peek at her new look:
Wow.
And today when she got her braces off I could not keep my eyes off her.
Thought I'd give you a peek at her new look:
Wow.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Here come the Baer -gs!
If you are a Baylor Bear you know the sound when the band plays ... "here come the Bears!" And on Saturday, the Baylor Baergs got to see the Baylor Bears play in the new Cowboy stadium. And, although we didn't win, the Bears showed up!!!
Between Bill and myself we've been to three Baylor games this year and that has to be a post graduation record. Other than beating the Aggies one year and watching the goal posts be torn down afterwards, this was probably the most exciting Baylor game I'd ever seen. Maybe only a Baylor Bear can enjoy an "almost win" or an "we were ahead for over half the game" experience, but people, the Bears hung in there and it wasn't decided until the last 30 or so seconds.
In some ways I almost thought it felt more like a kick in the gut to get that close and then not seal the deal, but on the other hand...I was so proud of the Bears for making it a game that I got over that pretty quickly.
And the stadium?!? MY GOODNESS it's nice. It was completely sold out and I don't know if people wanted to see the game or the stadium, but they were both impressive.
Upon arrival I apparently was the only one with any Baylor spirit. Sic 'em!
This shot is pretty ironic seeing how just one day earlier Jacob had been in the emergency room complaining of a broken foot as a result of a karate chop gone bad. (He kicked a board on a chair at my parents house and wouldn't walk on it AT ALL the next day.) The dr. gave Jacob a boot and told him it was deeply bruised and if it didn't improve by Monday to go back to the dr. It was perfectly healed 24 hours later. I will look at this picture as I pay the probably 8 bills we'll get for that little visit.
Anywho ... back to the game.
Baylor was ahead all the way until the 3rd quarter!!
Touchdown Baylor!!!
These two especially enjoyed the game because they bought nachos with some "stadium money" that their Grammy had thoughtfully given them!
Between Bill and myself we've been to three Baylor games this year and that has to be a post graduation record. Other than beating the Aggies one year and watching the goal posts be torn down afterwards, this was probably the most exciting Baylor game I'd ever seen. Maybe only a Baylor Bear can enjoy an "almost win" or an "we were ahead for over half the game" experience, but people, the Bears hung in there and it wasn't decided until the last 30 or so seconds.
In some ways I almost thought it felt more like a kick in the gut to get that close and then not seal the deal, but on the other hand...I was so proud of the Bears for making it a game that I got over that pretty quickly.
And the stadium?!? MY GOODNESS it's nice. It was completely sold out and I don't know if people wanted to see the game or the stadium, but they were both impressive.
Upon arrival I apparently was the only one with any Baylor spirit. Sic 'em!
There are only two entrances into the stadium ... one on either end of the field. It totally worked. In fact, Jacob couldn't run towards the entrance fast enough...
Anywho ... back to the game.
Baylor was ahead all the way until the 3rd quarter!!
Touchdown Baylor!!!
I blame the crazy look on the fact that Baylor fans don't get a lot to cheer for on most occasions.
We all enjoyed the game:
(please note, I think Jacob is praying for the Bears in this picture...I know he wasn't sleeping!) 
These two especially enjoyed the game because they bought nachos with some "stadium money" that their Grammy had thoughtfully given them!
If Baylor had scored on the last drive, it would have tied up the game and we would have gone into overtime. Unfortunately the Red Raiders stopped us right on the goal line with just a few seconds left to play.
But, like I said ... win or lose .... we still had a good time.
And we even got a free hat!
So the game wasn't a total loss! Way to go Bears!!
Looking forward to next year!!
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