Grateful Sunday

Okay, so I missed 'Grateful Friday' and 'Thankful Thursday', alright?

Today was a good day; nothing particularly spectacular happened, but it just felt nice and balanced. That's what I strive for each day, 'balance' and I do appreciate it when I feel like I've achieved it.

We spent the weekend in Gonzales at an Arabian horse show that Mark entered one of his horses in. We stayed in my brother-in-law's RV and it was crowded and COLD, but nice. Nice to get away, and nice to be together. We got back this morning, and I spent time with John M. at the park and the lake feeding the ducks. I caught up on some housework and visited my sister and her kids. Mark spent some much needed kid-time with all the kids the entire weekend, and I felt like it gave he and I some much needed peace.

So, I'm thankful for balance, thankful for family, and thankful that I had time to do this post.

Stuff that we've been doing . . .

As usual, I'm behind on posting about the day to day. I wanted to make sure and do a Halloween post because I love to look back on the pictures from year to year.

Here we have Emma starring as Hannah Montana and John M. as Rocket from Little Einsteins:

This is the first year that John M. actually 'got' the trick-or-treat thing and seemed to enjoy it. He stripped 'Rocket' off about 1/3 of the way through, and just looked like a kid dressed as himself, but oh well. I love this picture of my mom looking like she just scalped Miley.



Here's the whole motley crew. Notice Big Hannah (Emma) and Little Hannah (Jenna).
Anna was an Indian girl (I prefer squaw).



The other high point of last week was discovering that our banana plants actually produced little tiny bananas. Non-edible seedy bananas but hey, they were cute. Here they are.



Now, if that's not excitement, you just tell me what is.

Vacation . . . all I ever wanted

The Go-Gos, you gotta love 'em, huh?

Showing my age here.

We had a nice vacation. We had a few strange things happen; Mark lost his wallet (but then later discovered it, after cancelling credit cards, etc), we got into a wreck (minor), and it poured down at the outdoor Kenny concert. But all in all, it was good. You're thinking, 'Yeah, that sounds just lovely', but it actually was.

We visited Shamu (I also ate like Shamu), saw the Riverwalk in San Antonio a couple of times, saw some wildlife close up (a little too close up for my taste at times, no thanks I don't want to get licked by an animal with antlers larger than a Suburu), went to an old western town, panned for gems, and saw Mr. Chesney.

I'm going to share many pictures for your enjoyment. I've missed everyone and am trying to catch up on your lives since I left. XXX OOO

Feelin' like a family . . . at least for now

Today was good. You know why?
Because, today, for the first time in a long time, I felt like a family.
Mark was off of work; his first day off since he started his job in November (not including the weekends).

I had to work, so he kept the kids. I didn't have to get them up and ready for the first time in 6 months.
I.made.it.to.work.early. Someone please hang a medal around my neck and stick a gold star on my forehead.

He took them to visit MawMaw and PawPaw and took Em' to pitching practice.
He spent time with his boy. And they were there when I got home. And we actually got to hang around a bit.

Something as simple as that made me happier than I have been in a while.
I want my family back. My whole family. Hopefully, one day soon, that will happen.
Happy Almost Father's Day, Mark. Without you, we just can't be us.

Love,

Froggie

Grateful Friday

I don't like the fact that I haven't been posting much, if anything, between my Friday posts, but life is crazy, so I guess this is just how it'll have to be for now.

I'm thankful today for:

1.) These pretty pictures that my mom took of the boy.

2.) The cute 'little boy' haircut that Mrs. Sam gave John M.

3.) Softball practice getting into full swing (no pun intended). I'm looking forward to both my girls playing softball this year. Emma may even play 1st base!

4.) My new dining room chairs, courtesy of Tar-jay.

5.) Mark helping around the house this week, he's been washing dishes on a regular basis. Not the norm for him.

6.) My agapanthus being a hair away from full bloom. I love those things!

7.) Mark's brothers coming to town in a couple of weeks. They're never all here at the same time.

8.) Not cooking all week! We've been fast food queens this week, but what the hell? It's easy!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend. It's rainy over here, but hopefully we'll see the sun some over the weekend.