Lakefest 2010

Papaw and the Girls on the Dock

I only have pictures from just one of the three visits to two different lakes this weekend. And in these pics, we didn't even get wet. But after two straight days of boating, tubing, and misadventures on a houseboat ( I don't advise taking a 1 year old on a houseboat without a device that permanently attaches them to your body) with my sister's family on Lake Waco over the weekend, spending the actual "Memorial Day" at home on Cedar Creek Lake sans a lake swim was fine by me.
Me & the Sophers...

Me & My Hubs....

1)I wish I would have captured some of Grace's awesome tube-holding-on action with her cousins.

2)I wish I would have captured Grace holding her sign outside our house that read, "Playdate at Grace's House...BG" (Boys or Girls)....and her sheer exhaustion coming inside saying, "Mom, these things are hard to get together!" (She was wanting to have a playdate with the weekenders' kids in our neighborhood!) I had to explain to her exactly how playdates really work.
3) I wish I could have captured Sophie being super sweet this weekend while visiting my sister's family. She has them fooled.

But alas. I'm glad I just lived in the moment instead of trying to capture it in photograph.

Happy Memorial Day!

My P90 Progress....

PULL UPS are the death of me.

Well, hubs and I were going strong until about a week ago. We were entering week 7 and it hit. The end of the year business. School/TAKS/go here, go there....we're now having to repeat week 7. 5am workouts were just not happening last week.

I do have a few summative comments
now that I'm officially a P90X'er.

1) I have not yet, nor do I think I'll ever be able to, do an official pull-up. My hubs sweetly installed two chin-up bars in our garage, and my "assisted" pull-ups are sad. Sad.

2) I have not yet, nor do I think I'll ever be able to, do a one handed push-up. I try, but I fall down.

3) P90 has inadvertently helped my running game quite a bit. About three weeks ago, I went for a run. After about 2 miles of non-stop running, I realized my legs were not tired, my heart was not about to explode, nor was I breathing too hard. I was in shape. Thanks to PLYO!

4) I love, love, love working out with free weights and body weight.
5) The P90X man in the video is just funny/annoying enough to keep us interested.

7) I do realize to get the maximum results, I probably need to be on the nutrition plan. But doggonit......Blue Bell Ice Cream is just too tempting to pass up.
And finally.....

6) My legs are toned again. My rear end is perking back up. And my arms are a little toner. It's not a noticeable difference to anyone else but me right now, but it IS a difference.

I think we're about to change up the routine a little bit for summertime, but it will still be P90 intense. I hope this helps anyone who might be ready to tackle the challenge!

Field Day Fun!

2010 Kindergarten Field Day!!

I love watching my girl compete! After running the 50 yard dash, she said, "That wasn't that hard!" After all, she had just completed a one mile fun run this past weekend. I mean, really! She's a hard core competitor now. It was so cute seeing all the little bodies trying their best at agility. I loved seeing one of Grace's friends ask her mom...."What's a dash?"

Kindergarten almost over. 1st grade here we come!

Grace and a Few of Her Competitors...I mean, Classmates.
Go, Gracie, Go!

Little Lashes....

Sixteen Months Tomorrow...

Tonight I put you to bed, but you cried "momma!" in tears.
I couldn't stand it. I was tired. Ready to rest myself.
But I couldn't let you cry yourself to sleep. Not tonight.

I peeked in the door and you saw me.
Grinning big, you reached, I scooped,

and there we were rocking together ...again.
You put your blankey around your face ....the twinkle in your eyes, your innocent giggle, your sweet breath on my face....

it was all I could do to not eat you up!

Finally, you laid your head on my shoulder.

You bear hugged me with both arms.
And I could feel your little lashes on my chin

as you drifted off to sleep.

We love you, Sophie Girl. Sweet Dreams!

Splish Splash Birthday!

Swim Cake ( A little melted!)

I really do love planning Grace's birthday parties. I'm usually a bear the day before it because I'm so stressed out getting everything together.....but I really do enjoy helping Grace celebrate "her" day. I like to keep them simple and when she said she wanted a swimming party at Mimi & Papaw's house - I was all for it!

The Location - Mimi & Papaw's House

The Birthday Girl - 6 years old!


Blow, Blow, Blow!

It was cold, but not too cold for these fish!

Hot dogs.....

Cousins....beautiful!

Sophie's First Swim of the Summer

My Grace was the first time I felt like the Grinch when his heart grew too big for his body. I never knew I could love something that much. Gracie, we love you!! Take a while before you turn 7 please!

An Extra $250

No, we didn't go lurking under our couch pillows and nickel and dime an extra $250 this past month. We actually saved it.
The good 'ol fashioned way.
Well, really the good 'ol Dave Ramsey way.
We envelope budgeted it.

Anyone who isn't a neurosurgeon, lawyer, hedgefund manager, or billionaire heiress probably knows of this system. A few months ago, my hubs and I noticed we had gotten a little sloppy (this tends to happen when you move). We had gone a little DBH (Debit Card Happy) and we could .....scratch that.....I could tell things were getting out of whack. I pay the bills, therefore I would know.

So we enlisted Dave's enveloped budget and went low-cal on any debit card swipes. We put away our fixed expenses: Tithe, Mortgage, Savings, Bills, etc. and left 4 cash envelopes for: groceries, gas, eating out, and misc. Now, to budget groceries in the Ferrell household is a bit of a mystery. We put way too much cash in for eating out. And not enough in for gas and misc. But.....at the end of the month, we had an extra $250 just laying around to put into our savings!! I don't know about you, but I was impressed.

A few years back, we probably would have laughed at this post. Boog and I, in a former life, thought $250 was more like $25. We were young Dallas-ites, childless, and making too much money for people with our shallow, non-sensible minds back then. (I'm a little embarrassed.....)

However, now that we are both teachers, things are different. I'm not knocking the pay, because I know it's way more than the North Koreans (or 80% of the world) makes, but still. It's tight some months. So....envelope budget, you did us well.

Dave Ramsey, you rock!

"She"

There is a song by Elvis Costello by the name of "She". Boog practically stomped his feet to have it as our first dance song at our wedding. I, of course, denied it and we danced to some song by Keith Urban that has absolutely no relevance to our marital life whatsoever. It was just the first song we ever danced to at a Country & Western bar. (Go figure!)Anyway, at the time, I denied it because of these few lines below. Elvis is singing about his beloved and he says,

"She...may be the famine or the feast. May be the beauty or the beast. May turn each day into a heaven or a hell."

Yeah. Exactly what you want sung on the day you get married. Now, to Boog's credit, the song does end with some relevance. Elvis goes on to say at the end, "Where She goes I've got to be, the meaning of my life is she." Better. (But I didn't want to wait until the end to hear the sweet stuff.)

Anyhoo, the meaning of this post is that "She" might not have had relevance in our wedding, but "She" has uber-relevance now.

It is meant for our little Sophie monster. Who just the other day, scolded my mother-n-law by "yelling" at her, then promptly grabbing my MIL's shirt and blowing her nose in it. What a baby!
"She" can make me frustrated to the point of no return, yet a few seconds later, I'm dying with laughter at her. "She" can fuss and whine right at the appropriate time (like when I sit down to eat), yet two seconds later, I'm reveling in the hug she gave.

"She" is Sophie Monster.

She is our ray of sunshine....behind some dark, thundering clouds.

6 and Counting

Cupcakes for Her Class.....
Swim Party Next Weekend!
Today my oldest and first turned six. Her button nose is all but gone. Formed into a 'little girl' nose now. Her chubby cheeks are still there, but changing by the day. It won't be long before 6 will have a "teen" after it, and I'll be up, in my pajamas, worrying....worrying.....worrying.

I'll try to enjoy 6 now. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! We love you!

Make-shift cake for the day. "Swimming" cake for the party!

How cute is this coloring book she received? If anyone doesn't know, my mother-in-law's name is "Rosie" short for Rosemary. And me...of course, Flo.
I didn't know we made a coloring book together!

A Decade of Knowing You....

Happy 8 Years of Marriage
(and ten years of knowing you!)

Boog & Flo. There were several naysayers of us. I remember very clearly a few college friends who, upon hearing about us, quickly dismissed it. Boog, being a playboy....Me, being...well, not the playboy-type's girl....it just didn't look like it would last.
They should have looked at our names. "Boog & Flo". If we can survive that coupling, we can survive just about anything.
God has a great sense of humor.

True story: When my mom was pregnant with me, they were going to name me "Oscar" if I was a boy (don't ask). When Boog's mom was pregnant with him, they were going to name him "Mabel" if he was a girl. Suppose we'd of still gotten married? Our names would have been "Oscar and Mabel Abeles".
The strange name coupling was meant to be.

I'm glad God authored the sense of humor. It's one of my favorite emotions. We went to dinner as a family tonight to celebrate our anniversary. While we were waiting, we all spoke briefly about a few things we were thankful about. When it came around to me, I naturally said, "I'm thankful that we still make each other laugh."

I laugh at Boog's very timely movie quotes and his quick wit. He laughs at my sarcasm and quotes from Time Magazine's hilarious columnist. I love laughing with him. It brings me back to when we were first dating, and I love going there.
I hope we're still laughing many, many moons from now.

I Likey Ensalada Alotta!

MMMMmmmm Good!

I'm a creature of habit. I go to the same restaurants.....I order the same meal (PF Chang's-Mandarin Beef; Chuy's - soft tacos; local mexican places - taco salad, etc.) So naturally, when I told my hubs the other day that I could literally eat this salad every night if it weren't for him and the little munchkins needin' variety, I wasn't lying!

Mixed greens & spinach leaves, grape tomatoes, red bell peppers, chopped carrots, sweet peas, grilled chicken topped with grated cheddar and balsamic vinaigarette. Yum, yum. Definitely worthy of a P90Xish meal (I think...I haven't exactly read, nor followed, the nutrition plan!)

Since I just hijacked three oreos out of my daughter's lunchbox, I better stick to eating ensaladas for the next few meals!

Lysine Believer

I never would have thought it.

You see, I'm not a medicine taker. My husband practically has to force feed me a vitamin everyday, and I literally need to be near death to take a tylenol. (Except when I had my kidney stone....then I was taking so much medication to ease the pain that I told my hubs, "Just Shoot Me".) So, naturally, when I heard that the Lysine supplement helps ulcers....I was skeptical. Ever since January, I've been plagued with at least two ulcers in my mouth at a time. Usually up to four. The last time I had so many was six years ago when I had a new job, a new baby, and my mother losing her battle with cancer. So, I blamed all the ulcers on stress.

This time, I really wasn't too stressed. Sure I had a baby, sure we were moving into a house, I was just coming out of being a "single mom" (coaching season). Okay. Maybe I was stressed. Anyhoo, a few weeks ago, in dire pain and desperately wanting to eat a meal with ease again, I decided to listen to the ol' pharmacy and take the Lysine supplement. I wasn't expecting much.

What I got was nothing short of a miracle. Within two days, all ulcers cleared up and well, after taking them daily now for about 3 weeks, I really haven't had one since.

WOW! I'm a believer. Lysine, you are my sunshine! Happy eating to me!