Fun Week...

Any week that I only have to teach 3 days, out of 5 is a fabulous week, in my opinion! I had two photo shoots this weekend...one downtown and one in the museum district.My poor Durango must have thought I was crazy for leaving my 10 mile radius, twice in one weekend!

I've got to get moving on our Easter preparations! I have nothing, except for their outfits! I may or may not be leaving during my conference period to track something like this down for Emery's hair. I don't care if I have to glue it to her head on Sunday, she will wear it! :) If you didn't know, Emery has decided that she calls the shots and she is not a bowhead. She wins the battles, but I will win this war! :)

On Wednesday, I get to be one of the chaperones for Trey's preschool field trip. He goes to the Early Childhood Preschool lab at my school, so it's a business day for me and it won't count as one of my absences! {AWESOME} They are going to the Oil Ranch...if you don't know what it is, it's pretty much a 4 year old's dream land. Activities include: pony rides, milking a cow, dairy barn, baby animals, train rides, hay rides, and an Indian village.



The best part of the week? My FABULOUS husband ordered me a new lens for my camera. Poor guy couldn't keep a secret until Tuesday (when its being delivered) and spilled the beans. He also hooked me up with one of these...be still my heart. I'm so bad about charging my battery, this will save my life! Well, that and my poor little single battery now only charges about 60%. It's tired, and now its getting back up. I'll get to play with my new stuff at the Oil Ranch, so watch out. My next post may be a picture overload!

It's good that we have a short week, Joe and I are both volunteering at our church this weekend. If you don't have a church home, and you're in the Houston area, check it out. It is AMAZING. I will be helping out with the children's registration/sign-in for 5 out of 6 services. Trey & Emery will be stocking up with all of the Easter egg hunts each service! It's a good thing they love going!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Trey's Date

While in Dallas last week, we hooked up with one of my favorite friends Sheila for family pictures. She rocked it, and managed to get some great shots. Emery, aka Diva in training, was a mess and would NOT walk in her new sandals. Click HERE to see the album of pics on Facebook. You should become a fan, because we are!

Trey was SO good for his pictures that we promised we would do something fun with him. Friday morning, we dropped Miss Thang {aka Emery} off at Grammie's and headed to the livestock show and carnival. I'll let the pictures do the talking...


Stopped by the trucks on the way into the arena...
Trey was telling Joe that we NEED this truck...


Made our way in to watch one of the calf shows...
Trey was very interested!


Okay, maybe interested for only 5 minutes...
So we headed out to the carnival for some games...
They got beat by a girl...


Trey decided it was time for a few rides...


He was LOVING being in a car full of girls...


The ride made him thirsty, so that called for some lemonade!


Trey was eyeing this slide...
{Insert scary music and DUH, DUH, DUH...}


Trey's review?
Can you see his face?


As soon as he came to a stop, he stood up...
and declared, "I DID NOT LIKE THAT!"

So then, we had to do this...
Let me make it known...I despise roller coasters.
I have since the sixth grade,
since my first ride which was on the Texas Cyclone.


After that, we headed to the house for a nice lazy evening.
In the car, Trey told us that his favorite thing was: the roller coaster.
It wasn't mine! We just had a blast spending some quality time with Trey.
T minus 2 days 'til Friday...in case you were wondering.

Thankful

It's kind of been a bummer of a weekend here at our house this weekend. We got home from our trip to Dallas on Wednesday afternoon, unpacked and got settled back home. Thursday we had plans to have lunch with a teaching friend who was in town for the break, since we hadn't seen her in a while (Jill). We had a great time at Santa Fe Flats, always do. We had a good little group. All 4 of us, Mimi, Jill and her 2 girls, and Linda. I have known Linda for as long as I can remember. She had taught with my mom for ever and ever, finished teaching at my school for two years, and then retired. I student taught for Linda, she always helped host a wedding/baby shower for me, and the list goes on. When I lost my dad, I sort of adopted some 'other mother's' and 'second dad's' who really stepped up and helped our family out. Linda and her husband, Jim were some of those people. In the last year, Linda was diagnosed with lung cancer, but was to the point of just maintenance chemo. She was beating it.

This is Linda (far left) with Trey at his second birthday...

Friday evening, we got a shocking phone call that Linda had passed away. Seriously? I just had lunch with her yesterday. I don't think it has set in yet. However, I am so thankful that I got to have lunch with her. My mom just lost one of her dearest friends. They went to church together, shopped together, and vacationed together. To say the visitation on Monday and funeral on Tuesday is going to be tough is probably the understatement of the year. My heart aches for her two sons and her two grandchildren. They had such an awesome bond.

Linda was a great business teacher. When I student taught with her she taught me that I could maybe grasp accounting, even though I didn't want to. She taught me that it's okay to lay your head down during your conference period and catch a 20 minute cat nap. She taught me that if it didn't get done today, you always have tomorrow to go over it. I wish I had tomorrow with her.

Here is Linda with my mom and a few other teaching friends...

We learned a valuable lesson this weekend. Live like there's no tomorrow, because sometimes there isn't one. Linda, you're already missed.

I like...

I am constantly sometimes find myself searching thru the web to get new recipes, find photographers to stalk, boutiques, etc. to pass my time. You know, because I have nothing better to do. Kidding.

I thought I would share some of my favorite sites and such, so that you have something to do to fill your time. You know, because you have nothing better to do, right?

Okay, here we go: {these are not in any kind of order}

The Maternal Lens: just a fun little resource. 5 ladies got together and made this site. Sweet stop for inspiration...

All About Bows by Ambra: Awesome mom of 3, whom I just took pictures for. Need bows? Get in touch with Ambra, they're fabulous!!

Knock Off Wood: oh my goodness, Joe is going to be busy this summer!

The Pioneer Woman: I want to be her. Seriously. Okay, not really, because I love my life. But, holy cow. The farm, I want to live there. The cook book is amazing. I use her Photoshop actions. A lot! I could keep going...

Blurb.com: Need to make a book out of your pictures? So easy! Download the creator, walk thru the steps, make your book, and have it on your door step in 2 weeks or less!

Pearls, Handcuffs, & Happy Hour: Love her recipes and ideas!

The Girl Creative: Just found this one, I'll be back in a couple of hours. J/k.

Kevin & Amanda: Full of fun blog ideas, fonts, and digital scrapping.

Etsy: Who doesn't love them some Etsy? Don't blame me if your husband cuts up your card yells at you because you spent too much money. Just warning you.

Photoshop.com: If you don't have Photoshop, don't fret. Upload your pictures here, fix em up, and you're set!

Dafont.com: I have to tear my students away from this site.

There are soooo many more, but I need to figure out dinner tonight. Let me know some of your favorites!

P.S. 2 more days until Spring Break! I think I can, I think I can...

A Little of This...

And a little of that. Not much going on this week in the Owens' household. Well, other than the countdown to Spring Break! 5 more days! Don't count all the way to Monday, we count to Friday at 2:30!

I think the weather finally decided to figure out that it was Spring time in Texas. We've been loving the near 70's. I am feeling some retail therapy in my near future. Not sure when, but it'll happen. It's time to figure out what Trey and Emery will wear for Easter...So far, I'm liking this:

I think Trey's look will be from Crazy8...LOVE that store. Emery's may just come from Target. The girl will have a bow, even if she takes it off in the first 5 minutes. Speaking of 'taking off', Emery may or may not have her diaper taped on every night we put her down. Taking off her pajamas/diapers/shoes/socks has become her new favorite pastime. Luckily, she doesn't like her hands to be dirty, so we've avoided the colossal mess that some mother's are so fortunate to find in the crib.

We have bible study at our house tonight...good times! In not so good times, Trey hears the ice cream truck and is having a melt down because he's not getting any. Gotta go!

Fun Saturday

Saturday morning Joe and I looked at each other..."What are we going to do today?" Hmmm. It's a beautiful day, we're gonna do something outside. After fighting my losing battle of the zoo, {Joe gave it a thumbs down, I think he's still traumatized from the last time we went and it was so crowded!} we settled on Hermann Park. I know it's a big deal to have a permit to shoot professionally at the park, but not when I'm shooting my kids! I told Joe he could be the photographer for the day, and off we went. I'm actually following thru with a promise to post pics today. {insert pat on the back here}

Here's how we convinced Trey to go...
I'd say Joe's a darn good picture taker...

Here's Miss Independent...

She did not want to sit still...shocker.

Mr. GQ, however, brought his A-game...

See...

I love his sweet face...

and, this one too.


How cool is this? Joe took several shots from left to right...I threw them into Photoshop's Photomerge, and voila!



All in all, a great family day!

P.S. We were super excited to be picked as one of Angie & Amy's favorites for the Hands week over at I {heart} Faces!

You Be The Judge...

Friday night, we dropped Emery off at Mimi's house {b/c Emery & basketball don't mix very well} and Joe, Trey, and I headed out to a basketball game. The first half wasn't very close, but after half time the score started getting a little too close for comfort. The 4th quarter was tight, going back and forth the whole time...it was tied, with something like 7 seconds left. Then, this happened: {p.s. I'm not physically typing the school's name, but I do know it's in the video...I'm just trying to play nice}

You might want to pause my music up there on the top left, and the main clip with the replay of the final shot is at about 1:40...

The gym was SO loud {I'll explain that in a minute}, that we couldn't hear the buzzer, so I watched the ref. I watched the refs, b/c a good basketball referee is very deliberate when they make a call. Yeah, not these 3 guys. One called it no good {you can see him on the replay}, and the other two couldn't make up their mind. The 3 ref's convened on the scorer's table, and within 30 seconds called the basket good and ran out of the gym. No lie. Not kidding. 11 seniors on the Woods team just had their season ripped away by the three stooges. I'm serious y'all...it was bad.

I think I would not have been so disturbed by Woods losing, had it not been for the ridiculous behavior of the opposing team's student section. They were not G-rated. Any time they disagreed with a call, they would scream in unison "Bull----, Bull----, Bull----". One time, okay...I teach high school, I know. THE ENTIRE GAME, this went on. Not to mention, the other words that were audible, that we need not mention on this mommy blog. OR, how about how they were flicking off the cheerleaders and any body else they didn't like? Not kidding. OR, when there was 30 seconds left, the announcer made the standard announcement, "At the conclusion of the game please stay off the court..." which was met with BOO's from the student section. Go ahead, ask me what happened when the game was over? Yep. They rushed the court.

Needless to say, after things had quieted down for a few minutes, and we were on our way out of the gym...I spotted two ladies that appeared to be administration from that school. You can see where this is going? I was very proud of myself, I stayed polite, but I voiced my opinion of their students behavior being unacceptable, and that they might see me on Monday in the principal's office if Trey came home yelling, "Bull----" and flicking me off. {Hence my Facebook post from Friday night}...Her answer? "Yes ma'am, I agree with you." SERIOUSLY? Doing something about it, never crossed your mind? I took it for what it was worth and we left. I will mention that some of the parents from Joe's school were quite upset, and rightfully so. I'm not sure what all went down, but I do know I might have been just as mad if that were my son in a ball of tears on the floor.

Okay, so I voiced my opinion to the administrator at the game...came home and wrote a 'kill 'em with kindess' e-mail to several administrators from the district and school...and now here it is on my blog. After tonight, I'll put this unfortunate incident to rest. I feel better now. Don't you? {Gasp, a post with no pictures?}...that'll have to wait for tomorrow.