Where my posts at?

Oh man, I'm one lazy blogger. I'm so sorry to the 2 people who read this. What a slacker baby I've become. I've got to get with it so you won't miss a minute of my all-so-interesting life. haha

So the decision has to be made - do I try to catch up? Or do I just start from here. I mean, we've had:

Basketball

Bergen Craziness

Open House and Living Wax Museum featuring Preston as Thomas Edison
dig that grey hair!!

and more Bergen craziness

Start of Baseball


kid pitch ain't for sissys

Busy 1st quarter. Lots going on. I'll try to not be a stranger. I have to remember, this is my scrapbook (since I'm not a crafty gal). Gotta get these memories down!

Life's Handbook for 2011

I swiped this from a friend of Facebook. On this first week of the year, I'm going to let this be my guide. I was going to make a list of resolutions, but I haven't gotten a chance to. And oddly enough, "quit procrastinating" was going to be on the list. Yeah......

Here's my guide for 2011 - swiped from Mark, and tweaked a little bit. I promise to show up more often around here. It's been a wicked, wicked few months, but we've been all Gloria Gaynor and survived. Time to look forward. Get back to it. 2011 is gonna be great.

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..

4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy

5. Make time to pray and read the Bible.

6. Play more games.

7. Read more books than you did in 2010 .

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

9. Sleep for 7 hours.

10. Take a 10-30 minutes’ walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

13. Don't overdo. Keep your limits.

14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

16. Dream more while you are awake.

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..

18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23. Smile and laugh more.

24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society:

25. Call your family often.

26. Each day give something good to others.

27. Forgive everyone for everything..

28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

30. What other people think of you is none of your business.

31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

32. Do the right thing!

33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

34. GOD heals everything.

35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..

36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

37. The best is yet to come..

38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.

39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:

40. Show up to my blog more often.

Happy New Year folks - God bless you and your families this year.

The Great State Fair of Texas

The weather outside is ridiculous. And TV Joe has been working crazy hours on millions of dollars worth of budgets. He decided to take Monday off to celebrate the closing of the budgets. (Of course, he did run out the door this morning super early mumbling something about a budget meeting, but I decided not to ask.)

So we sent the kids off to school and went to the 10:25am showing of "Wall Street Part 2" (also known as "Wall Street Money Never Sleeps").



The 10:25am movie is a dying breed. Very few theaters offer this gem. It was super fun though. "Wall Street" was a classic and I thought part 2 was really good - very well acted. I'm strangely drawn to Gordon Gekko. And he was almost sympathetic in part 2. Highly recommend it.

After the movie, we grabbed the kids from school early and headed to the Great State Fair of Texas.

We had food - Fletcher's Corny Dog and Hot Buttered Corn with lots of salt

We rode rides

This is my *baby* riding a big ride. He looks so tiny in this picture. He loved it.
He's still talking about it.

After we threw down a mortgage payment on rides, we went on the great Fried Frito Pie hunt. The hunt led us to the Backyard Circus show for kids. Bergen was picked to be in the show. He was a tiger. It was pretty much the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. I was about to explode from the cuteness.

The tiger jumping through the hoop of fire

The pay for his stellar performance was a ticket for a free bottle of chocolate or strawberry milk.
He held it in his sticky little hand the rest of the day.

Until he was finally able to cash it in for his favorite drink.

Preston was able to visualize a dream

The hunt for the Fried Frito Pie ended in success. It was totally expensive, but totally good. Even food snob TV Joe liked it.

Super fun day - beautiful weather - great memories!

Fall Ball

Fall baseball is in full swing. 8:00am games as far as the calendar can plan them. I love it.

Preston is on the Rangers 9U. First year of kid pitch. They lost 6-7.

He plays a mean catcher

Bergen played up to 5U t-ball. He's on the Diamond Jaxx. They are adorable.

Sliding into home. Fantastic.

I think his primary defensive move is to talk the opponent into distraction.

And to butter up the umps. Always. Talking.

And talking...

Love the ump's face - laughing and thinking "whose kid is this?"

My baseball players

What I did on my summer vacation

MIA - sorry. It was a long, long summer. And not the "gee I hope summer lasts forever", but rather a "serenity now seriously what else can happen and good gosh it's hot" kind of summer.

In the spirit of the beginning of fall, I'll pay tribute to the good ol' "What-I-Did-On-My-Summer-Vacation" essay.

We took swimming lessons

We went to Childress for a family reunion, only to learn that we were the only family to RSVP, and the only family attending. So we played BINGO.

And grilled burgers in the 850 degree West Texas heat.

We went to San Antonio

We had friends over - and jumped hazardously on the trampoline

Cousin Josh came to dinner - they LOVE cousin Josh. He's awesome. And single, if you know any God-loving, Christ-following, cute early to mid-20's girls.

We had birthdays - first Preston, who turned 9.

Check out this cake. I taped his picture to the batter.

Bergen had a birthday. He turned 4.

Love this toot. He wanted everyone to blow those horns after we sang Happy Birthday while he blew out his candles. Wish granted.

And we started school.

Bergen started preschool.

Preston started 3rd grade. He has the most amazing teacher ever. So thankful!

My Big Fat Greek Obsession

I'm a mut. An American mut. I have German-English-Scottish-Irish-Indian-Texas White Trash blood. And not that I'm displeased with my heritage. Quite the contrary. I'm proud of my roots. My dad's family is traced back the the 1600s in Germany. I've been to the town in Germany from which we, well, sprung. There was a church with WWI and WWII POW and MIA and my maiden name was listed at least 8 times. His family also built most of Kendall County, Texas and were Texas Rangers, sheriffs - cool stuff. I just wish there was a little Greek in there.

*pause while my ancestors turn in their graves*

I'd make a great Greek girl.

I'm curvy, loud, outspoken, boisterous - everything I know Greeks to be. But I'm quite pale, and blond. There's no Greek there.

Greeks have great food. And huge families. They love to celebrate. And they eat lots of feta. I'm in!

TV Joe and I have become quite obsessed with Greek salads. We love a good Greek salad. Cucumber, onion, tomatoes, olives, Greek dressing topped with feta. We could eat this every night. We pretty much do! We like to eat it with chicken, some pita and hummus. So good.

I found this recipe last week and I just had to try it. It's from one of Paula Deen's shows. Tracie's Couscous Salad Recipe. I don't know who Tracie is but I now love her. It's freak show good. I mean amazing! I love everything about it. Except the lime. Don't add too much lime. Just one lime to kinda brighten it a bit. My word this was a good salad. I added some shrimp and we chowed. I beg you to try it soon!

Tracie's Couscous Salad

Recipe courtesy Tracie Farmer, via Paula Deen

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 5 min

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 box flavored couscous (garlic or Parmesan), cooked (I used Parmesan)
  
• 1 can chickpeas (drain and rinse those bad boys - you don't want 'em tasting like can!)
  
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped
• 1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped (I think this could use 2 cukes - but I'm obsessed with cucumber right now)
  
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
  
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I add this to the top - feta breaks down after time if you have leftovers they taste better if you add the feta right before devouring)
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 to 3 limes, juiced (I did one lime, then tasted - did not want to make it too citrusy)
  

Directions

In a large bowl, toss all the ingredients with the olive oil and lime juice, to taste. Season to taste.

Prepare to love this - it's that good!

Let's start at the very begining

Where oh where have I been?
I know you have been lost without me. hahaha - my reader is wondering where I am.

I've been knee deep in the month of May. Does anyone else find the month of May to be almost as busy as December? Seriously. With baseball, birthday parties, Joe traveling (and traveling, and traveling) and end of school stuff, I've just been swamped!

So my dilemma is...catch you up, or start from here. I'm lazy, so I'm leaning on start from here. Here's a quick rundown of May.

Costa Rica

One of our best friends turned 40 and took a group to Costa Rica to celebrate. It was amazing. They rented a pimped out house and we did some really cool excursions - many of which were way out of my comfort zone. We did a little jungle cruise - made some new monkey and croc friends. *shudder*

That croc is looking for chicken. It totally freaked me out. I had no escape plan. And I always have an escape plan. But I was also totally talking myself out of touching the thing. I know, weirdo. The monkey...well...they were cute. All 8 of them that got on our boat. But have you seen OUTBREAK??? I have. Bring me a copy of your shot records and I'll gladly feed you a banana. It was a once in a lifetime boat ride. Really fun.

We also did a little zip line. Back in high school and college I was fearless. But then I think you have kids and fearlessness goes out the window. I was convinced I would die on the zip line. I researched and asked a 1000 questions. I was told "oh Amy, you don't have to do this" and there were people in our group that didn't go, but I knew I would hate myself if I didn't.

So here it is...

It was pretty fun. And scary. And I didn't die. I really didn't ever feel like I was going to die. I did take a benedryl to take the edge off. Poor man's tranquilizer? The rest of the trip we sat around and read. That's more like it! Shout out the the Netzer's for the great trip.

I don't want to blow all my material at once, so I'll save Mother's Day, Preston's BAPTISM!!, his 2nd Grade awards and our trip to Childress for another post. That will give you some time to digest that awesome picture of me zip lining. I know you're gonna frame that one.