Earth Day movie

For the second year in a row, I have coordinated an Earth Day movie event for my homeschool group. Last year, Disney began to put out a nature film that would be released every Earth Day. Last year it was "Earth", this year it was "Oceans". I signed up 16 families, totaling about 60 people and we all converged on the local theater for our Earth Day fix! Sadly, our movie experience was less than perfect this year. Although the movie was scheduled to start at 10 am a large school group arrived at 9:50 am and decided that all 150 children needed to have concessions! Our group, all 60 of us, we're there and seated by that time. So we ended up having to wait almost an hour as the theater delayed the movie to accommodate this group. Call me crazy, but if you have a group of 150 kids that all want popcorn and soda, maybe your group should arrive at least 45 minutes in advance so you don't hold up the show for the rest of us! I have to admit though, our kids did great, even the littles and the movie was beyond awesome (if you don't know what a blanket octopus or a ribbon eel is, look them up online, SO COOL!) But the hold-up really was frustrating. I was already thinking of what I was going to say in my letter of complaint, but that was all usurped by one of our more ballsy moms! She went down, complained directly to the manager on duty and landed every single ticketed person in our group a free ticket for a future show! So now we all get to enjoy 2 movies for our $5/person admittance! SWEET! So in closing, I'd like to thank that group and the Tinseltown staff for being a royal pain in my ass. Because of you and your lack of planning, my entire group gets to go to the movies again! However, I would prefer not to have a repeat of this scenario next year!

Kentucky... Here we come!

As the kids would say, "Three more sleeps until Kentucky!" Which makes me say, "Oh CRAP!" The week prior to a big trip is always a stressful one for me. Trying to make sure the house and garden are in order, make sure the pantry and freezer are stocked with food that Brady can, or will prepare and trying to get myself, two kids and a dog packed up! It's utter turmoil around here. Not to mention trying to coordinate our Earth Day movie field trip, a Camp Fire field trip and making sure I pick Mom up from the airport on time! Did I mention school for the boy? Jeesh! Luckily we're getting down to the wire and I'm slowly but surely crossing things off the list (and yes, I had a list of like 50 things to do!) With any luck, me, Mom, two kids and a dog will be on the road early Sunday morning making the first leg of our journey to Memphis. I hope we make good time and traffic is mellow on a Sunday afternoon. I am not a big fan of Dallas traffic. Looking forward to some Memphis BBQ for dinner! Then Monday we'll be up and at 'em early to finish the last leg of our trip to the outskirts of Stanton, KY where my Auntie Mayann resides. This will be the first time I have ever been in Kentucky and I'm pretty excited! So wish me luck and expect plenty of blogging and stories when I return!

Testing out the new equipment

So as many of you may know, Brady and I are working hard to get everything in order to open up a free-lance photography business. Usually all of the photos you see on the blogs are ones that I take, but recently we got some new lighting and an awesome camera! My Big Daddy has been playing with them and boy, talk about some nice shots! He is amazing! So enjoy some of these great little test shots that were taken around the house! And please don't think we are leaving Mr. Ian out. Frankly, Ainsley is much more willing to get dressed up and smile for the camera these days! Ian is like an elusive jungle creature, you're lucky to get even a fleeting shot of him!

Poor Nigel.

Poor Nigel. I'm pretty sure that he's happy he has found a forever home, but I'm not sure he was bargaining on an Ainsley! Granted, I'm sure he's not the only dog to be humiliated by a zealous 3 y.o. girl, but still, poor Nigel! Ainsley has become quite the Queen of Dress-Up these days and more times than not, poor Nigel is unwillingly sucked into the game. Oh the indignity of it all!

He rarely resists. In fact, he's usually a pretty good sport about it. After all, she loves him and I think he knows it. I'm pretty sure he loves her too!

Ready to take on the world!

She has all her bases covered, puffy dress, biker boots, work gloves and safety goggles! You can never accuse my daughter of not being fully prepared!

Ainsley-isms... AAARRRGGGHHH!

So, Ainsley was walking down the hallway with her pirate outfit on and pushing her little stroller with two of her babydolls. I say, "AAAAARRRGGGHH ya scurvy little dog, where be ye takin' those babies?" She replies, "To my ship!" I ask, "Why for are ye takin' wee babies on your ship?" She looks at me with batting eyelashes and an ear to ear grin and replies, "To eat them, of course!" I'm not sure if I should be laughing or locking up all the sharp objects in the house!

Four Cousins in a Field of Bluebonnets!

We managed to round up all the kids for a quick photo shoot in the bluebonnets and here's what we came up with! Enjoy!

A day on the lake!

OK, OK, so we've lived here about 7-1/2 years and this was our first official boat trip on Lake Travis. Pathetic, I know, but we don't own a boat and boat rentals are EXPENSIVE! Last year, Brady and Daren took advantage of a "Groupon" offer and we were able to get the boat rental for half off, which technically is still expensive, but do-able when split with another family. So we packed up our kids and the folks, Daren packed up his kids and we all headed out on the lake in a rented pontoon! Now between you and me, I would have been happier with just about any other activity. I am not at all a fan of boats! I am one of those people that gets motion sick in the backseat of a car, so you know a boat kills me! I downed a large amount of Dramamine and luckily was able to at least maintain. I just couldn't miss out on the kiddos' first time on the lake!

Daddy was El Capitan, who forgot his hat and had to battle with his hair almost the entire trip (until he confiscated his nephew's baseball cap)!

Ainsley, my little daredevil, LOVED it! She hung her head over the side and let the wind and water blow in her face!


Ian was pretty happy too!

And it's always more fun when you have your crazy cousins with you!



The kids all took turns steering the boat!



Even the Piggy!

Ian and Mia decided to take a leap into the lake, and realized REALLY fast that it was COLD!

He didn't stay in long, but long enough to give him the right to "Neener neener" at his 13 y.o. cousin who refused to get in! ;)

It's Bluebonnet Time!

Yes all, it is that time of year again... BLUEBONNET TIME! Any Texan will tell you this is definitely the highlight of spring in our little part of the world (especially if we've been lucky enough to get good rain, which we have!) All fields and freeway embankments are COVERED in our beautiful little bonnets! The last 2 years have been pretty sad due to the drought but they're out in grand style this year! So without further ado...

CHEESE!

My sweet boy!

My silly girl! I didn't have much luck with her this go-round!

But Ian was actually fairly cooperative, much to my surprise!

My girl stealing the spotlight!

Now for the flowers! Oooooo! Aaaaaah!

Easter, Easter, Bunny Keester!

I would have to say that our 3-day Easter weekend has been a blast! Mostly because I've got my hubby home for an extra day! On Friday, the kids and I dyed our eggs. They were a little disappointed that we only made a dozen, but I refuse to boil more eggs than we can reasonably eat in 3 days! They turned out quite lovely!

And they made superb deviled eggs!

We made cupcakes Saturday morning. I baked, Ian helped frost and Ainsley was in charge of sprinkles...

and licking the frosting when we were done!
Then it was time to get all dolled up and head over to Papa and Nana's house for a nice Easter dinner and lo and behold, the EASTER BUNNY arrived early and left eggs and goodies for two very excited children!

The hunt!



Had to give my girlie a helping hand to get an egg that was up high!
My handsome little man!

My sweet baby girl!
And of course, the obligatory family photos!



Showing off their loot!



After we got all of our "pretty pictures" we let 'em loose with the cascarones! Confetti, confetti EVERYWHERE!


I'm gonna get you!

She's wondering who to get next, hmmmm....

Uh-Oh! Looks like Papa!

We finished up our Easter celebration with a beautiful dinner of brisket, garden salad (straight from MY garden), potato salad, deviled eggs and creamed greens (with greens from my garden) and of course our cupcakes for dessert!

So what can I say? It was an absolutely awesome day! Happy children, happy grandparents, great food, I mean really can it get any better than that? I think not! We hope you and yours are having a tremendous Easter weekend as well!