Something About Nothing

The Calendar is Wrong....

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:08:00 +0000

I'm not sure who I'm supposed to contact about things like this, because really, who is in charge of the 'official' calendar? But, clearly, someone has got it wrong because it can not possibly be December 3rd already...around our house, we're just now throwing away the Halloween candy (ha!) and basking in the wonderfulness (is that a word?) of a Thanksgiving spent with family.

Anyhow, I spent a couple of minutes this morning digi-scrapping the kid's Halloween pictures so I thought I would share!

The kids completely enjoyed Halloween this year and loved every second of the day. Mimi did a great job, as always, on sewing the costumes. Her sewing skills seem to get better every year! I sometimes wish we lived in a bigger town, or at least somewhere that holds a Halloween Costume Contest, because I know for sure my kids would have won quite a few contests over the years!

Next up, Thanksgiving pics...the turkey deserves a little more respect before we shift our focus to Christmas!

K-Girl lost a tooth!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:51:00 +0000

Finally, K-Girl lost her first tooth! Journaling from the page: K-Girl's first lost tooth! She worried and fretted about her tooth being loose and one day as she was sitting on the couch doing homework, it finally just fell out in her hand! She was so surprised and didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Chooch and Momma were right there, though, so we had lots of cheers and smiles! Way to go K-Girl...your first lost tooth!

First Pitching Experience

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Chooch had his first 9U live arm baseball tournament this past weekend and pitched one inning in the first game. He did a great job and enjoyed it very much. He can't wait to get back on the mound to pitch again! Here's a layout I made for his scrapbook:

And to top it all off, his team won first place in the tournament! It was a long, hot weekend, but lots of fun for the boys! Way to go, Chooch!

Kay-Girl turns six!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:19:00 +0000

Believe it or not, Kay-Girl is now six years old! We had a great time at her Fancy Nancy birthday party and the birthday girl loved being the center of attention!

Happy Birthday, Kay-Girl!

Fun Photo Editing...

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:26:00 +0000

I just updated my Memory Manager photo editing and organizing software to the new 3.0 version and started playing around with it. Take a look at this pic I edited of Chooch:
Pretty cool, huh? I'm not a computer or photo genius but I had fun editing this pic...I'll use it later for his bday invitation. Fun!

The Rest of the Randomness...

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:38:00 +0000

So, my last post promised more updates about the rest of April and here it is June already! What is the deal with the calendar? I just don't see how time can possibly fly by any faster!!! Sheesh! So, in order to wrap up the randomness, here's the rundown on what happened for the rest of April and a bit of May...

Our church has a semi-annual tradition of heading out to a local camp on Good Friday and hanging out, spending the night and coming back home the next day. We didn't get to go last year because of my run-in with food poisoning (I am still not able to eat at S*bw*y yet!!), so we were all very disappointed and looking forward to this year. We packed up after I got through with my online job and headed out. The kids had a blast fishing, playing Wiffle Ball, and playing with their friends. DH and I had fun relaxing, hanging out with fun friends and not worrying about anything! K-Girl was proud of her big catch:

And Chooch totally enjoyed the Wiffle Ball game:

On Saturday, we had an Easter Egg Hunt...DH tried to pilfer some of K-Girl's goodies:

I learned a new version of the Uno game (German Uno) on Friday evening and stayed up way too late playing it. Man, was it fun! I love to play card games, but unfortunately, it's not DH's favorite thing to do, so it's something I rarely do...note to self: play card games with other adults more often...it was FUN!!

After more relaxing and hanging out on Saturday, we packed up and headed home. It was the perfect get-away for our little family and we loved the fellowship with the other families. Love our church!!

And, of course, I can't do a random post about the month of April without including the Easter morning picture...aren't they cute?

My birthday celebration wrapped up the month of April. I already told y'all about my new camera from DH (which is FABULOUS, by the way!! a whole 'nother post is coming about my new camera, along with some of the SUPER AWESOME pics I have taken with it!!) and at the end of the month, after one of Chooch's tournament games, we headed over to one of our favorite local restaurants for a yummy birthday dinner. My parents treated us and we had so much fun together. The kids love watching the chef prepare the food right in front of us and they totally scarf down the food. It's amazing how much they can put away when we eat there. I don't blame them one bit, though, the food is awesome and DH and I always stuff ourselves, too!

So, that wraps up post #2 about a whole bunch of randomness...hopefully I'm back in the groove now and can start posting on a semi-regular basis.

A Whole Bunch of Randomness...

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:53:00 +0000

I can NOT believe it's already May! Spring always catches me this way...unprepared for the onslaught of busy-ness. We roll out of winter, still halfway in hibernation, and just as we're beginning to wake up and enjoy the nice weather, BAM...the activity fairy sneaks into our family calendar and fills it to the brim! The month of April was a complete blur for me...in fact, as I look back over my calendar, I can't even believe that we made it out of that month alive and breathing. But, we're here in May and after my big crop this weekend, things seem to be slowing down just a fraction of a hair. So, onto some of the randomness that made up the month of April:

K-Girl is playing softball (t-ball) again this year and has throughly enjoyed her Knockouts team. they have the cutest uniforms in the league, and look smashing out on the field all together! DH was a bit worried when he heard the words, "pink and black" and hoped that the team shirt was going to be black with pink lettering. Some crazy thing with guys and pink...I don't get it! Anyhow, even with all of the shenanigans of the girl's softball board and association here in our town, K-Girl is enjoying the game and being part of her team. She really hits the ball hard off that tee!

Chooch is playing baseball on two teams this Spring (don't even ask...we don't know the answer ourselves) and has enjoyed every second of the action. We have participated in 2 tournaments lately and his team earned 1st place in both. The team is playing so well together and we are all so proud of their success. This past weekend was especially fun because they played in a 16 team tournament in the big city and we made it to the finals and ended up beating a really good team to win. The big city trip was fun for our whole family, too, because we stayed with DH's aunt and uncle that we hadn't seen for a while, and it was so fun catching up with them. Isn't it funny how you can go forever without seeing family, but as soon as you meet up, it's like you just saw each other yesterday? I love how that works!! Here's a pic of Chooch and K-Girl with the FIRST place trophy...

April was also my birthday month! After a rough start involving my cell phone and a tub of water, it turned out to be a GREAT day. DH surprised me with an awesome birthday gift...I really thought he was going to get me perfume because a couple of weeks ago, I dropped my perfume on the bathroom floor and after cleaning up the shattered glass, I managed to save a few drops of it and keep it in a tupperware for later. DH thought that was taking frugal to whole new level, so I just assumed he would get me perfume. But, NO WAY, he went out of his way this year and got me the fancy camera that I have been drooling over for forever! It is SO nice and I have had TONS of fun taking pics of the kids playing their sports. In just the past couple of weekends alone, I've taken over 1000 pictures. Ugh, and now I have to download and go through them all! But, it's a fun process for me and the pictures are SO, SO good!

This post is long enough as it is now, so I'll finish the randomness of April later this week...still to come, Easter, Family Camp, and who knows what else!

First Home Run!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:06:00 +0000

Wowsers, what a weekend! Chooch's team played in a local baseball tournament, so we had 2 games on Saturday and played the seeded games on Sunday. Happily, we kept winning on Sunday, so we ended up playing 3 games, and the last one was for the championship. We went up against the other local team that we have played before and it was a great game. Both teams played VERY well and there were a ton of great plays throughout.

The BIG news for our family, though, was that Chooch hit his first ever, coach-pitch, over the fence, home run!! WOW! Some of the boys on his team had hit homeruns before and a few also hit some in this game, but I didn't seriously think that Chooch was ready to smack the ball that hard. But, he has been working very hard at batting lately, with lots of batting practice in the cages with his team and swinging at the Hit Away in our backyard, so I guess all that hard work paid off!

It was an awesome moment to see the ball go over the fence and to watch Chooch run the bases with a big old grin on his face. I was too busy clapping and cheering to catch any pics of him during his homerun trot, but I did complete this digital layout that will go in Chooch's scrapbook.

Unfortunately, Chooch's team didn't end up winning the championship game, but they certainly kept the game close for most of the innings and all of the boys were excited about the amazing amount of homeruns that were hit. Chooch loves baseball and this game was certainly one that he will remember for years to come!

The Itching and the Sneezing...

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:42:00 +0000

Life in East Texas is great for the most part, except for this time of year. This evil yellow stuff appears and soon after the itching and the sneezy commences...

no matter what allegy medicine you take...

no matter how dutiful you are about taking your medicine correctly...

no matter that you try to stay inside and away from the evil yellow stuff...

all is for naught as the evil yellow stuff starts to fall.

It's Springtime in the PineyWoods and like a blanket of new fallen snow, the East Texas area is covered with a layer of the evil yellow stuff, also known as pollen.

I suppose it's the over abundance of pine trees that we have in this area, but my goodness, I can't even imagine how so much pollen exists. It covers everything...and I mean e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. When I get up to take the kids to school, I have to turn on my windshield wipers just to be able to see out the window to drive. All of the cars in town have a yellowish hue driving around...it would actually be pretty amusing, except for the itching and the sneezing that results.

So, I had been itching and sneezing for a couple of weeks and finally got myself to my doctor to renew my allergy prescriptions. It didn't surprise me in the least when he told me that this county that I live in ranks number 2 in the nation right now for allergens. NUMBER TWO in the nation for allergens. That's something to be proud of, right?

I think it's starting to get better because we finally had some good hard rain last week to wash a lot of it away and I figure that the trees have to eventually run out of pollen. At least I hope so! Here's a shot of the end of my driveway during the rain last week...yes, all of the evil yellow stuff floating on top of the water is POLLEN!!!

City League, 2nd Place

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:43:00 +0000

Well, the Lufkin Rockets ended up 2nd in City League play after a grueling day of basketball. You can read all about it here on the team website. It was a long day, playing 3 games, but the boys did really well and never gave up. If only we hadn't lost that coin flip!!

The next week, we attended the Basketball Banquet/Awards Ceremony. It is quite the community affair and it's held in the Civic Center. We ate hamburgers and chips and had cake for dessert while watching all of the teams receive their awards. On the way out, Chooch said, "I can't wait to put my new trophy with all of my other trophies. 2nd place is the best!"

Daddy (ever the competitor) replied, "Well, 1st place is the best, but 2nd place is pretty darn good."

To which Chooch matter-of-factly said, "No, 2nd place is the best. I was in 1st place last year with The Unit team, so I already have one of those trophies. And now I have a 2nd place one to go with it!"

Perfect. I love how kids look at the games. It really doesn't matter who wins or loses at this age. As long as they are having fun and learning the game.

Remind me to come back and revisit this wisdom when baseball season goes into full swing.

Versing the Tar Heels

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:51:00 +0000

Chooch enjoys playing all sports, but here lately, he is especially interested in basketball. He's on a city league team, the Rockets, and has really enjoyed the season. The team has 2 great coaches, who care about all the right things, in the right balance...the kids having fun, learning basketball skills, and winning. The Rockets have had an awesome season, with only 1 loss in city-play, but we had a crucial game on Saturday morning against the only undefeated team in the league, the Tar Heels.

Chooch woke up bright and early and marched into our room and announced, "Today is the day that we are versing the Tar Heels!" Chooch has used the word 'versus' as a verb for a long time now, and I never have the heart to correct him because it sounds so cute when he says it!!

We all piled out of bed, ate some breakfast, got ready and headed out to the basketball game. Chooch was really excited and it turned out to be a pretty good game for him....

He made three free throws (I think) but more importantly, he was really into the game and even had a couple of fouls called on him!! Basketball is a different sport for Chooch because of its aggressive nature and it has been hard for him to get used to people bumping into him and pushing him to fight for the ball. But, it seemed like the light really went on Saturday morning and he was right in the middle of the action, toughing it out with the rest of the boys!!

The game ended well for the Rockets, too, because we walked away with a win and we're now in first place in city league play (the other team lost another game last night). One more game to go on Saturday morning...if we win, then the Rockets will be city-league champions. Let's not talk about if we lose, though!!

Kay-Girl Rides a Horse!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:04:00 +0000

We gave Kay-Girl a choice of basketball, gymnastics/dance, or horseback riding lessons this Winter and she chose horseback riding, hands down. It took me awhile to get around to calling, but I finally did and we went for her first lesson this week. She was SO thrilled and just couldn't wait until Thursday, the day of her lesson. We came home after school and she changed into her jeans and boots and then headed out for the barn. Kay-Girl was chattering the whole way, excited about her first lesson.

When we arrived at the barn, we met the girl who was giving the lesson and she told Kay-Girl it was time to meet Ralph, her lesson horse. We walked into the barn and when the girl opened up the door to the stable, Kay-Girl stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ralph, the LARGE lesson horse. I don't think Kay-Girl had any idea how big horses are when they are up close and personal. She was very nervous and didn't really want to go into the stable, so I went in with her and we brushed Ralph together until she was less nervous. Eventually she warmed up to Ralph and the girl giving the lesson.

Here are some of the best pics of the big event...first, here's Kay-Girl leading Ralph around the ring...she looks so small, doesn't she???

And here she is getting up on the saddle for the first time (with a little help from the yellow steps!)

Proper riding form and all...

One of the exercises was for Kaylie to try riding with no hands...look at that little grin!

At the end, I caught this picture of Kaylie sneaking a pet on Ralph's nose:

On our way home, I asked if she had a good time and if she wanted to go back next week for another lesson. She said, "Momma, I want to have riding lessons EVERY day of the week. Maybe not on Saturday or Sunday, but definitely on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday." I told her that she needed to get a job!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:17:00 +0000

Kay-Girl's New Haircut!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:04:00 +0000

We went for a hair appointment yesterday and Kay-Girl decided to cut her hair short!! She has been talking about going shorter for a couple of months, but I had put her off, afraid that it was a rash five year old decision. So, yesterday was the day...

It came out really cute, but I keep staring at her because she just looks SO different...so grown-up, I guess! Where did my little girl go??? And, I have to admit that I had a small tear in my eye as she was getting it all cut off....

Funny Kay-Girl Moments

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:34:00 +0000

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. Mental note to self...must post more often!

So, quite a few funny things have come out of Kay-girl's mouth this past couple of weeks, all of which I feel quite certain must be committed to blog-land memory! Here goes...

Last night at dinner, we had those really small, sweet peas as one of our veggies...the ones that come in the silver can...they're smaller and sweeter than regular peas. I'm always trying to get Chooch and Kay-girl to eat veggies (a near impossibility with Chooch) so as I was serving up the peas, Kay-girl said, "Ew. Peas. I don't want any."

I replied with a quick-on-my-feet fib, "Oh, are you sure? These peas are God's candy cause they're so little and sweet."

Kay-girl said, "God's candy? Well, then we should serve them at His birthday party and not tonight."

After giggling to myself for quite a while, I did manage to get her to try them, and it was a much better reaction than when she tried regular peas.

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At breakfast a while back (most of our good conversations apparently happen while we're eating!) Chooch and Kay-girl were talking about boys and girls being friends. Chooch asked me if Daddy and I were friends before we got married and when I told him that yes, lots of mommies and daddies were friends before they got married, he exclaimed, "Oh, I know!! Kay-girl can marry G!"

(A bit of background information...G is Kay-girl's best friend...they are a month apart in age and G's mom and I are very close friends, too. We met each other about a month or so after we moved to East Texas and we have 2 kids the same age. Kay-girl and G were in Mother's Day Out together and now are in the same Kinder class. They really enjoy each other's company!)

So, anyhoo, after Chooch had the brilliant idea that Kay-girl and G should get married because they are friends, Kay-girl surprised me by immediately responding, "NO. I could never marry G."

I asked why not and she said, very matter-of-factly, "G is way to silly to marry."

Smart girl...she's thinking of her future and knows that she needs someone serious to marry!! Maybe G will outgrow his silliness...I think it will be very interesting to watch their friendship develop over the years.

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And last one...Kay-girl and I were out in the garage a while back and as I was doing laundry, she was playing with her scooter. The garage door was open, but since it was getting dark and I'm weird about having an open garage door at night, I decided to close it. I walked over and pushed the button and Kay-girl proceeded to burst into tears. I couldn't imagine what in the world had happened because she was playing very happily just seconds before. I asked her what was wrong.

She, very tearfully replied, "Momma, you scared me."

Realizing that the garage door closing had frightened her, I tried to comfort her and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Did it make your heart jump?"

She replied, "Yes, and you made Jesus jump."

"What? How did I make Jesus jump?"

"Because Jesus is living in my heart."

Ah, that's my sweet girl. I sure do love her! Here's a pic of her after completing her Masterpiece Play-Do dinner...that's spaghetti with meatballs and salad with ranch dressing for those of you not up-to-date with Play-Do food!

Morning equals Light...or that's how it's supposed to be!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:15:00 +0000

We spent the holiday break in the lap of luxury...letting the kids (and ourselves!) stay up way too late and then sleeping in until way too late in the morning. And I have to admit, I started to feel a bit like my old college self...I sure do love being a night owl!

But, by Day 9 of the break, after we all managed to sleep in until 10:13am (gasp, yes, even the kids slept in that late! but we did have an extremely late night the night before...a double overtime Rockets game, plus the long drive home.) ANYHOW, by Day 9, I was already starting to dread The Wakeup on the first day back to school/work. We tried to prepare everyone by going to bed at semi-normal times over the weekend, but it was preparation in vain.

The alarm rang for DH this morning and I just couldn't believe that it could possibly be time to get up. And I was so glad that I didn't have to get up for another hour...phew! But, then a short hour later, he came into take his shower and get ready and I knew it was my time to face the day. I drug myself out of bed and called out to the kids with my normal morning greeting, "Wakey, Wakey...it's time to get up!"

Chooch got up pretty easily (he always does, lucky guy...he's got his father's wake-up ability, I guess!) and stumbled into our room, rubbing his eyes. He crawled into our bed and after I greeted him, he said, "I don't know. I just feel kind of funny. Like it's not time to get up. I think I just can't wake up right now."

Yep. I'm right there with ya, believe me.

K-girl was next. She is blessed with my wake-up ability, so it usually takes her awhile to get moving. I called out to her a couple of more times while I was getting ready and then headed to her room.

"K-girl, it's time to get up. You've got school today!" (all said in a forced, energetic voice that didn't have a hint of my true feelings for morning)

K-girl replies from beneath her mount of covers, "NO, it's still night outside!"

Hmmm...my thoughts exactly.

New rule...getting out of bed should only be required when there is daylight in the sky!

Santa Gave Chooch a Treehouse!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 04:23:00 +0000

Chooch was thrilled to open one of his presents from Santa this year and find a H*me D*pot tool belt, a how to build a treehouse book, and a gift card from the same store. And lucky (or unlucky, depending on your point of view!) DH also received a more detailed how to build a treehouse book. So, guess what's been going on in the Something About Nothing backyard for the past three days???

That's DH and Paw-Paw, hard at work on the new treehouse...and I'm sure you're asking, "Where in the world are Chooch and K-girl? Aren't they helping, too?"

Oh sure, they're helping...in their own special way...from the trampoline:

Seriously, they did pretty good to stay out of the way for the heavy stuff and surprise of surprises, no one has gotten hurt (I hope I'm not speaking too soon!!). DH and Paw-Paw finished up the decking on New Year's Day (Happy Birthday, Paw-Paw!) and now all that's left is for DH to complete the railing. Later, he plans on adding the actual walls and roof to the house, and some other fun extras, but for now, Chooch and K-girl are pretty excited to have their (almost) completed treehouse:

I'm looking forward to all of the great memories this treehouse will provide for my children...imaginations gone wild in their own little world!

Christmas (x2) and Happy Birthday Jesus!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 03:47:00 +0000

After spending all day the day before celebrating DH's birthday, it was time to celebrate Christmas and Jesus' birth! We had traveled to Dallas on the 23rd to visit DH's parents and 2 brothers and spent Christmas Eve Day tooling around town, touring each brother's house and then back to the parent's house for lunch and presents. The kids had an absolute blast hanging out with all of the family and both of them especially loved getting to spend time with Baby A, their one year old cousin:

After a yummy lunch and plenty of presents, we loaded up and headed back to East Texas, along with Auntie M, and got home just in time for our Christmas Eve traditions (except for going to church...we didn't make it in time for that!). The kids got back into their Christmas jammies (made by Mimi, complete with matching slippers and jammies for their Bears!), we read The Night Before Christmas, spread out some reindeer food, and left a note to tell Santa not to wake up K-girl when he arrived.

The next morning, they were up bright and early and were shocked to see that Santa had let Rudolph into our house and he made quite a mess! Daddy wasn't too happy with the reindeer food that Kitty Maddie munched on and then proceded to puke up all over the couch (there's nothing like cleaning up cat puke on Christmas morning!), but the kids were beyond excited to know that Rudolph AND Santa had been to our house!

K-girl reminded us all that we needed to put Baby Jesus in the manger (thank goodness I remembered where I hid Him!) and then we opened presents. Later, Mimi and Paw-Paw joined us and after that, Busha and Ja-Ja (DH's parents) arrived. We ate an awesome dinner, if I do say so myself, and I can brag like that, since I was the cook, and had fun with Marshmallow guns, S*illy S*ring, and new toys. And then, we had our birthday party for Jesus, complete with a cake, decorated by Auntie M and K-girl:

A beautiful cake, on a beautiful day...celebrating the birth of the tiny baby who brings hope, light and mercy to the world. Thank you God, for the birth of your son, and thank you for blessing us with wonderful friends and family. We love you and we are so grateful for your grace!

DH Turns 40!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:54:00 +0000

After much anticipation on my part (since I'm not turning 40 for FIVE more years!), DH had his birthday and finally made it over the hill to age 40! I really wanted to do something special for him, but he specifically told me NOT to plan a party and he threatened me within an inch of my life if I tried to do anything that combined the word "party" with the word "suprise." So, I put my thinking cap on and after some brainstorming with friends, I came up with the idea of "Brian's Top 40" throughout the day.

The basic premise was to have 40 different gifts throughout the day, each being the same amount as the number it was on the countdown. Hmmm, that was as clear as mud, right? Well, maybe it would be easier to understand if you see the list:

40- wakeup at 4:40am (not really a gift, I decided as we were going to bed at 12:30pm, so he just got a card that explained the Top 40 plan for the next day...and I told him to turn off his alarm clock that was set at 4:40am 'cause I didn't want to wake up that early!)

39 orange M&Ms (in honor of his OSU Cowboys...go pokes!)
38 golf tees
37 dollar Starbuck's card
36 pieces of his favorite gum

And right after we gave him the #36 gift, I also texted everyone in his cell phone address book and mine and told them that it was his 40th bday...he just couldn't figure out how so many people knew that it was his bday!!! It finally dawned on him after about the 15th text or so!

35 donuts from Round Rock Donuts (we heard about these donuts on the Food Network and Auntie M, DH's sister, offered to pick up 3 dozen and eat one on her way from San Antonio)

34 Dove Dark chocolates
33 ounces of his favorite club soda
32 mini marshmallows for our Marshmallow Guns
31 minutes of fun with a brainteaser puzzle
30 magnets for school
29 punch out hearts on cards from K-girl and Chooch
28 issues of T*me magazine (1/2 a year)
27 Christmas P*eps
26 rum balls (made by his mom)
25 new golf balls
24 Season 1 of the TV show
23- a cookie cake with 23 on it
22 new pens
21- a letter from his dad
20 new mints to try
19 chocolate covered potato chips
18- another letter from his dad about an incident when he was 18 years old! funny stuff!
17 gatorades
16 new pencils
15 dollars in iTunes
14 new pairs of underwear (not very glamorous!)
13 minutes of fun with 3 cans of s*lly S*ring
12 dry erase markers
11 years of marriage, a card from me
10- a present from his mom, he was born at 10:31am
9 pairs of N*ke socks
8 boys that he is molding into young men on his team (I had all of his players sign a bday card)
7th season of Se*nf*ld (we've almost got the complete set!)
6 tickets to a Houston Rockets game
5 brothers and sisters (cards)
4 parents (cards and gifts from my parents and his parents)
3 n*ke undershirts
2 beautiful children (a card) and
1 birthday cake (decorated with Kiss (the band) magnets...thanks to his mom!)

Here's a pic of DH opening one of his many gifts:

I think he enjoyed the day, and the kids and I certainly enjoyed gifting 40 different gifts throughout the day...I just love giving gifts!!! It was a little overwhelming, though, and by the end we were giving 4 gifts at once, just so we could get through the list!

Many thanks to my mom, DH's parents, and his brothers and sisters for helping me complete the Top 40 list and fill in some of the missing numbers. And, a big Happy Birthday to my loving, sweet, amazing, dedicated, and hardworking hubby. I LOVE YOU!!

Waiting for Baby Jesus...

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:12:00 +0000

The Christmas decorations came out in full force around our house a couple of weekends ago. While Daddy was out front working with the outside lights (aka, Clark Griswold) and Chooch was riding his bike, K-girl and I put on some Christmas music and decorated our living room. I love decorating for Christmas each year, and it's even more fun now that K-girl is out of the "Danger: Breakables Ahead!" phase. She had so much fun pulling out all of the knick-knacks and figuring out where to put each one.

The favorite decoration each year is our Nativity scene. I received it as a gift several years ago and the kids love it because each year that we put it out, I purposely don't put out Baby Jesus. It's an idea that I heard during my MOPS days...put out the Nativity scene and wait to bring out Baby Jesus until Christmas morning, the day of His birth. It really helps the kids (and me!) remember what the holiday season is all about. We also bake Jesus a birthday cake and sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus on Christmas Day. Fun!

So, I found the Nativity scene box first and managed to pull out Baby Jesus and hide Him before K-girl noticed (note to self...don't forget where you hid Baby Jesus!). As soon as she saw the box, though, she was all over it, wanting to do this one all by herself. I wasn't quite ready to let her do the whole thing on her own, so I pulled out the pieces from the foam packaging, gave them to her and let her arrange the figures on the end table. I kept trying to give her decorating advice, but my little expert wanted nothing to do with my tips. K-girl wanted to do it all on her own. After several attempts of "K-girl, wouldn't the figures look better if you turned them around?" and "Look, K-girl, I can't see the angel's face", I gave up my advice and let her do the arrangements all on her own.

A few days later, while the kids were at school, I took a close look at K-girl's arrangement:

My first instinct was to rearrange the figures so that they would be in a semi-circle with the manger in front...so you could see everyone's face and no one's back. But, right before I started rearranging, a thought struck me...Maybe this is how God wants US to be during the Advent season...Maybe we should all be facing the manger and waiting for Baby Jesus...Maybe we shouldn't be worried about how we look or the gifts we buy or the houses we decorate, but instead be focused on the coming of Christ and the gift of hope that He brings. WOW! What a powerful message to be thinking about here in the days before Christmas. And all thanks to my sweet K-girl's decorating ability!

Pajama Day and Big Decisions!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:10:00 +0000

Today was Pajama Day at K-girl's school and Chooch has his Pajama Day on Friday at his school (in 3rd grade, really?) so all the talk yesterday afternoon was about what jammies they wanted to wear to school. K-girl settled on her green flannels with the fairies on them and Chooch is thinking about wearing his Super Mario jammies. Morning arrived and K-girl enjoyed lording her morning of leisure over Chooch by constantly reminding us all, "I can go back to bed because I don't have to get dressed!" At the last minute, right before we were getting ready to walk out the door, K-girl realized that she was supposed to take a pillow today, too. So we walked (ran 'cause we were running late!) back to her room.

Well, the girl has way too many pillow choices, if you ask me, but I picked up the 2 that I thought she would want to go with her to school and said, "Which one, the Disney Princess pillow or the High School Musical pillow?" K-girl, without hesitating, said, "I want my Name Pillow."

Her Name Pillow is pretty self-explanatory (a pillow with her name on it!) but it's pretty special to us because it was made by Mimi using the hospital receiving blanket that baby K-girl came home from the hospital in. Chooch has one just like it and they have both had those pillows on their bed since the day they joined our family. So, although the Name Pillow is very sentimental, I thought for sure the Princesses or HSM would win out in the battle for Pajama Day. Mommy was wrong, though, so off we headed to the car.

We met Chooch in the kitchen and he immediately took offense to the pillow choice (A bit of history here...Chooch (with Mimi's help) made the HSM pillow for K-girl one rainy day that he spent with Mimi and Paw-Paw...and he was super proud of his efforts!) and this conversation followed:

Chooch, highly offended, "Why didn't you pick the High School Musical pillow, that I made you?"

K-girl said, "I don't want the other girls at school all over my pillow." (Huh?)

Chooch, in a slightly louder, more insistent voice, "But I made you that pillow and you love it!"

Mommy, interested in the pillow choice as well, asked "What do you mean you don't want the other girls all over your pillow?"

K-girl, very matter of factly, "Well, the last time I brought something High School Musical to school, all the other girls wanted to touch it and hold it, and I don't want that this time."

Ah, the truth comes out...the Name pillow isn't the sentimental choice, it's the practical choice...to keep all the other girls away!! That's my K-girl, practical with a touch of self-interest!! That apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

The History Behind the Stink-Bug Park!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:01:00 +0000

So, how did the Stink-Bug Park earn its name? It's not an overly hilarious story, but it's a bit of family history, so I might as well add it to the Blog! One afternoon when we had first moved to East Texas, DH decided to take the kids (then ages 5 and 2) out for an adventure. The first place he came upon was a city park just 3 minutes away from our rent house, so they stopped and enjoyed the play equipment for a short while. Everyone was having a great time until Chooch spotted a stink-bug on his swing chain, dangerously close to touching him. He let out a great yell, jumped at least 10 feet in the air, and hightailed it away from the swings. All of the hollering scared off K-girl, too, and neither of them would return to the swings, no matter how much DH tried to convince them that stink-bugs were harmless! Because of the stress, the park trip ended soon after, but the nickname, "The Stink-Bug Park" stuck with us and the park hasn't been called anything else since then!

Pics at the Stink-Bug Park

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 22:44:00 +0000

Every other year, we do a 'family' picture all together around Christmas-time. In the past, we've always gone to the mall to have the pics taken and, although the results have been great, I was really wanting to do things different this year and get some more relaxed shots of us being a family together outside. So, I called my friend, who has a sister that's a photographer, and we set up a time to meet at the local park that we affectionately call, 'The Stink-Bug Park.' (more on how the park was named in my next post!)

It was a beautiful fall afternoon when we met and the resulting pictures were AWESOME, to say the least! Our photographer, Charity at http://www.asuwishphotography.com/ did such a great job of putting all of us at ease, and I just love how 'natural' all of the pictures look.

She was especially great with Chooch and K-girl and they enjoyed being models for her! The task of picking out our favorites to order as Christmas gifts and use on our Christmas card was NOT easy because there were so many great shots. I'm sure you will agree! Leave a comment if you want to see more of the great shots...Charity has uploaded the best of the pics to her website and I can send you the password. Thanks!

Whinos or Rhinos?

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:29:00 +0000

The other day, K-girl was talking to DH and trying to explain something about a 'Whino.' Poor Daddy couldn't figure out what she was talking about and she kept having to repeat herself. The conversation went something like this:
K-girl: "You know, Daddy, a WHI-NO."
Daddy: "What's a whino?"
K-girl, repeating herself louder this time: "A WHI-NO."
Daddy: "I hear what you're saying, but I don't know what you're talking about!"
K-girl, trying to sound it out with the wrong first letter sound: "Daddy, a v-v-v-v, WHI-NO."
Daddy, laughing: "What?"
K-girl, getting really exasperated: "You know, the thing with the horn on the top of its head?"
Daddy, laughing even harder: "OH, a RHINO, like a rhinocerous?"
K-girl: "YES!"
Phew, thank goodness he figured it out! We love that she doesn't pronounce her "R" sound and usually don't correct her because it's so darn cute. It has been a source of amusement at school, too. Her kindergarten teacher pulled me aside the other day at school and told me that when they were talking about the letter 'W' in class, and she asked for ideas of words that started with a 'W', K-girl excitedly raised her hand and said, "I know, a WOSE!" Teacher held back the giggles and didn't have the heart to correct K-girl and let her know that the flower actually starts with an 'R' not a W!! I know we'll miss that cute way of talking very soon because K-girl is growing up so quickly these days...

Snow (Ice, really) in East Texas!

noreply@blogger.com (srkruk) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:36:00 +0000

My kids were so excited this morning! They woke up to a backyard fleeced with snow (ice) and just couldn't wait to outside and play in it. Actually, K-girl couldn't wait to go outside and eat it! She told Daddy last night, after Chooch spotted a few flakes falling from the sky, that it was really good to have snow because, "You can just eat the snow when you are thirsty. You don't even have to come inside and get water...you just eat the snow!"

You know she's right, because it is such a LONG walk to come inside and get a drink of water when you're busy playing!! Anyhow, as soon as they got dressed, they rushed outside so they could play in the snow (ice) and before I could get my camera, K-girl scooped up some snow (ice) from some plant leaves (at least she didn't get it from the ground...yuk!) and proceded to eat it. I don't think it was very appetizing because she didn't try to eat anymore after that!

They were both most impressed with the trampoline and Chooch couldn't wait to get home and jump on it with all the snow. He didn't quite believe me when I told him that it probably all be melted by the time he got home. While the kids were busy tromping around the backyard, DH was busy trying to pry open the doors to the cars. They were frozen shut!!