25 Random Things

This has been all over facebook.....it was fun to do, but hard to think of 25 things...I'm boring people!  Also...consider yourself tagged...it's your turn!

1. I have lived within the same 40 miles in and around Houston all of my life (excluding college), and sometimes wish we could try living someplace else....but am afraid I would miss my family and friends too much.

2. I have a 9 month old daughter named Addison who looks 95% like my husband and 5% me. I love her to pieces.

3. I went to A&M, and bled maroon and white for 4.5 years, but now consider myself quite the 2 % er....especially after the last few football seasons. Yes, I know I"m fair weathered.

4. I taught for 7 years and got my Masters Degree in Educational Administration and now hope I never have to use the Administration part.....and that I can wait more than a few years before stepping back into a classroom again.

5. I DVR The View, Ellen, and Oprah every day and never get a chance to watch any of them

6. I have an addiction to Ebay.

7. Until a month ago, I thought Facebook was for high school kids.

8. I am in love photography and would love to learn more about it....and perhaps, be good at it!

9. I'm afraid of escalators.

10. Terrified of snakes.

11. Having trouble thinking of 25 things...this is hard!

12. Andy and I went out on a date in 2002 and I didn't think he was "my type"...didn't see each other again for another year.

13. I wish it would have worked out between us the first time so I could have met his wonderful mom.

14. Sometimes wish I would have been a real estate agent...maybe I'm watching too many episodes of House Hunters, "My House is Worth What?" and spending too much time on HAR.

15. My parents have been married for 41 years....pretty incredible.

16. Would eat Mexican food almost every night if gaining weight wasn't a side effect.

17. When people ask me what music I like to listen to, I want to sound halfway intelligent, but in all honesty, I really enjoy Britney quite a bit.

18. Check PerezHilton,com and People daily......ask me anything about the latest celebrity gossip, and I"m sure to know.

19. I love watching my husband be a daddy...he's so good at it!!

20. Love to travel...favorite trips so far include Napa, Cabo, and Italy. Still on the list....Hawaii, Africa, and Vegas....nope, never been.

21. I hate writing things like this, but love to read everyone else's list.

22. My daughter laughs at my singing....even if she's crying, that's what makes her laugh..works every time. I'm that bad.

23. My faith is extremely important to me, but I sometimes have a hard time talking about it.

24. I have 9 boxes of frozen ice pops in the freezer 

25. I was an All-American Mascot in high school. Yes....they actually give out "All-AMerican" awards for that. Cheapens the tile All-American a little bit, don't you think?

Did Someone Say Cute?

I have a problem.  I have a serious issue with baby girl clothes.  I try to be reasonable about it. Why pay full price when there's Ebay?  I also try to convince Andy that I am being reasonable by shopping on Ebay.  Last night here is how our conversation went.

Andy: Is there a reason that PayPal keeps popping up like several times a week?

Me: Because I'm finding ridiculously cute clothes at a fraction of the price!

Andy: Have you seen your daughter's closet?  It's full of clothes?  She probably has more than half that she hasn't even worn!

Me: (deep breath)...Andy, you do realize that she grows??  The reason that she hasn't worn half that stuff is that it's 12-18 months, and Addison is only in 6-12 now....but I'm always looking for good deals for the next season...(or 3 seasons after that).

Andy: No, I'm talking about the 6-12 month clothes.  I haven't seen her in half of them.  Look, I'll show you.

Me: I Quickly follow because I KNOW she has worn everything in that closet.  Doesn't he know that I change her outfit like 3 times a day (sometimes for necessity, sometimes for fun)

Sure enough, my point was proven.  He went through every outfit and finally found only one she had yet to wear.  This of course was so exciting for me.  A new outfit that had almost been forgotten!!

So here it is...a gift from Nana, and she sure looks cute.  

While you enjoy, I'm off to my ebay watch list....

Hey neighbor

We live on the best street ever.  Since we moved in 4 years ago (can't believe it's already been that long!), we have bonded with and loved spending time with our neighbors.  When we first moved in...nobody had kids and we got together whatever chance we had.  Hurricane Rita parties, birthday parties, christmas parties, power outage parties, Rico's parties.....really, every chance we got.

Now 4 years later, and 5 kids later...it just gets harder.  Last night we got together to celebrate Missy's birthday...won't say which birthday...but it was a special one.  The party had to come to an end a little earlier than they used to, but it was so fun to catch up with everyone.

The Crew...Kemmerlys, Parsons, Oswicks, and Fenners

Carrie and Will were there in spirit.....darn Tampa.

Addison had her first pizza. Pizza and ice cream in one weekend....good times.

Margeaux Kemmerly and Eleanor Oswick

Margeaux and Kurt

Partied out

The Fenners

Just the girls...Missy, Trina, Leslie, Melissa

Fun with cousins and ice cream!

Today we had so much fun because Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mike, and cousins Eloise, Owen and Iris came to visit for the day!  Iris and Addison are only about 2 weeks apart in age so it was really fun to see them start to interact more.

We went to the park, the church playground and of course Ricos.  Addison found out the best part about Ricos is the free ice cream!  I don't know who appreciates this more...the kids or the parents who are at their wits end.  So Andy went against his "no sugar" policy for Addison (what's the fun in that?) and let her try her first ice cream.  She now knows we've been holding out on her.

A few of these pics are random, but I've had fun playing around with my new camera Andy got for me.  So far, I only know how to keep it on the auto "point and shoot", but I can't wait to play with all the features and venture out off of auto.  

Addison and Aunt Sarah

Cousin Iris

Cousin Owen

Addison loves Eloise!

Don't hold back now dad!

Good night...sleep tight.

Awkward...

Addison's hair is going through a little bit of an awkward stage.....

The Boot.....

is finally off!!!!!!!

For those that don't know, I had foot surgery at the beginning of December and have been hobbling around in a not-so-attractive surgical boot for the last six weeks.  I finally got the ok to wear an actual tennis shoe this morning....and "EASE" back into "normal" life.  This is very exciting stuff people!

Better Late than Never

Nine month stats...

Length: 29 inches (95%)

Weight: 19 lbs, 5 oz (50-75%)

Head: 17.5 (25-50%)...have you seen her father?

Cute pics from Market Street this week.  Thanks Shannon!!

Eh, what's up, doc?

Bugs Bunny she's not, but that's what kept popping into my head as I watched her knaw down on some celery tonight.  I had read somewhere that a stalk of celery from the fridge helps make their gums feel better, so I thought...why not?  She LOVED it.  Would not let go of the thing.

Obviously, the girl hasn't tried chocolate yet.  I have a feeling that veggies aren't always going to go over this well....

And she's growing up so fast....driving already!

Well, learner's permit.  She needs dad's help behind the wheel.

Trip to Cold Country and a little history

My mom, dad and I just returned from Milwaukee where we got a chance to say goodbye to my sweet grandma and spend some time with family that we hadn't seen in so long.  It's sad how it sometimes takes something like a funeral to get everyone together.

Don't worry... this isn't going to be a downer of a post, but I just had such a great time spending and learning more about my family.  In addition to seeing all of the extended family and sharing stories, my mom and dad took me on a little tour of memory lane.  A walk down memory lane just wasn't going to happen since the temperature hovered around 10 degrees for most of the two days.  It was really neat though to drive around with them to their first house, the church they got married, etc.  I mean this was a long time ago people....my wonderful parents have now been married for over 41 years!

Anyways, I also came across some sweet photos, some more recent than others that I wanted to share.  Some of them are almost 100 years old!!

The street my mom grew up on.  I love the way the houses look up there!  I think most of these were built in the 1930's.
Ok, it was news to me that the TV show Happy Days took place in Milwaukee.  Apparently, Leon's was a staple on the show, and happens to be right across the street from my mom's high school.  It has obviously done well because it was still standing.  I wanted to try some frozen custard so bad but the fact that it was 20 degrees below freezing outside took some of the appeal away.

I was showing  a few people recent pictures of Addison and they thought that she looked a lot like the following two pictures of me as a baby with my grandma.  Mind you, it's easy to tell me that she looks like me when Andy is no where around, but it was nice to hear for a change.  I do see a little bit of her in these...


The next few pics are just so neat.  This is a picture of my grandma on her wedding day...I just love her outfit.

This is a picture taken of my parents (the two on the far right) right before they got married.  I told you it's been a while!!!

And my favorite....a picture of my grandma in 1918.  I just love looking back at old pictures!

And this picture is hard to see, but it's my grandma and grandpa just goofing off.  I love and miss both of them but I love even more that they're having fun together again! 

Happy Birthday Jerry/Dad/Poppy!

My dad is 65 today!  We celebrated his birthday last night and I brought up the point that now he can start to collect on all of those "senior citizen" discounts and privileges.  He informed me that he has already been able to get coffee at McDonalds at the price of 27 cents for 10 years now.  (I guess McDonalds gives out their perks early).  But here are some other things that I'm sure he will be anxious to take advantage of.

The age of 65 qualifies you for:

• Golden Age Pass to National Parks and
• Historic Sites ($10.00 Lifetime Permit)
• Hearing Aid Assistance
• Reduced Fishing License
• Free Clam & Oyster Digging License
• 10% discount at Jiffy Lube
• $5.00 seats at Yankee baseball games (should he find himself in NYC) *seating is limited

He does get some "real" benefits such as social security and property tax breaks, but I thought he would be most excited about the first ones on the list.