Scardy Dog

We have the most amazing thunder and lightening storms here in Houston and this morning brought the power of the heavens upon us. I awoke to a flash of light followed almost immediately by an amazing burst of thunder. I knew Grace was sure to join us in our bed and as suspected she did, however, so did Baxter. I laugh because he is so afraid of thunder and this morning it took at least 10 minutes of petting him before he stopped shaking. I love that Grace will run to us for comfort. She is such a snuggle bug and it was so cute to watch her trying to console Baxter seeing as she had come to us for the same need. Such a sweet soul. :)

Music to my ears!

I think most of you know that I am the Primary Chorister at church (music leader for 3-11 year-olds) and tomorrow is our Primary Program. We've worked all year learning and perfecting one new song every month and tomorrow is the big day. So ... this morning we had our practice run through and the kids were awesome!!! I am so excited for tomorrow, the kids are so well prepared and so good at following the cues. I am so proud of them already and they haven't even preformed yet. What a sweet treat it is for me to work with them all year.

Tomorrow I will present them with a bag of candy, (kisses, hugs and a candy corn mix) that will have a card attached with a message: All year you have 'grown' in your singing and today we have reaped the sweet 'harvest' of your music. All my 'hugs and kisses' to you, Love Sis. Will

I had to write that card down in my blog because I am laughing so hard at my total cheesy-ness.

Morning Beauty

Our family room is two stories tall and on the east wall, close to the top, is a large, long set of windows. The view from these windows is so different from the rest of the house as you only see the ever changing skies. I love what I notice, while in my house, that normally seems to slip from sight. This morning as I strolled down the stairs I looked out and saw the most beautiful sliver of a moon. What a beautiful world we have been handed, and what a treat to see such a beauty as I begin my day.

My Creation

Grace recently went to a birthday party and we decided to make her friend a little bag that she could use to carry 'make-up' in or use as a ballet bag. I took Grace to the fabric store and she picked out the most glittery, stretchy, fabric. I was so unsure that I could sew with that fabric and what I could possibly use for the trim. Trevor helped us by finding the perfect trim and my mothers sewing tips came to mind to help me put it together. I am so tickled at how it turned out and I have enough fabric left to make a bag for Grace too. Thanks Mom for telling me years ago to use tissue when sewing stretchy fabric! I even put a liner in, yea!

The Bag


And the liner ...


Here are the little make-up and bath items we put in the bag. We wrapped each item in white tissue paper with a pink ribbon and placed them in the super sparkly, girlie frilly bag before wrapping it all up. Oh, so fun.

Grace loves little dogs

Yesterday we discovered, by the barking, that our neighbors have two new little dogs. I found Grace and Trevor peeking through the fence at the little dogs, enjoying the sight of our new neighbors. Trevor and I left Grace by the fence and after a little while Grace came in and said:

"Mom, will you climb the fence with me and play with the dogs. One of them is really nice and the other one is just a little afraid so it barks a lot. I don't know if they are boys or girls though."

"Grace, did you climb the fence and play with the dogs?"

"Yes. But it's okay, they didn't bite me"

I'm so glad they were nice and I am laughing because I didn't realize that Grace could climb the fence by herself.

Non-Toxic Cleaning

I'm so excited to find a good cleaner that is not toxic. I tried using baking soda and vinegar to clean our tubs and it worked wonderfully! I hate how sick it makes me to clean with the softscrub with bleach so I am thrilled to find something so basic that does such a wonderful job!

Texas Living

Last night I walked to the mailbox to drop in a letter going out and so enjoyed the cooler, dryer weather of the evening. I decided to check and see what the temp was when I got home, 86 (feels like 88) and 75% humidity. Hmmm, I guess I'm acclimating more than I thought.

On my walk, we use the community mail boxes so we don't have it right in front of our home, I pondered on an oddity of Texas that is at the forefront of my mind right now. My brother and his wife are looking at settling down to open an optometry practice and Texas is one of the states they are considering, which is such a funny thing to me. Roaches, the giant repulsive creatures that are not afraid to show themselves, are everywhere here and I have found that at night they tend to be on the sidewalks and not in the street. I guess they like having the cover of grass so close to them. In turn I have learned to walk in the street rather than on the sidewalk to prevent a heart attack on my part. I began to wonder why the roaches in California stay underground and do not show themselves to the general population. I don't remember taking walks at night wondering what creatures may be in my path that I might want to avoid. I don't mind the toads, the snakes I've seen are only small but the roaches, oh how they disgust me.