Adieu My Good Friend the Camera

My camera died on Christmas morning :( I have since replaced it but I didn't expect the feeling of grief I had over losing this camera. That camera was a gift to me by my sweet husband about 5 years ago. That camera was carried around with me and took pictures I wanted my heart to capture. It turns out it was my friend, my eyes, my heart. Who knew something could have such sentimental value? Looking through that lens I caught the beauty of my daughter's ballet recital, my son's birthdays and cub scout adventures, the birth of my youngest son, and so many many more of life's moments. My life. My story. My journey. I've decided that from here on out my life will not be complete unless I have a handy memory capturer with me. Ode to Mr.Cannon. I replaced him with an upgraded one but, I think I'll tuck the other one away. You had a good run old sport.

Our Blue Bell Pilgrimage

We did it. We finally made our pilgrimage to Brenham,TX, home of "The best ice cream in the country." Yes, I speak of none other than Blue Bell. I don't know who was more excited the kids or my husband! My husband loves Blue Bell ice cream and come rain, shine, or diet in the making, we are going to be stocked with some Blue Bell in the freezer.

Did you know that Blue Bell is only sold in 19 states?! How can that be? The madness! That's like saying only 19 states have running and clean water in the U.S. Ok..so a bit of an exaggeration. If we had it our way in this family we'd have Blue Bell and a Taco Bueno in every city in the U.S.A.

We enjoyed the tour, ice cream, and visit to the country store. Another highlight was going to the Southern Flyer diner at the municipal airport in Brenham. A quaint place with some personality and the waitresses wear poodle skirts. The small private planes can be seen from the diner and we enjoyed watching them take off. Great service and very affordable.

If you go to Brenham in hopes of finding these places make sure you look them up before you get there as there are no signs directing you to the Blue Bell factory or the Southern Flyer diner. It's worth the trip. Hope anyone that goes has as much quality fun, family, and friend time as we did. Great day!

Torn Between Two Christmas Meanings

My daughter asked me what my favorite holiday was last night. Always without hesitation I say Thanksgiving. I admit I've gone a little overboard on Halloween but, turkey day is by far the one. "Why not Christmas," she asked. I had to take a long deep breath before I answered that.
The irony of it all is that I'm a believer. I believe Jesus was born and is my saviour. I believe that Mary was a Virgin and that our King was born in a manger. So, what is it that gets me all flustered when I think of Christmas?
Well, quite frankly, I despise the commercialism of it all. I think it's a huge slap in the face of a day of celebration that really belongs to Jesus. Yes, I buy the gifts, I hang the decorations, I hang the stockings and even get giddy about making cookies for Santa with the kids. So, I guess you can say I'm a hypocrite when it comes to my Jekyl and Hyde feelings over this holiday. I love the sights, sounds, and smells of the holiday. To say that it's my favorite holiday would just a baahumbug moment for me. It's self reflecting. It's actually quite stressful. The Christmas I yearn for is the Christmas I had as a child. It went a little something like...we only got one or two presents each under the tree. We visited family without the pressure of buying or giving gifts to any adults. We didn't have much but we had love and occasionally tamales. We had the Christmas story. We even had a real Christmas tree, though small, its smell still brings back warm memories. My hope is that one day I can lay down the burden at the cross when it comes to this holiday that in reality has me pulled in both directions. I think I'm almost there. Each year the burden of having to please everyone gets a little lighter. My husband said he didn't want cookies for "Santa" this year. There's just too many. Ok, well I guess he'll have some birthday cake for Jesus that we leave out for "Santa" instead. I'm guessing "Santa" might like German Chocolate ;) The candle lit being the one that is lit at midnight services. For once I'd like to just be a graceful receiver. I'd like to just kneal before a manger and graciously acknowledge the ultimate gift that has already been given to me and leave it at that. To walk away feeling a bit like the "drummer boy." "I have no gift to bring, that's fit to give a King....pa rum pum pum pum!"

Night of Tricks and Treats!!

Halloween!! It was a fun night. My 2 year old was a puppy and my 7 year old was Popeye. My teenager finally threw together something at the last minute and declared she would be a gypsy. This year I ordered costumes in advance and asked my daughter to please pick something out because I didn't want to have to deal with madenning crowds closer to Halloween. At the time she didn't want to be anything but the closer we got...of course she changes her mind.

Can I just say that everywhere we looked the teenage girl costumes looked like something that would be picked out of a lingerie magazine catalog. I think my favorite word of the day was,"No." What happened to outfits that went below the knees and didn't require a bustier? For a 13 year old?! Now, that was frightening. Crunch time came and she settled on creating something with old scarves she had...whew! Next year I am buying the crayola and or ketchup costume for her and calling it a day ;) She'll never wear it. We'll just have to be creative.

Our neighbors across the street did an all out Haunted House!! Dead "fake" bodies in morgue bags and body parts strewn across the yard. An awesome half body on a butcher table with his legs squirting blood in the driveway. My 2 year old was pretty scared. The scary clown that gave him candy will probably traumatize him for life but, we'll get through it.

Isaac loved giving out candy more than trick-or-treating! He wondered why some kids didn't recognize him as Popeye right away but just dismissed it as, "Well, I guess kids just don't watch classic cartoons these days." The highlight of my evening was a little trick I guess the neighborhood cat played on me. A week ago I cried my eyes out because I thought our neighborhood orange cat had been run over and killed as all I saw was dead orange kitty in the road. To my surprise, last night as we walked passed the house where he lived...my son and I saw the orange kitty walking around. Yay! I exclaimed. Cats really do have 9 lives!! Of course, I haven't seen him since. Hmm....ghost kitty?

Happy Halloween!!

Spent the Night on a Battleship

My son recently joined the Boys Scouts. He signed up to stay the night on the USS Texas. This battleship is the only surviving one from WWI and WWII. When we were driving down the road toward the San Jacinto Monument and towards the ship Isaac said, "I can smell history." I think what he was really smelling was the surrounding oil refineries but I didn't have the heart to tell him that. When we arrived at the Battlegrounds of San Jacinto we spent the day investigating and discovering the site where Texas won it's independence from Mexico. We sat under an oak tree which was the site where Santa Anna surrendered to Sam Houston. We watched the huge ships come in and out of the Houston Ship Channel.

Isaac and I just took in everything around us. There was a retirement party for a Navy Officer onboard the ship so, military men and women were all around in their navy blues and whites. It was such a proud day. Ifelt like I was in the graduation scene of a 'An Officer and a Gentleman.' Of course, Isaac was just impressed with all of his surroundings.

The most amazing event came with getting to actually spend the night on the USS Texas. That ship is filled with some amazing history. To find out more please visit, www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/battleship_texas/hist.phtml

A little known fact is that it's currently being held up by water pumps because it's so old that it really needs to be dry berthed. It started sinking this past summer. The bunks were 4 beds high. There are two spotlights on the ship that were actually from the USS Arizona from Pearl Harbor. In fact, some of the movie, Pearl Harbor, was filmed on the USS Texas. The only time I felt a little ship ghost leary was when I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go up by myself on deck to the restroom. I cannot even begin to explain how extraordinary the whole event was. It is highly recommended for the history buffs out there. My seven year old's eyes just lit up for the rest of the week and even when we talk about the experience. I could just imagine what his little imaginative wheels were turning throughout the adventure. He graduated the next morning as "An Official Sailor of the USS Texas" We are very proud.

Oh, and in case you were wondering if there were ship rats on board. Yes, there are. Our troop found a lovely dead one which was just a joy for me to see as it was brought past me to dispose of before snack time. I was a little squeemish but, noone else was. It made the experience all that more interesting.

That Pink Bow Feeling

My daughter turns into a teenager today. The big 13!! I still remember the image I have after being woken up at 1am in the hospital room as the nurses wheeled her into me and said, " She may be hungry." "Oh, sure, let me get right to that, I thought." What?! What was this little bed filled with a baby girl wrapped in a little white blanket, head full of hair and a mini pink bow glued with who knows what on top of her little head being brought to me for? I wasn't prepared in the slightest for this moment no matter how many parenting classes I took or books I had read. Somehow, we've muddled through it all though over the years. Thanks to Google ;)

Seriously, the feelings I have now about this whole teenager phase aren't really any different. All I want to do is slap a big pink bow on top of her head, look at her, and say, I still don't know what I'm doing but, I know that I love you with all of my heart, unconditionally, from this life into the next. I know that I'm proud of you. I know that we won't always see things through the same glass but I know that's ok. I know I will be there when the whole world loves you and I will be there when you feel like noone does. I know that you will "try on many faces" until you find one that you feel your best in. Sweet daughter you've moved a little closer to the edge of the nest. Just a smidge. Know that my heart will always be a nest you can come home to no matter where your wings may take you.