School Parties

Tom had to work last Friday so I got to do school parties. It wasn't as bad as I thought - imagine 20 kids all hyped up on sugar and knowing they get a couple of weeks off from school and THIS is their last hour AND they get to have a party. Yeah.

Forget about girls gone wild... this is Kinder Girls Gone Wild!


Unfortunately I missed most of the fun at Cassie's class. They had finished most of the crafts and stuff by the time I made it back from Jamie's. She was eating fruit when I got there... they had all kinds of stuff though - cookie decorating and a marshmallow toss.


Jamie made an ornament and pinned the nose on the snowman (or well, himself I suppose!)




I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Get lots of rest, kiddos, it will be back to school before you know it!

Christmas Morning

Here is a quick video of Xmas morning with Jamie and Cassie

Happy Holidays!

This is kind of THE picture that says so much about Jamie. I don't really know what else to say about it... Happy Holidays from our family to yours.

Our trip to Trail of Lights

We walk the Trail of Lights each year here in Austin. It's held at Zilker Park and there are different displays put up by different companies. It's always interesting and fun. We go on a school night so it's not so crowded (oh we learned that lesson the first year!). The kids are cranky the next day, but well... it's just one day...

This year we went with two other families. We had such a great time!

Here is Cassie and her friend from school twirling under the tree. There's a big tree the put up and the lights are swirled colors so you spin under it and it's kind of a cool effect.


This is MY favorite exhibit - it's Where the Wild Things Are. I loved that book as a kid and I love it still. I just wish this photo had turned out better, but it doesn't matter. It is awesome in person, trust me! :)


... and yes, Cassie's friend is always smiling like that... she's is seriously the smilingest kid I've ever met... and such a sweetheart!


Tom brought his berret to keep his bald head warm, but we let Jamie borrow it... I think he looks tres cool :)


Cassie was photo crazy this night (and I really need to invest in a monopod for stuff like this)... pics of her with the sea dragon.


I'd say a good time was had by all...

Anderson Mill's Holiday in the Park

For the first time since I moved to Texas, I feel at home - I have friends that love and care for me (and I feel very much the same way). We have the most amazing school in a wonderful neighborhood with neighbors that are just... well, I don't even know. I keep waiting for something terrible to happen. It's just all too perfect. This months marks 10 years since we moved to Austin. It's been quite a decade, I must say... as much as I miss Hawaii, Austin is finally starting to feel like it fits. Sure took me long enough, eh?

One of the things that I love about our neighborhood is that they do quirky fun little things. It's very family-oriented. I could write a book about some of the more interesting things about the area (including the political mudslinging from the older residents that goes on - it's actually quite entertaining, to be honest) LOL... anyway...

One of the absolute funnest things is the holidays. The local high school's JROTC always puts on Holiday in the Park. They have crafts, games, baked goods. It's nothing huge, but to the kids it's AWESOME. Santa makes an appearance - via the fire truck! Not only that, but he rides around the neighborhood in a beautiful old fire truck and throws candy to any kids that are smart enough to come running out when they hear the bells. How cool is that, really?

This is from a couple of weeks ago, but with all my tooth drama, I'm just now going through photos... enjoy!

Cassie got a snowman painted on her face


Jamie did a craft ornament


Santa arriving in style...


And this is a friend's daughter. I love taking pictures of this child. She is so cooperative and has the most amazing eyes...

Heard From The (Office): Shoes

My kids are the worst about their shoes. There's a cabinet in the hallway. ALL shoes are to be put in there. It's been that way for 2.5 years. I can count on one hand how many times they put their shoes in there. They take them off where ever the mood strikes - and frequently we are looking for them. I'm always saying "They should be in the shoe cabinet, did you check there?" being a smart alleck, they usually say "yes" or "no" or "whatever"...

This exchange just occurred:

Jamie comes walking into my office searching the floor. I know what's up, but...

Me: What are you doing?

Jamie: Looking for my shoes.

Me: Did you check the shoe cabinet?

Jamie: I'm SO not answering that question, mom.

Hehehe... smart alleck runs in the family apparently.

Another visit from the babies...

We got to watch the twins a few weeks ago... wow, they are moving pretty quick now! I took some photos :) Cassie was okay with these babies because I wasn't holding them (even at 5 she seems to be unhappy with me holding a baby). They are so cute I just wanna squeeze 'em!

Update on me and Tom's new blog....

So... my tooth thing is an ongoing nightmare. It was still hurting over the weekend and on Sunday it got really really bad. Bad enough that I called the dentist on call and begged for drugs to get through the night. I read some stuff online and Tom looked back there and thought he saw white (maybe a bone) so I figured I had a dry socket. It hurt BAD. He called in some vicodin. I absolutely do not like vicodin, but it does the job - it helps with the pain a little, but more than that, it makes it so that I don't CARE about the pain. It affects me BIG TIME. I get high as a kite.

So, I call when the dentist opens and go in... it's not a dry socket, but it's STILL infected. STILL. I need to work, so she numbed me with Novocaine so I'd have a few hours and gave me more vicodin. Oh, and gave me MORE antibiotics. I am in that place where I want to curl up in a ball and just cry. If it doesn't get better, she'll dig it out, clean it out again and basically start all over. It will get better though. It will. Or I will go completely insane.

So, that's why I'm not posting much. I have a pile of pictures to go through and other random stuff, but I'm just trying to work when I'm not floating around all happy.

In other news, Tom has started this blog - check it out. It's called Life in 15 Minutes and it's really very sweet. Tom is the sweetest man I've ever met. I probably don't say it enough, but he is my heart and soul and he picks me up when I need it. I am truly one of the luckiest women in the world.

And, no, that's not just the vicodin talking. :) Check out the blog - it's pretty nifty!

All About Cassie-Girl

Last month Cassie came home with a project to do... she had to draw or cut out pictures and paste on a paper person to tell about her, what she likes, etc. I thought I'd share because, it really is all about Cassie-Girl!



My tooth is better, still hurts a little, but I'm surviving :) I'm behind on everything, I hope to get some posts scheduled over the weekend. I have some pictures somewhere too to share!
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The Tooth Saga... (kinda gross)

My Monday.... SUCKED.

I completely put a jinx on it a couple of weeks ago when I was celebrating that I didn't have to see any doctors for the next 3 months. Yeah.

4 years or so ago, I had a crown put on my very back molar because it had a hairline crack in it. 2 years later, they realized that the previous dentist left the back open and it was basically rotting. So I got a free root canal and a new crown. Yay! It's been infected twice over the years, it's just a mess. It's never felt right, always odd and out of whack or something...

So, on Thursday last week, I notice my gums are swollen on that side and it just feels bad. I get a waterpik and try to irrigate it thinking I ate something that irritated it. But no.

So off to the dentist I go... it's abscessed badly around the root and the gums are all nasty. They can't really do anything else for it, so they pulled it. I was put under for my wisdom teeth when I was 17, so I had NO IDEA what to expect. OMG. That was brutal, they actually just rip it out! LOL. (I have no clue what I thought they did). I did have to pay for it, but at that point, who knows what was going on with that tooth/area. It didn't hurt or anything, It was an upper tooth so I could hear... ewww... just nevermind.

Anyway, it was the right decision because it was all green and gooey around the root. The dentist lady said she'd never see something that bad before. Yay, me, for nasty infections!

I'm only on Advil, but I'm taking it really often and I feel all out of it. And some serious freaking antibiotics. Holy mackeral, these things are messing with my stomach. I'm basically eating pudding and jello. I had to get something last night, so I had some overcooked mac n cheese. At least it made my stomach stop. Ugh. I can NOT take meds on an empty stomach.

Sigh, I remember when I had my wisdom teeth out, I ate a small cheeseburger that night. Either I'm a wuss now, the pain meds were better back then, or something! This sucks!

(whine whine whine) I want my mommy

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Tree Decorating Photos

Last weekend, we decorated the tree. We invited the little girl next door to come help and played Christmas music and just chilled out.

Although, Tom nearly had a coronary because Jamie's first Christmas ornament broke. It was glass and was bound to happen, but still sad. I can't find a replacement either. Oh well, sad, but life goes on!

Here's some pics of the decorating... I'll be back later this month with pictures of all the decorations :)

Cassie reaches as high as she can!


Jamie decides to decorate his face?


Jamie and the little girl next door working on the tree


All 3 of them going for it!


Stockings all hung up - although Cassie was carrying hers around. The nutcracker guys are so out of here when I find replacements, they aren't very heavy and Cassie keeps taking the stockings down and knocking herself in the head. Looks like she'd learn after the first few times, eh?


Hey, at least we didn't have the whole tree topper saga all over again!

Happy Holidays!

Heard From the Kitchen: The Tom Edition

I was standing in the kitchen this morning with Tom and this conversation took place:

Candy: "Wow, that screaming at 3:30 this morning did me in, I didn't fall back to sleep for 2 hours after kicking them out of the bed."

Tom: "What screaming?"

Candy: "Seriously? The ear-splitting-wake-the-neighbors screaming from Cassie when I told her she had to go back to her own bed."

Tom: "Oh, I didn't hear anything."

Candy: *amazed look* "It lasted FIVE minutes."

Tom: "Oh, I didn't hear anything."

Candy: *WTF look*

Seriously, how could you NOT hear her? I'm pretty sure the entire neighborhood could hear her. Jamie and her ended up coming into our bed last night - or trying to - I made them go back to their rooms. You'd have thought I was trying to kill them.

How could he NOT hear that?

I also had to wake up Jamie by banging on a pot with a spoon. That didn't work so I poured water on him.

Oh, yes. I did.

He got up.

It worked, didn't it?

How to adorn your Christmas tree...

A lot of people are wandering the streets aimlessly. Yes, I see you all. You are wondering to yourself, "self, how do I properly place an ornament on my holiday tree?" Well, Jamie is here to help! Just watch this quick, yet informative video to find out more. If you would like additional instruction or to learn how to properly stuff a stocking, please send just $99.99 $39.99 to me. This is a special offer, you must purchase within the next 30 minutes to get this very special holiday pricing.



And today only, bonus footage of Jamie and his assistants adorning the tree with a beautiful purple Christmas ball. This is our free gift to you.

Oh, Christmas Tree - preformed by Jamie!

A little bit rock n roll - a WHOLE lotta cuteness.

Cassie's cookin'!

I didn't get any pictures of Thanksgiving, I don't think... but I did get some pics of Cassie helping me cook!

First, we made spinach dip... she helped squeeze the water out of the frozen spinach and helped stir it all up... she did a great job!



At this point, the sink was full of dishes and so was the dishwasher and we had a bunch of sweet taters that needed washing... never fear, Cassie's bathroom sink was near! So we scrubbed those taters and made a sweet potato pie! Yummy!

Forget sidewalk chalk... try Sidewalk Stamping...

Honestly, I think the chalk is more fun. This is basically powdered chalk in containers with letters fitted over them. The kids spent a good 45 minutes doing it, so I call it a score, but it also goes really quick! :)

They each chose the first letter of their first name and stamped the day away! They all had a great time! Jamie, of course, had to wallow around in it afterwards and make a huge mess.