Making Up Stuff

Last night Joe and I were in the bathroom getting ready for bed. There is this light over the shower that went out.

I reassured him that it had a motion detector and went out when there wasn't much movement in the bathroom.

Joe gives me a funny look but I reassure him of the accuracy of my assessment. Then he questions me, "Have you always thought that there was a motion sensor in our bathroom?" "Well, yeah, why else would it periodically go on and off. Usually if I move around enough, it will come back on."

Long silence.

"Babe, there is no motion sensor. It is a can light and they turn off when they get too hot so they don't catch on fire." He starts to chuckle.

He continues his questioning, "So did you ever question if you were right or if there really was a motion sensor."

Me- "No."

Joe- "Well shoot, that throw out that theory. I was thinking if you were ever teaching Isaac something and you just weren't sure about it, you could run it by me first." :)



Laura told me on many occasions, "If you don't know something, you can't just make it up."

I don't know about yall, but they always told us if you didn't know something then make an "educated guess." I passed many college written exams with a long "educated guess."

Trouble. My child is in lots of trouble.

Testosterone Time!

(Above: from left to right. My boys. Kenny holding Conner. Kyle holding Cole. Conner and Cole belong to Kyle. Kenny's wife is due in January with a sweet little girl, Olivia Rose!) On a side note, baby legs totally crack me up. I just got caught up in a belly laugh inspecting these little boys legs. No calves, just chub chunks and then a foot! :)

This last weekend while the girls were having a shower for Olivia Rose, Joe hung out with his two best friends- they have been this way since elementary school! The guys got to talk, hang out and eat Mexican food, of course.

When I returned, my little man didn't give me two glances. He was so busy having a blast with the other boys that for the first time, he's rather play than eat.

Long Overdue Makeover

So my blog has been that 50-something year old woman who is still unashamedly stuck in the 80s with hair as big as Texas and leg warmers to boot!

No longer...

The blog has visited Clinton and Stacy at "What Not To... Put On Your Blog" and received a makeover. This is just the holiday version; more fun to come...

I DO NOT LIE!

I'm walking with Isaac in tow through the den today. I happen to glance down, to my HORROR there is a DEAD RAT ON THE RUG. I am shrieking and screaming! I am sure, absolutely sure that I have completely freaked out my sweet little man. I DO NOT do rats or mice. Just don't do them. Then, to have a dead one on my rug. UGHH!! My sweet Madi has officially turned into a ranch dog now that she brings dead animals into the house. She is about to become a barn dog if she continues this type of thing.

Absolutely disgusting!

It's Beginning to Look....

A LOT LIKE SNOW!

I have to add my pictures of the crazy weather yesterday so that you can see Southfork covered in glorious white!

What a wonderful day- the little man's first snow!

Back in Business!

This was the FIRST picture that was ever taken of Joe and I!

We lived across the street from one another and he offered to help me put Christmas lights on the "girls" house. We totally went all out and had no idea what we were doing. We used about 5 rolls of duct tape. We joked about having our own Christmas light business. What we learned was NEVER use duct tape for lights, which I am sure you already knew. I was "patching" those lights every other day because they were falling down. Oh my, we have some hilarious memories from our Ralph St. days.


Since then, we have always lived in apartments. This year, my man was determined to get the ball rolling with the lights on our house last weekend. He was outside after Isaac went to bed working on the lights, so I slipped on the same outfit I was wearing at Ralph St. Watch out- we are back in business!

We also wanted to find a Christmas tree farm out here to have our own real tree. We called one of the locals out here, who without question has THE THICKEST accent of anyone I have met out here. He said (you got to do your worst country accent in your head while you read), "Now Joe, I don't know about no Christmas tree farm, but if you want to go for the natural look, I have a nice cedar tree in my backyard that you can cut down." Wow.

We did find a tree farm and had a wonderful time preparing for the holidays!

The little man was trying to suck up the falling pine needles like a vacuum.

So, here is our tree and our garland that looks nice from the front.

But from the side, we have the leaning tower of Normangee :)

Now, there's four (including Madi, of course!)

Jazzy Little Friend

We were given this jazzy little fella ...

We Whistle While We Work!

Well, I know I'm a little behind updating about last weekend, but here we go anyways...
We headed up to Lindale where my in laws live. Their deadline for their house is quickly approaching and we wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help. Their house is coming along so beautifully! Mom and dad have done such an exquisite job on every detail. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of their actual house, but that will leave for greater suspense for when its actually completed. We are sad we aren't able to do Thanksgiving with them since they are on a "house crunch" but we are excited about getting to spend Christmas at their new home!! yea!

We also got to hang out with and have lunch with an old and dear friend, Lauren! We had a wonderful time just catching up about life and my cheeks were seriously hurting from her making me laugh so much. Here she is teaching the little man the djembe...


Here he is helping out his dad and "Pops"!

Finally given in...

After many people trying to convince me to join facebook, I have finally given in.

The donkeys are loose!

So I have to run to the post office today. I am headed back and Joe calls right before I pull up. While I am about to punch the code for the gate, I look up and see that the DONKEYS ARE IN OUR FRONT YARD!

I am yelling into the phone, "Babe, the donkeys are loose; the donkeys are loose." Click.

Then I look further into the yard and I see Isaac crawling down the driveway (jk, that would not be a funny story.) I do see my other child, our dog Madi galloping up the driveway in an effort to chase the donkeys.

The donkeys get flustered and start BUCKING! I am having visions of Madi being knocked in the middle by these donkeys and I am freaking out. Thinking to myself, "Should I open the gate and risk the donkeys getting into the street and becoming road kill or do I rescue my dog from potentially becoming donkey meat???" AHH!

Madi it is. Here I come to the rescue! I open the gate. Open up the back door and I'm screaming for Madi to get in the car. "Madi, get your little hiney in this car right now!!" No response. I know she hears me because I am yelling as loud as I can. She continues to dart closer and closer to Bill, Doug, and Fred. The donkeys used to be my favorite, but right now they are in the crap list.

Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I see of my latino friends who work out here coming to the rescue. They are running from behind our house and they are yelling at me things in spanish. I can't understand a word that they are saying to me. (Probably get back in the car you crazy woman and shut the gate).

By the time I run as fast as I can in the house to get my camera, they are already back in the pasture. Dang. This is why you keep your camera with you at all times.

New York, New York!

We headed out for the Big Apple last Thursday!

Meet my cousin, Duke! We have always been really close and this year he turned the big 4-0. So for his birthday, he requested a visit to meet "Cousin IT", as he calls him. (Get it, his initials are I.T. Cousin It...okay, you're quicker than me."

5 years ago, shortly after he left Texas for Manhattan, he was diagnosed with HIV. The best part of the trip was seeing how great he looks and how much better he is feeling. He is in great heath and great spirits, an answer to many, many prayers!

(He wouldn't let me take any pics with him, so I had to spring it on him)

Now meet his cat, Clinton. (Not after Bill or Hillary, but after a borough in nyc - whew, good thing, right?) I am not really a cat person, but he has the coolest cat in the whole world. Clinton was definitely Isaac's favorite part of the trip and provided for endless hours of enertainment.

Here was the only signs of the Christmas season that we saw...

We also got to see my other cousin who lives in Brooklyn, Julie, which was such a fun treat!

His place is right in front of Lincoln Center (lots of scenes of August Rush) and its down the street from the Natural Museum of History (you can see the building his place is in lots of times in "Night at the Museum).

Here is the Central Park view out of his window, just breath taking!

We had a really great time! Although we went there to celebrate Duke's birthday, the hubs had some other things in mine to celebrate mine a little early. I got to see an amazing musical on broadway, Billy Elliot. While there are some themes (like most things on broadway) that I could do without, the dancing was OUT OF THIS WORLD! We also got to browse some really posh boutiques, eat some great food, and enjoy the city. Joe also blessed me with a new sweater, a makeover, and surprised me by arranging for a photographer to meet up with us on Saturday morning and take family pictures! Babe, thank you for an amazing trip. You always are the most creative and thoughtful gift giver, but the best gift is YOU!

Final Celebrity Sighting Count: 6

1. Patti LaBelle



2. The cowboy from the Village People



3. Tony nominated "In the Heights" star - Robin de Jesus


4. Marianne Jean Baptiste that is currently playing on "Without a Trace"


5. Madonna's Central park place


6. A-Rod's new condo that is a few blocks down from hers :)

Celebrity Sighting: 1

Patti LaBelle, her entourage, and her wig were sitting in front of us on the plane!

Praise Report- Little man enjoyed the friendly skies!

NYC Here We Come!

We are heading out tomorrow morning for the Big Apple and its the little man's first trip in the friendly skies, so please say a little prayer for us!

What's up with the cob, you ask. Well, a friend told me it helps with teething. He's 8.5 months and has been wrestling with this first tooth for about 6 months now. She says it helps the tooth break through. Please Lord, no teething flare ups while we are gone...please!

Fun pics and stories to come!

Rachel Avery

Another exciting and long-awaited part of my weekend is that I got to FINALLY meet sweet baby Rachel Avery! She is so precious and makes the cutest little faces. I can't wait to hang out more, little one. We have some fun times in store...

Wild Weekend!

We had a wild and fun weekend!

Friday we hosted a shower Friday for one of the lady Southfork employees.

Then we had some fun guests arrive in the wee hours of the morning!

Then, we got up at 5am (so the little man would stay sleeping) and drive to East Texas for Tara's wedding!

Here is me and the bride. We hung out with them for a little bit while they were getting their hair done.


Here is our accountability group from circa 2003

Here is the bride with her cousin who caught the bouquet. Such a precious moment! Every detail was exquisitely done by hand and every part of the wedding truly captured Tara and Jeremy's love for the Lord and each other. I am thrilled for you two! Lord knows how patient you have been for HIS person and HIS timing! We love you and are standing with you...

The Terry trio at the wedding just before we hit the road to head on home!

Terry Strategery Room

Terry Strategery Room: Play by Play of Our Election Coverage

5 pm Hubbs finishes up with work early to convene about the Election Night Food Plan…

5:01 Mexican is the consensus…who would’ve guessed? J

5:25 Hubbs comes in for the update of exactly what Mexican food we are having…?

5:30 Head out for our nightly walk to the mail box and last minute predictions of the election outcome

5:40 Hubbs grabs his Bible and rallies the troops to storm the heavens one last time before the first polls begin to close.

5: 45 Turn on the beloved FNC

5:50 Move the high chair into the den so we can feed Isaac without missing any coverage.

6:00 First polls close…little butterflies

6:30 Hubbs is swooning over his Election Night meal (he exaggerates because he loves me)

6:48 With each state that is announced for McCain, hubbs gives the fist pump and a “yessss”

7:01 Talk to my grandmother and she tells me that there is a sale on “prayer rugs” at Walmart and she said we need to head out and pick some up! She is a hoot!

7:15 (Pause for baby feeding and bedtime)

8:12 Hubbs is trying to get me in on his love for Brit Hume. No offense, just not a huge fan.

8:17 McCain loses Ohio, its looking pretty grim for the Maverick. (Joe sighs while saying, “Dagger in the heart”)

8:22 Hubbs says, “So I have some ideas for your blog name” “If I was to write blogs it would be: “Dole who? I knew it was going to be a difficult night when Elizabeth Dole gets beat in North Carolina.” That would be amusing. The next one would be “60 is the new 50.” Early in the night our focus shifted from whether or not we would get 50% for McCain to whether or not the donkeys would have 60 houses in the Senate and dominate all legislation that goes through the Congress.”

I think He secretly wants to be a blogger. One day he’ll crumble.

9:30 Barack Obama is our new president elect.

10:25 McCain’s speech was very touching and genuine. I wish he could have been able to express that same sincerity throughout the campaign. Nonetheless, I respect his graciousness.

11:00 My favorite part of Obama’s speech was his interaction with Michelle. Its just refreshing to see a politician that SEEMS (I do not know what goes on behind closed doors) really in love with his spouse. She honors and respects him well.

It was not my choice, but I have peace. God is always faithful when we cry out to Him and He indeed heard us this election, so He must have something else up His sleeve. Show Your glory, Lord!

Do They Celebrate Halloween in the Country?

Have you ever thought about that? I was sure they did. I got some candy and made some little scripture thingies to put with it. No little demons came to our door. Probably better :)

The baptist church "in town" did have a fall festival a few days before that was a lot of fun and we got to meet some people!

Catching Up...

So we are a little behind so I'm going to do my best to catch you up on things...

My 17 year old cousin came and stayed with us for 8 days. We really enjoyed her company and we definitely got a taste of what it would be like to have teenagers under our roof. The hubs said, "I'm excited about having teenagers." Eternal Optimistic. Wow, to think that day will be here before I know it.

Shayne, God has so much planned for you! We love you!

Mercy Comes with the Morning

So THIS is my new favorite song!

Unbirthday

I'm sorry I have been missing in action, but blogger has been giving me blog-ache with their issues with uploading pictures and I wanted to do this post justice with the pictures, but I"m just going to post what I have...

Did you remember how in "Alice in Wonderland" they had "unbirthdays." Well, growing up I always wanted to have a pool party for my birthday even though I was born in late November. So my mom would have "Unbirthday" parties at the pool for us during the summer- what a mom!

Well, I think last weekend it was my "unbirthday" party because I got 7 little presents! Nicole, the kids and Katie traded in her city slickers for her cowboy boots and the grasshopper plague. I couldn't have been more thrilled to have the whole clan (minus john, who was missed!) out here for a few days.

We tried heating up the pool but settled for taking the chill off the pool and the hot tub being warm. The kids swam their little hearts out, slid down the slide, and had diving contests. We visited all the race horses and the kids made sure they were fully nourished. Nicole and I went jogging on my trail and she was totally freaked out because apparently its grasshopper birthing season (or at least it seemed that way). (The pic at the top left is of the man outing when Joe loaded up the boys and headed to McDonald's- too cute!)

Last but not least, we had to make a trip out to see the donkeys. All the farm vehicles were being used so we took my car, affectionately called Louise, straight up through the pastures to track down those donkeys who were in the farthest corner. Once we got over there, they came right up to the car and proceeded to stick their noses inside the windows. Once the kids warmed up to them, it was if they could hear the donkey from Shrek say...

"And then one time I ate some rotten berries. Man, there were some strong gases seepin’ outta my butt that day!"

or

"That's right, I'm a flying talking donkey. You mighta seen a house fly, maybe even a superfly, but you ain't never seen a donkey fly "

or

"Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!"

Now for the pictures...

He's in love!

Here is the kids with Billy (the goat who thinks he's a horse)

Becca is such a little mommy and was so sweet and attentive to all of Isaac's needs! Precious!

The boys in the bath (Just in case you were wondering- little John isn't going to let his man business get away :)

They played together so cute all weekend and Nicole got them matching shirts! Love it!

Here is Nicole videoing the Ranch. I think she wanted to have proof to show John that she was really on a Ranch!


Nicole is the queen of cute little hats and she picked this one up to keep his little head warm this winter!

Thank you for making the trip and enduring the germs for us! We love you guys!

Hodge Podge

Just a few items of business this Wednesday evening.

Anna has a new blog- wahoo!

The Terry's joined the 21st Century and got DVR for the first time. Glory! I have been lobbying for this and could definitely give those Washington lobbyist a run for their money. Can I please have a moment of silence? I'm all choked up.

Found my new favorite chip- Garden of Eatin' Blue Corn Spicy! Delish! In honor of this and the fact that living out here and we eat more food at home than we ever have, I would like to give you the some things I have learned about food from my husband:

8. Milk does a body good.

7. The best meals are the ones off the grill.

6. Why buy hot sauce when you can make it?

5. In meal selection, meats are chosen first.

4. Don't french fries count as a vegetable?

3. Mexican food is good any (or every day) of the week.

2. Chips can go with every meal.

1. There's always a reason to go out to eat.

Honey, I love you and I appreciate you putting up with all the sandwiches, sub-par cooking, turkey sausage, and whole wheat. You encourage me to eat less desserts (because he doesn't like them!) and thank you for pretending like every meal is the best thing you have ever eaten.

Terry Tales

Last Monday we had a little playdate with a little girl who, unbeknown to us, had the 36 hr bug the week before and then Tuesday night the little man fell prey.

Then Thursday, Joe headed to a political fundraiser and it hit him driving home at 70 mph. Yes, there was remnants on the car. Then as he is about to pull up and we are talking on the phone, and I have to quickly drop the phone and run for the porcelain throne.

Still smiling :)


Joe started feeling better and headed out for a long overdue camping trip with his closest guy friend. He made it back in time for us to pull out and head to Austin for a surprise party for my uncle. We had a great time and Isaac had never had a night like that...lots of people saying, "Well, aren't you up late." Yes, we are THOSE parents. Then he fell asleep on 5th street, woke up still in the restaurant, and then woke up again when we arrived out at the lake house. Got to stay up with Aunt Stephanie and then finally crashed. What a night!

Here is my mom with Isaac at the party. Can you believe that she is 64!?!

Today we got to go on our first mom and son date! We really had so much fun; it was just what we needed. We went to Barnes & Noble in College Station and hung out in the kid section reading all kinds of books and playing with their train set. Then, we went to Chick-fil-a, ate some lunch, and then he got to play in the little kid section for the first time. He was then subjected to a grocery store run, but we had fun there too. I love you little buddy and had so much fun hanging out with you today...

Fall-ing

Don't you love the cool evenings and how the breeze comes in over the trees. Oh, this time reminds me when Joseph and I first met. Sigh...

Now that we all have lots of responsibilities, things pulling us here or there and then we are wearing jeans most of the time, we may have the grave temptation to skip over the razor in the shower. We think, "Oh my legs can wait until tomorrow."

Meet Lindsey (and her hubby and Tex:)

We became friends working at a Christian camp the summer before college and I knew she would be a friend I would cherish for life.

Home chick has never gone a day that I have known her without shaving her legs. Seriously. I do not lie. For me, it is a SIGN AND A WONDER! I got to spend some much needed time with her last year and felt once again inspired. I think after seeing her, I went 40 straight days without not shaving (which is quite a record in the dead of winter).

I have this sneaky suspicion that some of you may need a little shaving inspiration! Your husbands will love me (HER) for it. I asked Lindsey, "How do you do it?" She responds, "Its just like washing your hair. Would you get in the shower and not wash your hair. Its the same thing with your legs. And if you do it every day then it takes less time." Thanks Linz, I love and miss you! My life is not nearly as fun and sassy without you.

Then, last weekend to kick off October, Laura came and we carved pumpkins. Hers is the demonic one and yes, we offered her pumpkin up as a burnt offering after she left!

Here is our "kids" enjoying the same toy in the cool fall weather!

The mister sporting a long sleeve onesie! Oh, how I love the cute little vests and things that are out- Janie and Jack watch out!

Hope you are enjoying the fall even more than we are! All our love...

Startin' Him Early

Last night Joe stopped by the Republican headquarters to pick up some goodies. The little old lady said to Joe as he was walking out the door, "Now honey, don't forget to pray for Sarah Palin tomorrow night; she's going to need it." Only in Texas. I love it.




Yes, we are indoctrinating..i mean, teaching...him early! :)