Ear Piercing - Take Two

The first time Rachel had her ears pierced was when she was three. She begged me to get her ears pierced and I explained how it would hurt and that didn't seem to matter much to her. She was one tough chick, no tears shed and all smiles. She wore the earrings for a while and one day I noticed she didn't have earrings in her ears. She took them off and I tried to get earrings back in the holes but it was too late. Fast forward to today, and we have a replay except this time I have pictures. Again, no tears and all smiles. I explained to her if she took the earrings out this time we would not be getting ears pierced anymore. Let's hope that works.

Kindergarten and First Grade

It's offical, I have two full time students instead of at home babies. Today was the first day of Kindergarten for Rachel, and Ethan started first grade. I was determined to get a few pictures this morning because last year didn't work out so well. When Ethan started kindergarten he had to be on the bus at 5:50a.m. so trying to snap a few pictures that early in the morning did not work. Ethan still wasn't happy about the pictures, as you can see. This year school starts a 8:00a.m. and it's only a 10 minute drive from our house. Yesterday was meet the teacher day and Rachel is so excited to have the same teacher Ethan had for kindergarten, Mrs. Broussard. Ethan met his first grade teacher and her name is Mrs. Johnson. Kindergarten started off great for Rachel, they got to make s'mores for a snack! That is one of her favorites and she thought that was so cool. Ethan was glad to see the school added on a new addition to the playground, lots of bars to climb, swing, and hang onto. Today was only a half-day just to ease the transition back from summer break.

WWW.JDCOUTURE.COM

I'm pretty sure I have the coolest pair of flip flops on the coast now! My friend hand designs and hand makes all of her flip flops, and made me a pair. Check out her website at www.jdcouture.com, she has a huge selection. I've also added her site under my favorite links at the bottom right of my blog. Yes, Rachel loves my flip flops and I ordered her a pair too, she can't wait to get them!

Ethan and Rachel TX Time

While I was visiting Jason and skiing, Ethan and Rachel did pretty much whatever their little hearts desired at Grandpa and Nanny's house. They rode the 4 wheeler, played with all their cousins, went swimming, and I'm pretty sure stayed up past their bedtime every night too. Oh, and colored hair has a whole new meaning to me now too. My parents brought me back from the ranch and we took Ethan and Rachel out to lunch and then bowling. Our time in TX is coming to an end and we need to get back to MS, because school starts Monday!

Lake Bridgeport = Ski Time = Aching Body

I made it to Dallas early Monday morning and was on the lake by noon. My dad bought a boat this summer, and I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to ski. I love water skiing and never get to do it, now going to TX in the summer has a whole new meaning for me, hahaha. I haven't skied since I was in high school and I have muscles still hurting from Monday. I had a total blast and can't wait for the next time.

Albuquerque, NM - Safety School

I finally made it to ABQ, Wednesday evening and Jason had Starbucks and a chocolate chip cookie waiting for me in the truck, what a sweetie! We spent the next few days acting like boyfriend and girlfriend; staying up late, sleeping in, going to the movies, and I'll stop there. Saturday was a full day, toured Route 66, went to the zoo, aquarium, and botanical gardens. I used Jason's camera so I will post those pictures when he gets home. Then it was TIME for the main event, Saturday night UFC 101! We found a local bar that was showing the fight and it worked out really well, we had our own little table and huge flat screen right in front of us. I think Forrest is still running and BJ Penn redeemed himself. We relaxed Sunday, I was going to try and leave that night but the flights were too full. Silver lining in that, we found a California Pizza Kitchen (my ALL-TIME FAVORITE restaurant) and had an awesome dinner. Monday morning came too soon and I was headed back to Dallas.

Next Stop - DAL continuing on to ABQ

On the way home from Gulf Shores, we stopped and picked up 4 round-trip buddy passes from more awesome friends! I scrambled to pack suitcases and get the house semi-straight before leaving for 7 days. We left at 0500 the next morning headed to New Orleans Airport, those of you who Space A travel understand what it's like traveling with 2 kids and not being able to check bags so that is why there are not any pictures of us on the plane or in the airport. I didn't feel like keeping up with my camera. We stopped in Dallas, I ran the kids out to Grandpa, and I headed back through security to catch my flight to Albuquerque to see Jason.

Gulf Shores, Alabama

So, Jason left for training and after being gone basically all summer the kids and I were ready to hang out at home and relax. Well, thanks to some awesome friends offers we couldn't resist, relaxing at home wouldn't be in our near future. We spent the day at Gulf Shores (hour and a half drive from our house) and enjoyed a dolphin cruise, Ethan got to be Captain of the boat on our return trip. After the cruise, we saw a sign for glitter tattoos and Rachel was not going to take NO for an answer. Ethan got a swordfish, Rachel a dolphin, and I got a star. Pretty cool tattoos, never seen glitter last so long. After the tattoo pit stop it was time to head back home and start our next adventure.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Rachel loves dance so much and after being gone all summer we finally got her dance pictures. A lot of craziness went into picture day. If you know me, you know that I am pretty well organized and promptness is very important to me. Well, I took Rachel out of school early to fix her all up for her pictures. Rachel's hair is very hard to work with and it looked so pretty; we were at the photographers 10 minutes early. We get into the dressing room to put her costume on and it's not in the bag!!!!!!! Did I mention the photagrapher is on a very strict time schedule, girls were scheduled every 30 minutes for recital pictures. Oh, and we also live 30 minutes away! I was completely embarassed having to tell the lady, yeah, I'm a dork I forgot the one thing you shouldn't forget on picture day, costume! We were also one of the last scheduled for the day so now we are running into closing time. So, she said she would squeeze us in if I got back before they closed. Why didn't we just reschedule you ask? We were leaving for 3 weeks so that wasn't an option. Needless to say we made it back for pictures but Rachel's hair didn't hold up to all the craziness. Better luck next time. I thought these pictures were pretty crazy to compare. If you missed watching her dance it's in the May blog archives. I didn't stick with dance, softball quickly became my sport. However, I think dance might be around for a while if Rachel has anything to do with it.