May Madness...

May is always a VERY busy month for us.  It starts of with the beloved anniversary between me and my wonderful husband, then Mother's Day, Ahliana's 3rd Birthday (which is always about a week long), and ends with Memorial Day.  I am going to try to bundle all of that into this one post so please forgive me in advance if it's a long one.

Anniversary

It is amazing to think that 9 years ago I met my husband, at a bar nonetheless...yes, I said bar.  That was always a big NO in my book of unspoken rules... I remember thinking that you do not meet good men in bars... I will have to admit now that I was wrong.... My husband is truly amazing and I am very lucky to have him by my side through thick and thin.  In the last 7yrs I can honestly say that I have put him up to the test...

I, Jenney, take you, Keith, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part...

Mother's Day

We made the trip out to Galveston , where we met up with the boys to celebrate the day (they went out a few days prior to get some fishing in).  I really wish our Gulf water was not so brown... these pictures actually look a little gross.  Gross water or not... we had lots of fun.  Ahliana searched for shells and clams.  We found several itty bitty clams and as the tide would come up the little mussels would quickly sneak out of  their shell just enough to bury themselves under the sand to keep from getting washed away... it became a game.. entertaining enough for (an almost) 3yr old...  I think the highlight of my day was when my little bug curled up in my lap and feel fast asleep... the hot summer heat didn't even bother me...  together we melted into one as she quietly slept and I soaked in every minute of it.  This day was really a celebration of her... without her I would not have the pleasure or the privilege of being a mother. 

The Birthday Girl- The BIG 3

Ahliana had a hard time turning three.  She told me numerous times to cancel her party because she did not want a birthday.  When I would ask her why she would tell me without hesitation, "Because I don't want to get older, I always want to be your baby".  Little does she realize... she will ALWAYS be my baby...

We started our celebrations at the Children's Museum.  She had so much fun.  She wore a shirt that said , Happy Birthday to me, every time someone wished her a happy birthday she would tell them "I don't want it, I am giving it to my daddy".. oh silly girl, if this is how you are turning 3 what are we going to do when you turn 30?  Birthdays are fun and it means that you have been blessed with another wonderful year of life.  Embrace it my child.

Trying to catch a big fish for daddy (on his birthday...)

When we got home we had lots of fun blowing bubbles with our little bubble gun.  So much easier then the little sticks you have to blow into.

Such an Ahliana face.  I love this face!!

Happy Birthday to you...♫ ♪

Happy Birthday to you...♫ ♪

Happy Birthday to Ahliana ...♪♪♪♫

Happy Birthday to you...♫ ♪

So in love with his baby girl... you see the sparkle for her in his eyes always!

One of my favorite moments.  Ahliana pulled us both in by wrapping her arms around us as everyone sung Happy Birthday to her.  Such a sweetie.

Looks like a little girl that wanted to cancel her birthday party...NOT!

The birthday theme was a mix of John Deere and Cowgirl ... When I found this pinata I was super excited.  It was a little small but ohhhh soooo cute!!  Get it Ahli!!

This is the BMOC (big man on campus) he made the first break in the pinata.  Unfortunately for us this happened way to soon.  There were several other children that wanted a swing at that little tractor so Keith broke out the electrical tape and taped it up a couple of times to give all the kids a swing.  Okay how funny is that.... only my hubby.

The party was a success.  I think all had a wonderful time and the weather was perfect.  No really it was perfect (understanding that while I am typing this it is about 110 in the shade here).

A big Thanks to Kristy for taking all the pictures.  Without her none of these wonderful pictures would have been possible.

I will have to save Memorial Day for another post.  I want to get May's update posted before it turns September on me.  I promise to post again soon.

April in a Nutshell...

Whoa has it really been over two months since I have blogged?  where does the time go?  Life is so busy... I feel like we have been living in the fast lane for the last few months... oh heck who am I kidding... it's been more like 9 yrs ... my husband and now my daughter are both "social butterflies" ... I am really just trying to keep up... 

I guess I will start with April sense that seems to be where I left off.  All that really happened in the month of April was Easter... so Easter it is....

Typically every year we are fortunate enough that we get to celebrate Eater twice.  Our Easter and Greek Easter ... they are very similar but generally fall on different Sundays.  We really enjoy being with our Greek families and we l.o.v.e the grubb.  This year Greek Easter fell on the same Sunday as our Easter... so we went Greek...

Of course Easter would not be Easter without confetti eggs.  Ahliana loves breaking eggs over her daddy's head.  There is something just silly and fun about all the little colored dots of paper that make her laugh like nothing else... It took days to get the sprinkles of color out of her hair and the dye off of the tub and anything else they touched but it was well worth it.

Well I was trying to post more pics... but it looks like this is it folks... now I know why I can't keep up with my blogging... I have the hardest time uploading pictures... uhggg!!!



Butterfly Center, Kemah, & Jesse

There is so much to talk about but I have had blogger's block in a major way.  Maybe I just have so much to share that I didn't really know where to begin.  I don't want to leave anything out.  With the beautiful weather that we have been experiencing for the last few weeks we have just been none stop busy.  We've been to the Butterfly Center, shopping with Christmas money, a birthday party, A baseball game (and watched my nephew win his game!!  YAY!!), Kemah, The Katy Rodeo (to watch my beautiful niece do a calf scramble and win some $$), a kite festival, I made a trip to Brazos Bend State Park to take nature pictures... gosh what haven't we done.

I have so much to share...so really, were do I begin... I am definitely going to need to break this done into a couple of blog posts..

Let start with vacation. Keith and I were able to take some time off the last week of February.  It was nice to just reconnect.  With our busy schedules the only time we seem to see each other these days are weekends and they are normally so busy that there is no "us" time.  Where did all that wonderful quality time (QT) that we used to spend together go?  I had so many plans for vacation...so many things I needed to get done, clean out my closet, clean out Ahli's closet/room, get some digital scrapbooking done... none of which even got touched and I am truly okay with that.  Spending time with my hubby was wonderful!!!  I've missed him.  Ahliana was also home sick for part of the week...another round of double ear infections.  Her tubes fell out so here we go again....

While on vacation we did manage to take Ahliana to the Houston Museum-Natural Science/ Cockrell Butterfly Center.  It was awesome.  The butterflies were beautiful and the exhibit is just amazing.  Kristen I really wanted to steal your flower bracelet idea for Ahli but somehow we just ended up there...it was spontaneous...but next time girl.   This spring I plan on purchasing a milkweed plant to attract butterflies of our own (well caterpillars).  I want to put the caterpillars in a butterfly container so Ahli can watch the process and then together we can let them go. 

Keith and I took a day just for ourselves and went down to Kemah for lunch.  We sat on the deck and just watched the boats go in and out of the harbor.  It was a beautiful day and after lunch we held hands as we walked along the boardwalk.

Ahliana recently when shopping with some of her Christmas money.  She got so much for Christmas that I just figured we would have more fun if we just waited until her Christmas toys got boring.  My brother and sister in law always give her a gift card to Toys R Us... and Ahli loves that place!  What kid doesn't?  I let her pick out what she wanted and she did good...made out like a bandit.  She got a set of Pink Lego's, Lincoln Logs, and her favorite....a Jesse doll from Toy Story 3.... I have never seen her so attached to anything (well other them me).  The first thing she said when I took it out of the box is "Mommy, where's my name?"  She wanted her name on the bottom of the boot like Andy...then she went and got Buzz and asked me to do the same.  Too cute!!

She takes Jesse to school with her regularly.  Jesse has to stay in her cubby but she loves to show her off to all of her friends first.  She even asks me to buckle her in the seat with her... I love this girl!  She is growing up so fast.

Well I will let you all digest this for a bit and then I will blog about the rest.  Hopefully we have an uneventfull weekend so I don't add to the list...geezzzz if I could only keep up.

Photography Classes

I have now taken two photography classes. One with Val Westover Photography and the other at the Leisure Learing Center. ***Disclaimer (which I feel the need to put toward the beginning of this post)...these classes did not... I repeat...did not make me a professional photographer.  Taking pictures is something that I really enjoy and it has become sort of a hobby of mine.  I guess you could call me a DSLR faker, actress, fancy camera holder, want-a-be... 

The first class I took was in October 2010.  It was hosted by Val Westover and Stephanie Adriana. I really enjoyed this class and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in photography.  Val and Stephanie were very fun and eager to help and answer questions.  Don't get me wrong...  I am still not sure what I am doing... but I did really enjoy the class...and if they are ever in town and offering another class (or even this one again) I would love to go. 

The class not only had a sit down book portion but there was also a couple hours of hands on. They called it a "safari". It was fabulous and I really can not express enough how wonderful I thought both Val and Stephanie were.  Did I mention that I really liked this class....

The following three pictures where taken in the aperture priority setting...
f/4, f/13, then f/25.

The next two were just cool views so I snapped a pic...

This is Stephanie helping Demetra with a question and showing her how to work her camera... very hands on!

This is panning practice... where we would take a picture of a moving objest adjusting the shutter speed.

Checking out our shots to make sure we were doing it right...

The second class that I took was at Leisure Learning... it was more of a class room setting and I found it to be a little boring... informative but boring. We did bring pictures to our last class and it was fun to look at all the creativity from other students...some made me feel better about my knowledge and other's made me feel a little behind.   The pictures below are examples of product illustration.  I recreated it from a picture that I saw and really liked...I got real close to the original (but the idea was not mine).  The teacher said I got a gold star because the picture was taken vertically...hey if that is a complimanet...I'll take it..

 This was actually the first shot before I got out the mirror...it is also has more "natural" lighting instead of flash lighting (which caused the above shadowing)..

Happy "Love" Day!!

Today A few days ago I celebrate Valentines with my two very special Loves- My honey and our daughter.  How could anyone ask for anything more.  Keith and I don't normally do much for Valentines Day for each other...the day is a little over-rated if you ask me and this year was no different.  However, I did buy a new lens for my camera (50mm f/1.8) and called it a valentines gift...does that count?  He of course got a Hoops and YoYo card...that sang!!  If that does not profess my love I don't know what will....giggle...

Now Ahliana on the other hand got all kinds of junk stuff.  She got enough valentines candy to last her for a couple of months at school (glad I did not buy her any).  All we got her was a couple of cards, a cute stuffed giraffe and bandaids... yes, you read it right, bandaids...and she loves 'em!  And they don't make her bounce off the walls for hours.  Perfect!

We were able to get out and about last weekend and the weather was gorgeous!  I mean let the sun shine baby!  Sounds like a contradiction form an earlier post.  Please don't get me wrong, I do like cold weather, and I would have loved to have seen snow.  But really can you beat a day that is about 70 degrees, sunny, with low to no humidity... Hello... I don't really think so.  I would take that every.single.day.of.the.year.  Okay that's a lie too... I would at least like it to be cold around around the Christmas Holidays. Okay enough rambling and back to the wonderful weather.  We went to a pre-rodeo festival that was put on by the Texas Rodeo Committee.  They put on this event every year for free and it is really alot of fun.  they have several bounce houses, pony rides, ring tosses, football throwing, train rides, and so much more. 

They had a dog show out there that was being put on by an entire different group...but wow...these dogs and their tricks are amazing...they can really "catch air".  The kids were only interested in that for about a minute but my husband really enjoyed it...he took all the dog pics...

The picture below is the only picture that I am able to upload that I took with my new lens (upload problems have nothing to do with the lens itself).  Apparently I use more space then I am allocated with my "free" Picasa/Google/Blogger account so I need to purchase more GB's...LOL.  I guess I need to really learn how to resize my pics for posting???  Hopefully after this weekend I will be able to post more amazing fun pics...after my whooping $5 purchase for more space...again LOL!!

OHHHH.... AHHHHH...Isn't that so cool!?!? 

Burrr Rabit!

Today we had our second Arctic blast blow through Houston...Wow it is really flipping cold in Houston right now.  I am really not complaining... I actually like the cold in small spurts... and really... do we have a right to complain?  It's not like we live in Chicago right now or anything...it's just cold.  But if I seriously hear the phrase "Arctic Blast" again I might just scream.  I was unable to go into work last Friday because the road conditions were to icy and Houston is just not prepared to get hit with this kind of weather.  Today we actually had snow flakes falling from the sky... it was beautiful!  Unfortunately the snow did not stick.  There was not enough of it and the ground was still too warm.  But I did get to drive home with ice drops on my truck.  I wanted Ahli to see the snow so bad this year and she was all set for  it... what are the chances of snow in 2012...do you think it can happen for Houston 3 years in a row? Doubtful but we will keep our fingers crossed.

Hard to believe that we went to a pool party the week before last... and it was 70 and muggy outside.  Ahhh Houston!  The pool party was for one of Ahliana's friends.  He takes swim lessons and Ahli L.O.V.E.S to swim.  I of course took pics while daddy swam (I have a hard enough time getting into a swim suit in the summer when a tan hides some of the hail damage that weight and age has added to my ...bleep).  The pool water looks a little murky, maybe because it was an indoor pool?!?  You can tell that my baby girl had a great time though. 

We also baked cupcakes for Grandma again.  Ahli is at an age where she loves to help.  So I set everything up in little bowls so it was easy for her to poor everything into the mixing bowl and watch as she mixes away.  Stir 15 times this way and 10 times this way...lol