aggies in the making {class of 2029 & 2032}

September 22, 2012- As the Aggie game is on tv while I'm getting a few things done in the office it reminded me that I needed to get these pics up from our visit to Aggieland in August.  

Our first stop on a HOT Saturday afternoon was the Association of Former Students to take a picture under the giant Aggie Ring monument.

The Aggie Ring is rich in symbolism, which you can read about here.

Next stop, the newly renovated Memorial Student Center (MSC).  We were hoping to see the video they play at the visitor's center but it wasn't open on the weekend.  Instead we walked through it ~ Brazos ran through~ to see how things have changed, and while it has some nice improvements, it just didn't feel the same.

Brazos practiced his "freshman wildcat".  

And what do all good Aggie parents do on a visit to Aggieland?  Take their kids down bottle cap alley and then to the Dixie Chicken for some Tijuana fries and to shoot pool.  

take me out to the {t}ball game

May & June 2012-  Since we have started flag football I thought I should probably get around to posting pics from t-ball season!

Pecos decided this would be the year to play t-ball.  I'm so glad he did because Casey really wanted him to play last year but we didn't want to push him into it.  And he almost didn't play this year...he changed his mind about a week before practice started.

They allow the coach to pitch to the players and after 3 strikes they bring out the tee.  Pecos did pretty good and managed to get a few hits from the coach's pitching.  

Even though the coaches do all the pitching in t-ball, Pecos looked pretty comfortable in that position.

Picture day!

The team had a great coach ~ Mr. Harper~ and he prayed with the kids before each game.

Casey filled in as assistant coach for a few games.

Pecos and Coach Harper:

We played one game a week for 6 weeks.  Every game we set up our chairs in front of the 3rd baseline fence, not so we could see the game better, but so Brazos could play with his tractors in the dirt.  

 He was pretty good about sharing, until someone wanted to play with his front end loader!

It was a great season ~Pecos said he had fun and he'll probably play again next year.   

i can {still} sew

September 2012- I've still got it {sort of}!  I was a very skilled sewer back in my youth.  My mom taught me to sew with her grandmother's sewing machine.  It was a Singer with all metal parts, nothing automatic or computerized about it.  I would sit at the machine in the sewing room with the window air conditioning unit humming in my ear, oldie music on the radio and mom hunched over my back guiding me through it.  My first project was an apron for a 4-H contest.  I got first place and never looked back.  Over the years I made everything from skirts to shorts, pants to blouses, dresses and jackets.  {I even made a bubble suit in the 80s- yikes!}   I won the most competitive of all sewing contests in 4-H in high school- Creative Choice at our state contest.  For this contest I enlisted the help of Aunt Sue to help me make my own pants pattern.  Of course back then I was a size zero and a half so I had to make my own pattern if I wanted it to fit!

Sewing was my path to so many great experiences.  I even met my college roommate/best friend/Godmother to my first born, through my sewing projects.  

Sadly, I just don't do it anymore.  I have dozens of excuses but none of them are very good.  About a year ago I wanted to start sewing a few small projects...mostly baby gifts for friends.  So I borrowed Oma's machine and made a few.  Since then I've acquired an older model machine that works good for these projects.

My skills are very rusty but with each new project my technique is improving and I'm remembering all those things mom taught me.  I'm just not ready to do button holes or zippers yet without her hovering over me so for now I'll stick with the simple projects.  

Here's some burp cloths I made for a friend's new baby boy.  

And these are for another baby boy that I made about a year ago.

mother's day out!

September 12, 2012- Brazos had a bit of a delayed first day of Mother's Day Out due to our trip to Maine.  But it was still a very exciting day for me!  Brazos was eager to wear his backpack and take his picture but that attitude changed once we headed for Fredericksburg.  I think he thought he'd be going to the Harper school with Pecos, even though we had visited his school for open house the week before.  He cried at drop off; I did not.  The teachers said he calmed down soon after I left and had a great day.

the best part

September 2012- The best part of being a stay at home mom is this:

The chance to be there for my kids' activities.  

Today it was rolling out gingerbread men with the kindergarten students at Harper school.

After we rolled and decorated them the kids took them to the cafeteria for baking and as the story goes, when they went back to get them they ran away!  So they'll spend the rest of the week learning about where everything is located and meet more of the staff as they look for them.  I'm certain they'll show up and be a tasty treat on Friday.

take the plunge

September 2012- We just couldn't resist jumping in the clear but cold water in Maine.  It was a beautiful afternoon and even though the water temperature was in the 50s we felt like we just had to jump in.  I normally don't even get in a swimming pool in Texas if the water is any less than 80 degrees.  But for some reason I knew I'd regret it if I didn't.  

In this protected and calm side of the island the water is so clear.  Not the crystal aqua of the Caribbean or Mexico but still clear and you can see several feet deep to the rocky bottom.

Yes, it was a shock to hit the cold water but when we got out it felt so warm; probably because there was such a drastic warming effect of exiting 52 degree water to 85 degree sunshine.  

I'm so glad I did it and can't wait to go back and do it again some day.

a beacon in the night

September 2012- 

This is Goat Island off the coast of Cape Porpoise in Maine.  

This photo is from my iPhone taken as we approached by boat.

It is the place Casey was brought home after he was born when his dad was stationed there as a lighthouse keeper in the U.S. Coast Guard.  It is a place that is forever part of our family history.  It is now owned and maintained by the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust who so graciously let us "come home" and stay in the house when we visited with Casey's family for a lighthouse keepers reunion.  It was a homecoming nearly 40 years in the making for Casey. 

Words cannot describe how incredible of an experience it was for us to live in the house for four days and create memories that will last a lifetime for us and our boys.

fishin'

September 2012- Part of the Labor Day festivities in Harper includes the kid fishing tournament at the community park.  

Small fishing hole, lots of kids fishing.

And a few parents helping.

This one almost got away!

But daddy's got fast hands!

Brazos really just wanted to play with the worms.

Then it was off to the stick horse rodeo!