By the way...

I started a blog to e-publish all the stories that float around in my head and talk about my favorite children's books.

For all of you, who've been reading it... I just posted the ironic conclusion to my fractured fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea: Shocking Secrets Revealed".
(This is dripping with sarcasm, as I'm pretty sure only Mom, Suz, and Laura even know it exists.)

http://storybooksnacks.blogspot.com

Jeff is away for a whole WEEK---its torturous!!! I started getting homesick for him about 3 hours BEFORE he left. I got that same nervous feeling that I get when I leave Lily so I can run to the store or something.

With Christmas around the corner, (and the land of nod catalog just arrived) here are:

Lily's favorite things (like Oprah's favorite things...except these are a few things we CAN'T afford really-but I would like to get for her this Christmas or a Christmas to come)

1. The Rose Petal Cottage

she's still a little young for this... but I would have been salivating over this as a little girl. Lily WILL have this someday.
2. The 2 in 1 learning kitchen
the commercials make this kitchen look so cute. Nana purchased this already for Lily's 1st Christmas. I always loved a good kitchen set. I was so excited to get one with running water for Christmas one time... it turned out that you had to put water in a tray and then pump yourself silly to get it to come through the faucet. I found that pretending to have running water wasn't too bad after all.

3. BlaBla Toy
I can just see her dragging one of these precious knit friends around everywhere she goes.

4. Animal Stacking Towers


5. Books of all shapes and sizes.

6. Educational toys and games


7. This entire outfit
especially the converse sneakers.

Special surprise for my readers:
You're getting all of these thi-ings! you are and you are and you are and you are... (Oprah's favorite things show allusion)

One of my new favorite finds:

Jeff found this album and its been a complete miracle worker. A very fussy, sleepy Lily will seriously stop crying and listen to these until she falls asleep. The best part is that they're quite enjoyable for us to listen to as well. I've walked into Jeff's office several times to find him working to the soothing sounds of Sunday Bloody Sunday on the glockenspiel.

If you remember me posting my 2007 goals... one of them was to make a foray into the world of digital scrapbooking. So I've finished 3 pages, but something is just off about them. I'm definitely way better at manual scrapbooking. Maybe I'll get better as I do more... or maybe I'll use something other than the free downloadable supplies.

Anyway... here they are:

Jeffrey kills his first snake!





We're pretty close to living in the country here. My keen snake spotting eyes saw his beady little eyes poke up over the porch from the grass while rocking our poor little sick baby to sleep by the back door.

It gives me great joy to see a snake being killed. Ever since Satan chose to inhabit one in the garden of Eden, I feel God made it our duty to crush the head of every one we see... or have our husband do it. I'm pretty sure there's a verse for that.

I'm trying to research some kind of reptile poison that we could sprinkle around the yard. Surely that exists. I don't really mind if it kills other wildlife as well. I'm really not a fan of any of it as long as its in our yard.

I hope no crazy snake enthusiasts Google this and leave a mean comment.

cute as a bug



These are my new favorite pictures of Lily-bug. I also think they show nicely how she earned her nickname of 'Drool-ie Kimmel'.

Fall Fun... Texas Style.

Fall is always kind of depressing in Texas. It seems like it should be nice out and you should be able to go for a stroll amidst the vibrant red and orange foliage. When really, its pretty much no different than July.

This is quite apparent while sweating like a fat guy jumping rope in the attic from just trying to lay my 3 month old on a pumpkin. We went to a fall family ministry event at a ranch with the James' and the Johns. Pushing a stroller over rocky paths is no easy task. The children got the opportunity to pet some goats, see some horses, watch their dads shoot slingshots and play box hockey, and their moms fail miserably in a cake walk... all while risking heat stroke.


They survived and we got quite a few cute pictures.... which is all that matters.