Countdown to TEN!

We will be celebrating TEN years of marriage in just over 2 weeks. TEN! We were babies when we got married.. well, ok, I was 23..he was 22.. but that seems so young to me now.. What were we thinking? :)

These last ten years, well, 13..as we were together 3 years before we were married..have been nothing short of amazing - and the ups, downs, and all of the in between - I am grateful for every moment.

This caricature was done on the San Antonio Riverwalk during the summer of 1999, the year before we were married.



Look at me! Ha! A baby, I tell you, a baby! I actually think it is spot-on for Bobby, minus the buckteeth. :)

I have to mention Allison in this post.. As she was so proud of this drawing yesterday, that she drew from memory.


She drew Arthur.. this guy


The drawing on the left is Arthur and she said the one on the right is his sister.
(She had to improvise with the colors as we only have black, blue, green, and red.. as she drew on the dry erase board, which we use to practice writing..) But, hey.. she felt the urge to create.. and far be it for me to suppress my little artist!!

Alright, well, I am off to pack.. it is off to San Antonio for a weekend visit.. hmm..maybe we will have another caricature made? Stay tuned!

Have a great weekend!

Jumpin' Jack

Well.. this day has come. Our time with our pool has come to an end.

We knew you wouldn't last forever. We knew you would eventually get little holes and tears in you, that despite our best efforts (er.. husband's best efforts), prove to be too overwhelming to consider storing you for another year.

We played with you a total of 6 months out of a 2 year period. While yes, the time with you was rather short, we filled our hearts with lots of memories with you. And we will take them with us as we grow.

And, well.. we just had to let Jack have some fun the last day you were with us.


Jack had been waiting to do that all summer. Nothing like jumping in the pool to fetch the ball.


And we were so glad that we didn't let Jack in the pool before this day.
It looked like waste water when he was finished with it.

But, sometimes fun is messy.

Happy Sunday,

Learning to Swim

We have some cool news this week! Allie learned to swim..which is a very big deal. Before this week, she never even wanted to go under water. She was scared that she couldn't hold her breath. She would say, "No, Mommy, I will learn to hold my breath when I am ten." ha.. I don't know why she picks ten, she says things like that..

But, on Monday, she said to me, while we were in the pool, "I am ready to go under, all the way under." And just like that, off she went. And it has been hard to get her up out of the water ever since. She puts up obstacles in the water to practice swimming under.. she is getting very good at it. And, then she advanced to learning how to swim above the water.. Is that the way it works? You learn to swim under water first? What do I know? Not much.

And then yesterday, she wanted to learn about different ways to swim. I showed her the breastroke, the freestyle, and the backstroke. She did her best to copy what I was doing. I am just so proud. Life is about moments like these. I cherish them.

Leaves or no leaves....that is the question.

I painted this yesterday.. an acrylic painting on 3 canvasses for my livingroom. I was in an autumn-state-of-mind, and it came out through my painting. I orginally was thinking that I wanted to paint some type of whimsical leaves on it...just a spattering of them here and there -

But I woke up this morning, and had a change of heart.. I think I like it this way..

What do you think? leaves or no leaves?

Happy Wednesday!

Blog Makeover!! and Exclamation points!!!!

Look at my blog and all of its gloriousness!!
What a wonderful change, right?
I owe this honor to the woman behind the curtain, Brittany of Peachy Keen Blog Design!

I have known Brittany through Blogging for quite some time now, probably approaching a year and a half, at her blog, Diary of B. If you don't know, Brittany, please pay her a visit, she is a sweetheart!

I was drawn to Miss Brittany (well, MRS. Brittany, as she is now married) because of her witty humor and knack for the written word. She tells her stories that reels you in, keeps you entertained, and you really feel like you know her by the end of it. She is a genuine, thoughtful, caring person and because of those things, I trusted in that she would "get" me and what I wanted in the look of my blog.

She was so easy to work with, asked a variety of questions to better understand what I wanted, (most of which I answered terribly, might I add)...
And she nailed it.

I mean, does this not scream me, or what? Look at the detail - how the "My Art" looks like it is written on canvas - oh, and I have a signature now - what? me? with a signature? Cool! And check out my new button; she put "and the mom in me" in parenthesis - how genius! I loooove it!

Thank you, Brittany!! As I have already told you, you are a gem of a person, and a very talented one at that!

Folks, if you are thinking of getting a fresh look for your blog, head on over to Peachy Keen Blog Design, Oh - And her prices can't be beat!!

Oh - and I can't wait for her to do the banner for my Etsy Shop..I will be commissioning her to do that for me in September - when I take my shop off vacation - ok - going now - I am just so excited!!

oh, and apparently, I love exclamation points!!!

!!!!