Father's Day 2017

We recently visited Tupp's Brewery in McKinney for a local Texas beer taste.  What a cool place that resembled an airplane hanger with quite a bit of distilling equipment!

Bill did a beer flight.  That was right up his alley.  And in little plastic cups so no one gets hurt.  The atmosphere was casual, the staff was friendly and we were relaxed!

What a great visit.

Bill's shrimp and crab leg boil that we enjoyed on Father's Day!

Birthdays - Here's to you

What a lovely gift to receive in my inbox this morning!  A Starbucks coffee on them in honor of my birthday .... and all I did was need to be celebrating a birthday.

The celebration continues!

Happy Birthday weekend - continued

Part of the celebration this weekend was going to breakfast on Sunday morning.  Since Erica and I had such a wonderful time last weekend, this weekend was Bill and Ellie's turn!

On the rainy, Sunday morning off we went by 9:30am to downtown Plano to visit XO Coffee Co.

Ellie chose the table with the oversized, wooden Tic-Tac-Toe board to use while we waited for our food.  We shared across the table.  Cinnamon Waffle, Nuttela-stuffed french toast and Sausage and Gouda omelet .. with sides of rosemary potatoes, fruit salad and cherry compote with Texas Toast .. all fair game to share!

It was wonderful.  The coffee was wonderful, the food delicious and the company was perfect for a birthday weekend breakfast!

YUM!

Happy Birthday Weekend

The beauty of a holiday weekend preceding a birthday is the opportunity to use that time your best advantage.  Such is the case this weekend.  Memorial Day weekend!

So celebrate I ordered cupcakes from my favorite cupcake-baking neighbor, Melissa!  She has a great system that she'll post what flavors have been ordered for the week or weekend and let us tag on with a cupcake or two!  I usually wait for the best flavors and then place an order.  At that point I'll find an occasion to be celebrating.

I love that Melissa also takes prayer requests for her cupcakes as well.  She considers her baking a spiritual practice and allows us to influence what she prays about during the baking.

The flavors above include both Bill and Ellie's favorites - which makes it so much nicer to share!

Strawberry Sensation - strawberry cake with strawberry frosting - Bill's favorite
Brilliant Butterfingers - butterfingers in the batter cupcake with toffee and butterfingers buttercream
Tuxedo - (black and white), Dark chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting - Ellie's favorite

We enjoyed them a 1/4 cupcake at a time ... never a whole cupcake .. but slices like a cake!

Delicious!!

Soul Sisters

One of my besties, Erica was in town over the weekend.  We all know when you're in town visiting it's tough to see everyone on your list.  When she called on Saturday to ask if I was free for coffee Sunday morning I was happy to meet up!

We tried a new place, XO Coffee Company in Plano.  How charming!  Great breakfast - think Nutella Stuffed French Toast and warm cinnamon rolls, delicious coffee surrounded by exposed brick and a mix of wood and metal all around.  Great little place!

And the company was even better!  Such an awesome way to start the week on a Sunday morning with the smiling face of my girl!

Date night at the Heard Museum

We had an awesome time at Date Night at the Heard on Saturday.  As members of this museum we were invited to an event of food, wine and music on the grounds of the museum.  It was truly my kind of event.  The guys all wore khaki shorts and short sleeve shirts while the women all had jeans, capris, leggings with layers on top.  We drank wine from plastic, pedestal cups and enjoyed food from Cuban and Greek food trucks while listening to an 8-piece band playing the music of the 60's and 70's sitting in our comfortable lawn chairs!

These were our people!

While we were enjoying all this fun Ellie was with a group of kids in a different area of the museum seeing exhibits of live animals and learning more about natural habitats.  Child care onsite - what a treat!

After a couple hours we gave away our unused drink coupons, packed up our chairs and got dessert to take with us.  We shared a cuban treat with Ellie on the ride home.

Kabobs!

Gorgeous surroundings

So proud ...

Ellie finishes fifth grade this week.  Its been a wonderful, growing, learning year.  The first year in middle school consists of both 5th and 6th grades.  She finishes this year and passes the torch to the incoming 5th graders.  Throughout this year she made friends, made decisions and made the best of so many different situations.  As the school year comes to an end she remains kind, thoughtful, smart and beautiful - both inside and out.

When the year began Ellie realized that Advanced Math and Advanced Science were going to take more work than she was used to doing.  Math in particular didn't come as easily and to stay current she spent three mornings each week going to Mrs. Murray's extra help sessions before first period.  Many evenings were spent at the kitchen table struggling through the homework.

At that point I wondered if this could have been a mistake to place her in the advanced course.  When I spoke to her teacher she explained that when she tested it was just over the threshold for advanced.  The choice was made to place her since the non-advanced work prove boring.  The advanced class would take time and work, but with the extra help sessions should make the difference.

She was right.

And Mrs. Murray wasn't her only wonderful teacher this year.  Mrs Sloppy was a terrific English/Language Arts teacher and UIL (Academic Competitions) coach.  Ms. Davis brought life and fun to the Advanced Science class for Ellie.  And Mrs. Gambill created a strict classroom and powerful lessons for her to Social Studies.  Those are the Core Classes.  The rotation on a daily basis of Art, Band, Chorus, College & Career and Computers allowed her to make choices for next year.

Ellie has chosen her elective next year to be Chorus.  She's a singer.  This will allow her to learn music and do what she loves!

With only a few days remaining, the final grades have been calculated and published on Friday.  The electives and P.E. were all graded 'satisfactory' without a number or letter grade.  The remaining classes:

English  92
Math   91
Science   92
Social Studies 95

Final grades.  Not second semester, not fourth term.  But FINAL GRADES - the entire year!

So, so proud of this amazing young woman!

Begin.

When I made tea the other day at work I found in my cupboard tea bags with messages on the tags.  What a treat.  Something so small, yet such a wonderful little lift to the day.

"Love is where companion prevails and kindness rules.

Begin.

Two lost photos

A couple of photos that never made the blog are of the three ladies in Kemah over Easter weekend.  We didn't plan the pink but we made the best of it in photos.

There were from outside the aquarium and looking out at the water and the birds landing on the posts across the way.

It was a wonderful day!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day, I've learned is not about breakfast in bed - cinnamon lattes at 9am with warm croissants - or lots of homemade coupons for treats and chores.  Mother's Day is a day to stop and treasure what you already have.  The blessing is to be a mother, the ability to be part of the shaping and guiding of her life.  I already have the gift.

My choice for lunch on Sunday was to visit the grand opening of Freddie's - steak burgers and frozen custard!  We actually met Freddie and his wife - wonderful Texans who were opening their fifth location with the one around the corner from our house.

Our lunch was wonderful!  Fresh, fast and delicious.  The people were friendly and made it a pleasure to be there.  That was my wish on Mother's Day - to not have to clean up after we ate!

Wish granted!

Family

Poppy(age 67) and Gram (age 61)

Family.

My paternal grandfather and my maternal grandmother.  

Most of my memories are of them without my other grandparents as they died when I was a child.  

They are so happy here ... celebrating .. outside St. Peter's Church in Saratoga.

I like to remember them happy.

It's hard for me to look at this photo and not see myself. 

Gram is only 10 years older in the photo than I am now.

The days may drag, but the years fly by.

Ellie has the same arrangement.

Papa and Grammy.

Her paternal grandfather and her maternal grandmother.

Life repeating itself.

How happy she is between the two of them!  

Surrounded in love.

Isn't that how each day should be?

Family.

Papa, Ellie and Grammy
2011 - Thanksgiving

May 4th ....

A new mug

Oh, yes I did!

A new mug.

One that warms, comforts and satisfies in my hands.  Whether its coffee or tea, its perfect in every way.  The colors, the feel and the shape are all just perfect!  Now I have two mugs that I rotate between each morning ... one with words and one without.  How appropriate!

Nails, nails, nails

These are the hands of our daughter.

How is that possible?

The hands that help, the hands that love, the hands that still hold on when crossing the parking lot from car to store.  These hands are all grown up!

May is the month of lilies of the valley

Sometimes we just need to stop and smell the flowers.  The wonderful part about doing that on the first day of May is the reminder that the flower of this new month are lilies of the valley!  I recall growing up and seeing them push through areas normally reserved for grass.  Full of promise and that intoxicating sweet scent ... isn't that how all months should start?

Hopeful.
Promise.
Sweet.

Oh May, welcome to my current world!  SO much to look forward to ... some in May, some in June, some in July ... so, so much!

May brings Mother's Day - which is when Ellie and I choose the flowers for the front of the house, and this year we intend to figure out tomato and herb plants for the back of the house too!

How can the flowers make a difference?  Can they be the reminder of all the beauty in the world?  The theme is so prevalent in my days recently  .. including the quote:  If a flower doesn't bloom we don't blame the flower, we change the environment.

Cannot wait to continue to evolve the flowers in my world - both inside and outside!

Happy May!

Easter

What a wonderful long weekend we had in Houston for Easter with Aunt Di and Uncle Bruce.  We had the perfect combination of activity and relaxation.  We met new friends. Watched Ellie enjoy her cousins and make new friends.  She helped Aunt Di with these egg-shaped rice krispie treats and hunted for eggs with the rest of the kids.

We enjoyed a shrimp boil on Friday for dinner, a visit to Kemah on Saturday morning, tried the one of the best burgers in Texas (according to the list!) on our way home, an Easter egg hunt with all the kids, a backyard bbq with the very best neighbors one could ask for and to top it off a wonderful Easter Sunday brunch compliments of Chef Uncle Bruce!

Full of blessings .. and food .. we made our way home on Sunday afternoon!

Destin memories

Finally downloaded the photos from the camera over the weekend .. and found a few more treasures.  Above is the resort where we stayed.  This is the view from our balcony.  Great memories to relive just looking at the photos. We will definitely return!

At Lulu's in Destin.  On my bucket list since 1999 when Lucy Buffet's only place was in Mobile Bay, AL - and called Lucy's.  Now there are 3 Lulu's in the Gulf in AL and FL.  So glad to be there!

On our morning visit to the beach.  Sun already shining and breeze was blowing.  Could not quite get enough of the sand and sun!

 Great boardwalk area with shops, restaurants and a view of the bay.  And of course, Ellie standing under the arch!

This is the wonderful white sand beach.  She scooped, ran, danced and laughed in it.  Every day.

The sunset each evening.  Almost like being in Key West.  One evening we met a nearly-retired couple from Michigan who were nearing the end of their month in Destin.  They were watching the sunset with cocktails on a deck so quietly.  They recommended a restaurant that we tried the following night.

French Toast

Ellie continues to evolve and create in ways that impress and amaze me.  When she woke on Sunday morning she decided she'd like to make French Toast.  Before she asked if that was possible she looked for ingredients to be sure that was not going to be the hold up.

I asked what makes French Toast and then went about helping her gathering ingredients.  Since this is something that takes ingredients but not a recipe, she loved the freedom of creating.  She chose the number of eggs, the pouring of the milk straight from the container and then added a splash of vanilla before beating the mixture together.

She was very proud of her creation - insisting that the extra milk she poured into the bowl was the magic ingredient making them so wonderful.

So, so proud!

Mary Oliver - The Journey

Ellie and I enjoy the sunrises, Starbucks and Mary Oliver poetry together.
What a champ she is to continue to follow the bread crumbs I'm dropping along the way!

One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began,  though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice -- though the whole house began to tremble  and you felt the old tug at your ankles. "Mend my life!" each voice cried. But you didn't stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voice behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do -- determined to save the only life that you could save.
Mary Oliver The Journey

All Grown Up

How did this little girl grow up so fast?

She now twists her hair up into a bun on the top of her head.  It's downright adorable.  Well, actually it's much more than that.... it's mature and a delight to see.  She is full of her own opinions, perspectives and decisions.

She's making good decisions too.  So respectful and kind.

And so, so glad she's ours!