who knew....

that i would be almost packed for our vacation to missouri a day early?!?  not me, that's for sure!  we leave to go to springfield saturday morning before the sun even thinks about getting up and i am just about packed! woohoo!  i came home this evening, set up all the bills to be paid throughout the next week, packed mine, rich's and the boys clothes and even set up the alarm company with my mom's information since she decided to set off the alarm last time she houses-sat hahah...  go me and stuff :)  tomorrow i have a ton to do at the office so that my backup isn't left with a giant mess and we are doing our monthly feed/worship with the homeless tomorrow evening with Mercy Street.. then it's home to bed and up and at 'em... our goal is to be on the road no later than 2:30 am... crazy, yes.. but the kids sleep the majority of the way so my sanity stays in tact!

oh and aunt linda, i hope you didn't hurt yourself when you fell out of your chair... 2 blog updates in the same month in less than a week... it's a record!!!

Niece of the year

Well, today Matthew & Jeremiah graduated from high school...  Kind of hard to believe that time has flown by like it has!  Well, after the graduation we all met at a restaurant and had a very nice lunch.  While there, Aunt Linda approached me and I knew exactly why!  I had been neglecting this blog again... Well, when we were getting ready for everyone to leave, Aunt Jerri had handed out all of her graduation favors and Aunt Linda didn't get one... Being the sweet niece I am, I gave her the one's that I had, therefore getting a pass on not updating like I should and therefore winning niece of the year LOL

In other news, baseball season is over.. thank goodness, momma needs a break!  Erik is now an 8th grader *sigh* and Mikey will be hitting 3rd grade in the next school year... as much as I love them growing up, I wish it would slow the hell down!!!

the title of the blog says it all...

boy, i have been super busy lately and it's not showing any signs of letting up!  Mikey's baseball has pretty much taken over our lives and Erik is loving it because when we are at baseball, he gets full run of the Xbox hah!  Mikey has really gone over and above this season... they have him playing 1st base and doing a magnificent job on it!  his team is pretty good, it's just not the team we've had forever... i am "dugout mom" and boy do those kids need either some discipline or some medicine haha... i guess it goes back to being used to the team we've been with for so long... but we only have 5 games left and we'll be back with them next season!

It is also so hard to believe that we are halfway through April!  so much is planned!  This Friday we are having a BBQ for my dearest friends, Laura & Robb and the impending arrival of little miss Sarah. And then it's Easter weekend and next weekend we head to Austin for the Blue show on Friday and then shennanigans with my girls (and guys) !  can't. wait!  and then in the months to come, it's Mikey's bday, an impromptu trip to Austin to see a band of mullets, free press summer fest, summer vacation and the family reunion...  busy busy busy! oh, and CINDERfreakingELLA!!!

so until next time..

don't mind me, i'll be busy hah!

the name of the blog says it all...

Needless to say I haven't been very good at keeping this up like I promised... Well, my Aunt Linda got onto me a couple weeks ago and I promised I would update... well you saw how that happened LOL...  So here's a mini update :)

The beginning of March was road trip time!  Rachel & myself drove across Texas up to the good ole pantshandle... we did 4 cities and a bunch of little towns in 4 days...

Started out in Dimmit
Went to Earth and Easter
Ended up in Amarillo!
Went to Lubbock, even bought my kids Tech shirts!
ended the trip in Burleson and then headed home!

The following weekend Rich, myself & the boys went to Austin for an overnight trip and a bday party at Chuck E Cheese!

Rich & I also celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary!  Crazy how time flies and that he's still putting up with me LOL

Now it's baseball season so you can find us at the ball field oh about 3-4 times a week!  Mikey had his first game last night and they won!  He's a killer first baseman!!

Well there's a small update... I am not going to promise lavish updates, but I'm going to work on keeping this thing up :)

miss me?

well, I didn't really intend on letting the blog go as long as I have... but I did :(  I will try (try being the key word) to remedy this LOL....

anyway we had a "snow" day yesterday that turned out to be just an "ice" day... but it was nice to stay home and veg out a little... i'm having a few people over tomorrow for super bowl, so i spent the free time i had to start the prep for that... i can't wait... football and yummy foods (with lots of bacon!) will equal a great time i'm sure!!

tomorrow is our big event with the church, we are kicking off our 2nd service/location.. it's been a great thing in the making and i can't wait to see how it all turns out...  with all the volunteers that are giving time to do this, well it's just awesome to see how God is working!!

well, this is a short but sweet post... so until next time... toodles!

wow...

I have been horrible about blogging this week :(  But that is mainly due to me being attacked by a stomach bug that is refusing to leave :(  The only good thing that is coming out of this is a bit of weight loss hahah :)  (gotta see the silver lining in everything!).  I have kept up with my project 365 though!  If you haven't seen it, you can get to it via the link at the top of the page.

Yesterday 20 of us from Mercy Street were in the audience of Great Day Houston and we will soon have a plug on there for the new Jackson Hill service that Mercy Street will be starting February 6, 2011.  I have been plugging it along on my facebook, so I'm sure you've seen the event information.  It is going to be AWESOME!  We also had an ad in this weeks edition of the Houston Press!

Once I get to feeling better, I will get back to keeping up with this blog, I promise!

Weekend in review....

I do have to say that this weekend is going down in the record books for one of the most awesome weekends in a wHile.... Friday night Rich & I had a date night.... we haven't had a date night in quite some time...  we decided to drive out to the Kemah Boardwalk

we had dinner at Landry's

Pet the sting rays

and just had a great time

Saturday was the day of the mullet!  We ventured out to Clear Lake to catch the awesomeness that is The Mullet Boyz .  If you ever get the chance to see them... you must!

They need more cowbell

You get Rod Hotter strutting his stuff

and of course no evening is complete without the mullet making its rounds!

Without music life would be a mistake....

i came across this quote on the internet today and it really plays into part with my life...  I was brought up listening to music all the time... I can remember getting a new stereo for Christmas, I think I was 8, and when I got up it was playing Bruce Springsteen's version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" Christmas morning...  I do have to say my momma did me right by introducing me to the good ol' classic rock & roll... I can remember going to see Steppenwolf & Foghat at the Arena Theater, and then seeing Steppenwolf again at Miller Outdoor Theater some years later and going backstage with my Uncle Ron (drummer of Steppenwolf) and eating cake with one of the guys from the Guess Who....  Seeing Bruce Springsteen when I was in 5th grade and being one of the lucky ones that got pulled up on stage during Dancing In The Dark.. Yes, Courtney Cox isn't the only one that got to do it ;)...  I have gone through my phases music wise, from rock to rap to country to rap to rock, and if you were to go through my music collection now, you'd see the influences LOL...  I try to see as many live shows as I possibly can, whether it be local live shows or big time act shows...

It all makes sense though... My husband is a guitar player, my oldest son plays viola and the youngest, well he dabbles in everything.. as a matter of fact he's playing the keyboard right now...  I am trying to get them exposed to as much music as possible and it is awesome that I can take them to so many shows in the Houston & Austin areas, thanks to all ages venues...  I am also lucky to have people I call friends that are involved in the local music scene, be it working the venues or working with the band or even being in the band...  How many 7 year olds can say that they have a well known Austin musician as their BFF and get to sing with him on the stage at House of Blues, or con another well known musician out of a handful of guitar pics?  And how many 13 year olds get to help with merch at shows and chase band members around to have them sign posters?

So yeah... music plays a big role in my family's life... and I wouldn't change any of it at all...

 Heres' me onstage with Bruce Springsteen, I was 10

Here is Mikey with Ryan Holley

Here is Mikey with Johnny Goudie

Dance as if no one is watching....

That is pretty much the motto I live my day to day life by...  I live my life how I want my life lived....  I don't let what others think about me dictate how I am going to raise my children, or how I am going to live my life... At any given time I will start dancing at my desk, in the car, really wherever... Hell, there doesn't even have to be music playing LOL :)

The Holidays are officially over....

With that being said, tomorrow marks the boys first day back at school since 12/17...  They had a great Christmas break, but I'm ready to be back in a routine and also for my daycare cost to go down LOL.  Now I just have to get the tree taken down (yeah I know it should have come down Saturday) and my house will be back in somewhat of an order :)  

On to other things.... it is only Tuesday, but this has been the longest week ever it seems... maybe it's because I'm looking forward to the weekend... The boys will be headed to their great grandma's and Rich and I will have the whole weekend to ourselves... believe it or not, HE'S OFF!!!  We are going to see The Mullet Boyz on Saturday, we can't wait for that show!!  

Well, I think that's about it for today... I need to check the status of dinner (it's pizza tonight and I need to check my delivery time LOL)

Friends come... Friends go....

Friends pop back up in your life when you don't really expect them to....

Well, I guess you can see the theme here in today's post...  Actually, it seems that it is the theme to the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011....  It makes me smile when I see friends of mine rekindle friendships between other friends of mine... and I've seen quite a bit of that here recently...

As many of you (if not all of you) know, my friends are a big part of my life... I consider the majority of my friends almost like my family....  They play a big part in my day to day sanity LOL....  I put a lot of trust into my friends and would hope that the feelings were mutual...  I have lost friends along the way... reconnected with old friends and made new ones...  It is sort of like the circle of life in a way LOL

I just recently reconnected with a person that played a big part of my life quite a number of years ago...   There were times that I'd wonder what he was up to or I'd hear a song on the radio and would connect it to a memory... most of the time I changed the station though heheh...  Once I started raising my kids and adjusting to married life, the memories faded...  Then out of nowhere I get this message on Facebook.... At first I wasn't sure how to respond... but I did...  It actually surprised me that I didn't feel the resentment and the hate that I had felt over 14 years ago.... Seeing the pictures of his family and chatting with him about life and old memories really made me really happy for the way things turned out....  so yeah,  I actually gained a new <old> friend for the new year...   I do have to say that the funniest thing that has come out of this is that his dog shares a name with my mother in laws cat!!

So cherish the friends that you have and and don't dismiss the idea that old friends (even exes) can pop back up in the picture at any time and friendships can be rebuilt... I have the belief that all things happen for a reason... either to teach you a lesson, or make you stronger in life...

Project 365

Ok... don't get excited, this really isn't a 2nd post in one day LOL... I'm just setting this up for my project 365 that... I got the idea from ~ifer, so let's see if I keep this up also LOL





Link to my Shuttercal where they will be stored:  http://www.shuttercal.com/calendar/jessaitch/

1st post...

I guess you can say this is sort of a new years resolution of sorts... I have been saying I was going to start a blog for some time now... So, here ya go!  My goal at first is to post at least once or twice a week, and maybe even up that to more, who knows :)  I will be working on the formatting and stuff, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know!!