Hallelujah!

These guys woke us up yesterday morning at 6 am...not so happy about that, but they were here to plaster our pool...this bright blue color doesn't look too appealing, but I had been warned to not be too alarmed... Then they spray these pebbles into it and it looks like this - you can see the very first of the water going in to the right...Mom wanted the orange fish - I think she named him and everything...the starfish in the distance...

and this little guy are what I wanted...we had a turtle and some big fish at our house on the bayou and I think it offers just a bit of whimsy to the pool -

anticipation...her Daddy told her the water had to be at the halfway mark on the tiles before she could swim...almost there, jellybean...

I didn't get a picture of the water at the halfway mark on the tile because....we were IN THE POOL! Hallelujah! We swam today and it was glorious on this hot and humid day -

Grace also had her riding lesson yesterday morning - Pal had an eye infection, but he and Grace did great together!

so hot!!!

airplane girl -

Pal's relieving himself, so Grace decided to practice her jump position while she waited - not a moment to be lost, ya know!?!

Learning to adjust her own stirrups from the saddle -

Playing "Red light, Green light" with the older students -

Smiles all around - she has so much fun...

This is Lauren's first horse, Sonny - he has a disease that doesn't allow him to sweat (can you imagine???in this heat???), so he does what he can to stay cool - he's quite the little show-off!

Another miraculous point from this weekend that you couldn't probably care less about (but I have to say anyway)is that after almost 2 years of living in our home, I finally got my husband to sit down with me and we went through his clothes and got rid of two bags of stuff! Can I get another "Hallelujah!"? We've also started putting the hardware on our cabinets...I know, I know...pretty productive weekend! Hope you had one, too!

Ice cold drinks, more rain showers and cool breezes to you all -

P.S. Today, Grace and I made sugar cookies and put a pink glaze and different sprinkles on each and then I made Jack and I snickerdoodles (with cinnamon and sugar on top)...it was the first time that I've made sugar cookies that weren't for PaPa. Golly Bob, that man loved sugar cookies and I loved making them for him. Miss you, PaPa.

The Dog Days of Summer

Ya'll, it's HOT! Gator even says so!


We've been inside a lot lately doing girlie things...

Although, we never mind getting out for the riding lessons...

These are the guys you hear in the background...this little guy is tiny and so cute, but he's mean - he chases you if you're not careful!

this guy is loud and not the prettiest guy on the block either - I'm just sayin'...

we have one of these at our Shouse stables...

Now, to the pool - this is what it seems as though it has looked like forever -

they came and poured the concrete decking last Friday and they did a horrible job - Jack argued with the contractor and so they are going to spray-deck it for free. Hopefully, it will look better than this!

Today, they came and cleaned everything up...here's Grace on the sun deck portion -

they sucked out the bottom and cleaned it out nicely...

here's the whole shabang - now it was just sunstone coated and spray decked and FULL of water, we would be in great shape! Keep your fingers crossed...this has been a very frustrating process! Last week, the guy putting the electricity to our pool lights broke our water line and in the middle of the night the part he fixed blew out- a 1 AM shower - that was fun! Oh well...

Grace and I have been practicing our rain dance (yep...that's her playing in the background that you hear) and it looked something like this...it's just that our cute guy to dance with was at work :(

...but it looks like it worked...this is outside our stairwell window and we hear the rumbles of thunder...now, we just hope that it doesn't flood, as it seems it's "feast or famine" when it comes to the weather lately...

Happy sprinkles to you all - 'til next time!

The Beauty and the Beast

Sorry this is so late in the day - I have been gone from the house since 8:30 this morning and arrived back home at 9:26 tonight...better late than never, right???

Happy Birthday, beautiful Aunt Mary...you can tell Gracie took this pic with her poor head chopped off, but seriously, she has hardly a wrinkle and her hair...

...oh, her hair...there she is on the right, seated, her hair is as white as snow. I actually have people on Mom and Daddy's side of the family that have pretty hair, so maybe I'll get lucky...I think I already have too many wrinkles to be lucky on that front - :(Anyway, now to the beast... this is Pappy...he belongs to Darryl and Cindy now, but is now the 2 yr old son of our Dallas and Zsa Zsa. Happy birthday, Pappy! You're almost as handsome as your Daddy - just give it a couple more years and I bet you're giving him a run for his money!

Hope you both had a great day...and again, sorry for the late greetings...I'll try to do better next year!

Riding, Boating, Baking, Fencing, Biking...oh my!

We have moved Gracie's riding lesson from Saturday mornings to Friday evenings at 6 so it won't be so hot - afterall, we have a fair-skinned, blue-eyed, red-headed little one - no precaution is too great! This week, however, we moved it to Thursday evening because Mr. Eddie & Mrs. Robin invited us on a sunset cruise in Kemah for Friday evening...you'll see that in a sec -

Miss Lauren taught her for the first time and Grace responded very well to her - she had a great lesson, and best of all, a lot of fun!

Look at this crazy kitty - I've seen dogs fall smack asleep on their backs, but not a cat! She was totally spraed eagle and catching some zzzzs.

OK, so Mrs. Robin has a business where she coaches CEOs of companies with their day-to-day challenges of running their prospective businesses. Once a month, all of the CEOs that she coaches gets together to exchange strategies and ideas. One of the CEOs owns the Star Fleet in Kemah and since every Friday evening in June, Kemah has a fireworks display, they decided to make a sunset cruise their monthly meeting...cool idea! We didn't see Mrs. Robin much because, well, technically, she was working...but Mr. Eddie, their daughter, Lauren, her fiance, Cory, and Jack and I all hung out, ate BBQ and watched the show - it was a grand evening - cool, but not too windy and we were so close to the fireworks barge, I thought we were all gonna disembark with cinged eyebrows! And, don't worry about Gracie - she's living it up with Aunt Letha, Uncle Mike and Miss Hannah -

Just starting out...going from the mouth of Clear Lake into Galveston Bay - there's the Kemah bridge...

sweet pic of Lauren and Cory

Jack's throwing beads to the observing crowd on the Kemah Boardwalk -

Lots of folks have the same idea - watching the display from the water -

the fireworks barge and flotilla of boats joining us to watch

Kemah from the water

our spectacular sunset

one of the only shots I took that you can actually see clearly...

a glimpse of the finale...

It was a late evening - by the time I unpacked the car from Gracie's adventure and got ready for bed, I think it was around 1 AM...I opened my eyes Saturday morning to see that it was 11:17 - I haven't slept that late since college! I almost died - Jack said that Grace had just come and gotten him not too much earlier - I guess we were all pretty tuckered out! So, what did we do once we decided to join the land among the living? We made chocolate cupcakes! Some with coconut-pecan iccing and some with chocolate buttercream - look who got in the batter!

Now, today...Jack blew his knee out about a week and a half ago - he slipped in some mud and his right leg went one way while the rest of him went the other and so he still doesn't feel just great (I think he may even go see the doctor tomorrow - you know it hurts bad if he's gonna do that), but he went and hired three day laborers this morning and they have fenced all that they can now - we have to wait to close in the back yard when the pool is finished. Now, they're just mowing and weedeating for us - we're gonna paint the fence a chocolate brown to match the front entry gates and our front door and lighting that are all bronzed, but that's another day!

Grace was playing "Pony Express" for me...she brought a note to her Daddy asking him a question for me and here, she was bringing it back - she's really progressed in her bike-riding skills since receiving her bike for her birthday!

Until the next adventure...

Our new digs...

Thisd was our bedroom furniture...Jack bought it just before we met and while I think it's very pretty and it fit our house on the bayou fantastically, our new home, I thought, needed a new style. I have wanted a bed at Star Furniture for over a year now, but this is how it has been for all of that time -

Then, on Memorial Day, we went browsing, as Star was having their big blowout sale (you know the one - the one that they have about every other weekend) - and there she was in all her glory...and she found a new home...ours!A new chaise...

...and armoire found it's way home, too!

Gracie approves - not sure about Oreo!

I'm in Heaven! I have heard Oprah say before - your home, especially your bedroom, should rise up to meet you at the end of the day - although we have to place pictures and mirrors where they fit best now and our closets are overflowing with things that filled our old drawers that we haven't found new homes for yet, I know this bedroom will definitely do the trick.

Oh, and don't feel bad for our old set - it found a new home, too. Our friends, Darryl and Cindy, got it and are proud as punch of their "new" bedroom, too!