lawn seats

 There’s just something refreshing about walking outside of the house, away from the TV, away from the laundry, away from dirty dishes, and spending some time outdoors on the cold lawn grass.  We’ve spent many a hours outside over the last few days and it’s been just the stay-cation we all needed! Along with God’s handywork of amazing weather, we had…..

Chubs and his picnic basket full of treasures

Paxon, his friends, and several visits from the ice cream truck

Momma, regulating the scene (obviously not so well because this was taken when Pax swiped my camera)

A little lot of knitting

Christmas gift planning

Snacks of the season

A little gift giving

Even a nap or two

All totally worth the picture right now inside my house…. mountains of laundry, toy explosion, unfinished art projects from days ago, and overflowing dirty dishes left unattended, but who cares! Right?…..

Halloween ‘09

Saturday night we had the chimenea blazing, smores a smokin’, chili brewing, drinks chillin’, red dirt music blaring, children full of anticipation (and sugar), a cool autumn night, and the warm company of friends… absolutely perfect!

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Ben 10, Momma the cowgirl (My spellcheck keeps flagging “cowgirl”, with the suggestion of “showgirl” HA!), and the rodeo clown!

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“Dear Mom. I’m sorry to say I’m leaving our family to join the big C, the circus. The costume requirements will be less humiliating to me when I’m grown and perusing photos of my childhood.  Thank you. Love Chubs  Scout!”

 

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Scout- “Dad, are you in on this? I thought you had my back on these legwarmers? What’s up with that?”

Pax- “Just smile. We can get you out of all that bro!  I plan on washing this black spray out of my hair as soon as she’s done so I look like Ben 10 and not Elvis!”

Patrick- “I’m playing opossum so she doesn’t try and get me to wear something ridiculous!”

 

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Halloween 2009! This was the first year Pax was really into picking out his own costume and in my defense, Chubs’ costume brought us a million smiles that night!

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Pax and his buddy, hanging out in their usual spot on the porch, scoping out the neighborhood action!

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We headed over to a neighborhood block party later in the evening. It was late and getting chilly, but Chubs was having so much fun that I just bundled him up and brought him along. He fell asleep in the sling once we made it to the party, but he was such a trooper!

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Morning after…A little loot from the goody bag, vampire teeth!

Good times. Good memories. Hope you all had a splendid Halloween. Now on to some Thanksgiving preparation and celebration…..

 

hallow-eve

 There’s been lots of  chocolate chip pumpkin muffin baking going on around here lately. We’ve got another batch in the oven as we speak for tomorrow’s Halloween festivities. 

This recipe is from my dear friend Erin who is, apparently, quite the foody now. She drove to 50 Penn in OKC, stood in a ginormous line (of which she got a glimpse of Marlboro Man, so that had to ease the wait?), and got cookbooks signed by the fabulous Pioneer Woman!  Ah! I can’t believe it!  If I tell Patrick of this cookbook loaded with cowboy food smothered in gravy, he may snag me a copy and be the first one in line at the Houston book signing!

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On to our choco chip pumpkin muffin baking…..

My egg cracka! He’s so slick, he can crack an egg with one hand and have a snack in the other!

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The mini loaves are my favorite! It’s like 3 muffins really, but you don’t feel so bad because you just had one…see how I convince myself?

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Pax enjoying the first batch! Oh breads, how I love thee. You can pose as a snack, dessert, breakfast….just whatever I need you to be!

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Happy Halloween All. Be silly. Be scary. Be safe.

park date

 

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pumpkin patch

still

Still, that’s the way the tide rolls over at the Presley blog lately.

As autumn has breezed in, we’ve been jumping back into our activities and routines and I’m beginning to realize the lazy days of summer, including the free time it afforded, have swiftly moved on. 

But who couldn’t be tickled about all the holidays approaching and the excitement and wonder it brings to a home filled with little ones. 

The time previously filled with baking, sewing, knitting, or editing the hundreds of pictures camping out in my camera has suddenly dwindled.

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Chubs is mobile now and I’ve got to have one eye on that kid at all times!  Naps are few and far between these days, he’d rather explore brother’s toys or search out random goodies embedded in the carpet!

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When Pax isn’t booked up with school, playdates, and activities, he’s chatting it up and asking hundreds of questions.  His thoughts range from Heaven to hulahoops in a moments notice.

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The weather is finally joining in the song and dance of the time of year and we are so thankful. Taking a walk to the park has nestled back into our daily routine. Pax has more daylight hours with his friends and Chubs just sits in the grass, wishing he was out there with the big kids.

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I know it’s just a matter of time when these little ones won’t be around or sitting still right next to me.  I’m tucking away some of the things that have filled my free time and giving the people I love the best of my time.

 

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 Happy Weekend All.

 

life happens

OK, so I said I’d be back weeks ago, but life happened again.  There’s been quite a few Green & Black dark chocolate bars consumed around here, that’s all I’ll say!

I’d love to bring you fabulous pictures from our trip and “here lately’s” but I spilled some merlot all over my keyboard a few days ago, so I’m coming to you from Patrick’s computer at the moment. 

To spare a picture-less post, here’s what’s on my mind….

In fashion, I love to browse ways to blend thrift store goods with the usual Target/UrbanO/F21 goods. I’m loving the blog Kansas Couture.

And Weardrobe…

And in the craft world…..I’m just thrilled that my pal Taryn just opened an Etsy shop:

In the food world, I’m about to head out to the grocery store to grab some ingredients to make pumpkin ANYTHING! If this 90 degree weather doesn’t make me feel like it’s autumn, well then, I’ll just take matters into my own hands and start making pumpkin food!

And while I’m out, I may just pick up a keyboard and maybe… just maybe, life will settle for a moment so I can catch up here!

hiatus, over

Our hiatus from school, Texas, chores, and usual life….is over. I’m thankful to be jumping back into routine around here, but somehow that temporary pause button was just what we all needed.

Time for a little catch up with friends, getting things in order, and soaking up some of this crisp, fall weather.  Be back Monday.

hallelujah

Well friends, I’m happy to report to you that our dear Pax is one platelet making machine! We met with a sharp pair of MD’s today at Texas Children’s and had some more blood work done! Paxon’s platelet count was at 190,000 compared to the 27,000 when we were diagnosed with the ITP! This is just music to our ears and other than a follow-up blood test in the weeks to come, we are in the clear. HALLELUJAH!

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To spare you a pictureless post, here are a few interesting things that have traveled along through snail mail to our casa!

A giant GET WELL card from Paxon’s preschool class! It brought the biggest smile to Paxon’s face and he chatted on and on about his friends as we read each person’s name! Thank you Bear’s class, we are hoping to return the week after the Fall Festival!

 Mema made a nifty thread/scrap catcher that sits on my old table while I sew. I just love it!

 Thank you Mrs. Kelly Spencer for the surprise care package you sent me last week! What a treat for Mom to get some Itunes, a book, sweet treats, and thoughtful card!

 The pine car Papa Rick made. I had to post it again because Paxon insisted I take a picture while I was walking around with a camera.

MeMe made some freezer paper stencil t-shirts and she put so much detail into them, put mine to shame! He loves them!

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Thank you everyone for everything over the last week or so! I’ll keep you up to date if anything changes, but in the meantime, we are off to Oklahoma for some fall weather and a little vacation! Be back in a few weeks. Peace!

bowlin’ with the homies

Saturday was Paxon’s 5th birthday party at the local bowling joint!  We debated back and forth over the last week whether we should cancel it, because of the chance he could slip and fall, but we opted to carry on! He had been looking forward to it for months and we had to cancel his party last year because of Hurricane Ike, so we went forward and we are so glad we did because he had a BLAST! Thank you everyone!

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Pax and I made some invites a few weeks back! They were quite simple to make. For the pin, we printed the info on white cardstock, cut it out in the shape of a bowling pin,  and cut some red cardstock for stripes. Then took black cardstock, traced a circle, cut it out, and used a hole punch for the 3 holes. Then a little brad to attach the two so you could move it around to fit in an envelope!

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Yes, that’s my baby….. on the floor of the bowling alley!

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I thought when I signed up for the birthday party we’d get a few lanes and table out in the middle of the place. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised we had our own little space with private lanes!

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A little pre-bowl before guests arrive. How cute are those shoes? I have a huge thing for little boys’ shoes, if you haven’t noticed?

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OK, friends. This is when the BLACK LIGHTS and loud music came in! Scout started crying for the rest of party, my visions of clear pictures of kids in retro bowling shoes, over…or any clear picture for that matter, and the birthday boy was in heaven!

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Friends begin to arrive. 

It looked like we were at a club, but it was a preschool birthday party…before noon! Holla!

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HA! I love this one of Paxon’s friend Christopher!

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Shout out to Stef for driving her sweet little man and her very beautiful, pregnant self all the way to Pax’s party!

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Pizza time! Paxon really wanted Ben 10 plates and we found some at Wally World made of recycled material, how exciting! (Or how dorky of me to even say?)

What a warm feeling to watch your little babe with a giant grin while everyone sings Happy Birthday! I love it!

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Check out this cake, we planned it for months! HA! Yeh right! We planned on making cake dots to look like bowling balls after Pax saw them on Erin’s blog! After our failed attempt, we ended up making a frantic call to the cookie cake joint and picked this puppy up at 9:00pm Friday night, just in time!

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A few games and everyone was on their way! We trotted home with our gifts and had a great time opening them at home (the new trend in kid’s parties, fyi, I just recently learned this).

Moms playing the dancing game!

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We had a hard time finding eco-friendly party favors, but decided on these water bottles. I found them on Amazon, they are BPA free, biodegradable, recyclable, and reusable. I put a Ben 10 watch around each one, attached a balloon, and called them Ben 10 water bottles! Pax was sold, so that’s what we gave out!

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I learned so much from this year’s birthday party! Blending together homemade, eco-friendly,and what the birthday kid wants can be tricky…Oh and the failed attempts, bad pictures, and crazy life circumstances that popped up in my master plan! Relax a bit and don’t worry too much about the small stuff…keep up the happy in happy birthday!
Happy 5th Birthday Pax!!

 

And the birthday business is over. Whew…