Beautiful Easter

A Massage for Dad

This was so funny! Trop Rigolo!

I was trying so hard not to laugh and shake the phone while recording.

(Noises Mike makes as Amelie massages his calfs.)

Pinterest Find for Less

I found this little polka dot cotton dress at Ross.

I just had to hem it a little.

Fit's Perfect! 

I wish it had little sleeves though...

But for $15, I'm not complaining...

I fell in love with this one on Pinterest but too expensive at 60$!

Easter with Gratitude & Praise

He did this

The Perfect. The Whole. The Complete.

The Pure. The One without sin.

The Just. The Merciful.

The Humble. The  Obedient. The Willing. The Trusting.

The One who loved humanity more than himself.

He did this

He did this
For us.

The imperfect. The lacking. The broken.

The sinner. The self-centered. The disobedient.

The doubter. The ungrateful. The weak. The stubborn.

The one always struggling to love.

He did this
For me.

Praise be to Him who Loves 
and Lives and Saves
Perfectly

Gambling for food, what's up with that?

Mike is obsessed with this new hamburger joint: Jersey something.
He discovered it a few weeks ago.

After 8pm 

You order what you want. 

You roll a dice. 

The employee rolls a dice.

You win, you get your meal for free.

The employee wins, you pay for your meal.

He has been there 6 times and won 3 times.

Unfortunately, he wants to go there now every-single-time we have a date!

My meal

Houston (southwestern stlye) salad with no antibiotic chicken breast.

Mike's meal

Greasy Bacon Burger with drizzled Truffle oil and Parmesan/garlic coated Fries.

Which one would you rather have?

I did eat a few of his fries, they were kinda... Addictive & Delicious?!

Dog Poop as Fertilizer???

So today, Mike was very helpful picking up the poop in the back yard.

But then I found out he had buried Chloe's caca in my newly planted hostas!!!!

He thinks it will be a great fertilizer! You know, like horse or cow manure...

After a little research, well it's not such a good idea.

Mike. Really?

Houston Rodeo & Random Acts of Kindness

Here is our service/date afternoon from last Friday.

Mike and I signed up with his work for 4 hours of helping with the

Random Acts of Service day.

The 1st half

we were stationed at some doors and opened them for people to enter or leave 

the Reliant Center where the shopping booths were

 and the children's petting zoo and live stock (cows, today)

I loved noticing who would say thank you, 

especially families where the kids and teens would say thank you too... 

The 2d half

We were given 2 coupon books each for free and discounted food, rides and shopping, 

to give out to people who we would catch doing random acts of service.

So that was interesting and a challenge in a place where people are really very self centered.

But we did find some good souls.

I gave mine to a lady who randomly picked up some stranger's 

shopping bag that had fallen without her noticing.

The other one I gave to a lady who really complimented an elderly woman in the bathrooms.

Mike did not escape working for an hour 1/2!

I love people watching. 

I loved looking at all the cowgirl outfits and especially boots! 

Some Houstonians really can get into it!

Some were pretty cool, and some very over the top!

My cowgirls boots stayed in our car!

 I chose comfort over style.

I knew we were going to be on our feet for hours...

But I did wear a cute cowgirl shirt, after our service shift was over! :)

My favorite Interesting people of the day:

*** 

This one lady asked us where we had bought our bright orange service tee-shirts!

She thought they were awesome and wanted one so bad!

Unfortunately they were not for sale, and if I would have met her at the end of our shift, 

I would have gladly given her mine! hi hi!

*** 

This one interesting looking tall ponytail-back-country-lookin' older man 

with an orange tee-shirt saying:

"You're just jealous because the voices are talking to me"

Mike asked him what they were saying?

He pointed at Mike and said: 

" No "

Then pointed at me and said: 

"Always yes!"

I must say, I agree with him, or should I say I agree with the voices? 

hi hi...

***

This grandpa in a deep sleep on the mattress sample.

Probably waiting for his family to come back and get him after they were done shopping.

Doesn't he look comfy?

After the afternoon events, food and shopping
( I found the cutest scarf!)
We headed with the crowd to the actual Rodeo
We skipped the Concert.
It was some country singer we did not know.
We are both being kinda ignorant in the country music industry!

The Horse
Some crazy business!

The Bulls
Even more crazy business!

In all, we had a Wonderful time and it was good to be together! 

Mike has been working some crazy hours!

Our Spring Brake

The weather was P E R F E C T spring brake week!

I'm enjoying it while it last, pretty soon the heat and humidity will be settling in.

This spring brake we stayed home.

Amelie and I went shopping for new clothes for her.

She is fast outgrowing her clothes.

Amelie said goodbye to sweet William.

On Monday we went to a nursing home for a little bit to sing and say hi to the older generation.

My forest was purged by fire this week.
It was cool and mysterious...

Amelie and I watched a few movies together.

I also had Amelie and Emric clean out their bedrooms
and get rid of stuff they don't use or that is too small.
Emric got rid of one shirt!
After I went through his closet he had a whole kitchen garbage bag full!

On Wednesday, Amelie had gymnastic and diving.

Chloe and I went and said Hi to the horses who live right next door to the pool.

4 horses spooked Chloe by charging her when she got in their field!
She ran away and when I didn't see her come back after calling her, I went looking for her.

I found her a little "worried" by my car trying to get in.

This is so not like her, she is usually so fearless! 

I guess she never had 4 horses running her off their turf!

Poor puppy!

Thursday Amelie had a sleep over with her friend Maddy.

Friday I spent almost all day with my Man! :)
More on that in the next post.

Last of the Riding Lessons

Amelie had her last Horseback riding lesson. 

She got four - 1 hour lessons for getting all A's in 3d grade.

We are going to try and do that every year.

Since we moved to Texas she has been really wanting to do this, 

so we decided to use it as a motivation for good school grades and behavior...

A Very Neglected Rebel

I brought my very neglected Canon Rebel to one of Amelie's riding lesson's, like 3 weeks ago.

One of the reasons for such neglected is that it's been replaced by the phone camera...
And that:

-It is Bulky, and comes with accessories I might forget (like the battery!)

- My phone is always with me and convenient

- I can upload photos & vidoes instantly from my phone to the web! 

How can you compete with that!

But I do love photos from the bigger better Camera.

I want a phone that will take pictures like these!
(My Note, so far, has the best camera)

Isn't William cute with his winter coat?

 

I even like this last blurry shot!

A New Day - A New Begininning

New beginnings.

Tender life springing forth.

Mother Nature renews herself, never faltering. 

A beautiful miracle.

Like the cycles in nature, we too have new beginnings.

Because every day is a new beginning.

A chance to start anew.

A fresh start.

A redo.

Heaven knows we need this.

Because we are perfectly imperfect.

Life is truly amazing.

Truly beautiful.

Photos taken with my Note phone

Saturday Finds, Fun and Productivity

This past Saturday, we accomplished so much!

I like Saturdays like that! A lot!

Mike went and ran with Chloe.

He also went to help some friends move close to us.

And he cleaned the garage.

We washed the 2 cars, in and out.

I did some yoga, made waffles, vacuumed and picked up the whole house,

to make room for my new mustard Rug!
I found the right style, color, and the right price!

We took Amelie and her new friend, Issy, to the 'Arts in the Park' festival for a couple of hours.

People performed and sold their art.

 Mike got me a belated Valentine gift; this flower ring.

A young Colombian Girl had a booth there, she creates her own Filigree Jewelry.

Some people are so talented!

 Amelie and Issy learned a short dance form a very fun energetic Indian Dance Teacher.

We finished the day watching the movie  'OZ' with Amelie.

What a Fun, Filled Day!
Just Perfect!

My only regret was that we left Chloe home when we went to the park Art thing!

Other 4 legged friends were there... I wasn't sure we could take her... :(

New Barbecue & Awesome Beef Fajitas!

After more than 2 years without one, I finally found and got a small Barbecue! 

I found it on Amazon. 

I really did not want some big monster on our porch.

This one is the perfect size for our family.

It's also a table top one.

Mike had gotten an electric grill that I used once.

I did not like it.

(That reminds me, I need to sell it!)

Since Justine is not around to assemble everything I need her too, 

she has been replaced by Emric.

He did a great Job! 

(There was not much to assemble on this project!)

Anyhow, I would like to come up with something to cover the gas tank, it's an eye sore.

After Emric assembled it, 

I made the most delisious Beef Fajita Sunday dinner from 

The pioneer Woman's blog.

I put 1/2 the brown sugar, 1/2 the red pepper flakes, 

I used corn tortillas, and a blend of Mexican cheeses 

instead of queso cheese. (I forgot to buy some)

Anything with Cumin is delicious!

Cumin has to be one of my favorite spices...