think about it... :)

i told you i would! HEROES is getting ready for our first fundraiser of the year....

november 6 is our garage sale-please mark this on your calendars! if you have things to donate to the sale, that would be helpful. if you want to get your shop on, please come see us at First United Methodist Church in Richardson.

without these fundraisers, HEROES wouldn't be able to carry on. pass the word and come see us!!

flashback friday

my sweet girl at 6 months old...

where does the time go?

wordless wednesday

ten on tuesday

i am stealing this idea from my good buddy, alyson! back in june, i made a list of things i wanted to get accomplished this summer. sadly this summer has come to a close...let's see how i did!

1. make some extra dough!--i did! i worked 3 weeks of my summer at heroes camp. i was terribly worried that i was making a huge mistake to give up part of my summer with my girl. i couldn't have been more wrong! while i did miss her, she had a blast at school with her friends and i had an amazing time at camp.

2. throw a fabulous birthday party for my baby!-- i think so! :) i was pretty proud of myself for even attempting the giant cupcake cake, and i know it will only get better each time. addy had a blast, got tons of presents, ate tons of cake, and was surrounded by people who love her!

3. continue my running program --not so much. it got really hot, and i was not feeling it. however, towards the end of the summer i joined weight watchers and did some shredding compliments of jillian michaels. as of friday, i have lost 8 lbs! :)

4. read-- i did and i am. i am about 30 pages away from finishing eat, pray, love. i am enjoying it so much, i think i may read it again as soon as i finish. yes, i know, 2 months to read one book is a little slow...but i'm a busy girl. ;)

5. hang out on our new deck as much as possible!-- not really. it got too dang hot! looking forward to autumn nites though...

6. do a better job of keeping my house clean --not really. what did happen though was the conversion of our spare bedroom into addy's playroom. pics to come-dusty is working on some mad creations for the walls. :)

7. cook --i did do more...once i got going on weight watchers, i did much better. :)

8. go through our closets.-- nope. :(

9. date nites.-- nope. :( really bummed about this one. just always got too busy. we have plenty of "date nites" right here in our living room on our couch. love my hubby!

10. PENSACOLA BEACH!!-- yes indeedy!!! we had a blast! addy absolutely loved it!

because...daddy does rock. :)

brushing her own teeth!

flashback friday

college days...

football game circa 2004

wordless wednesday

so long summer...

sad but true. today was our last day of summer together. boo. we had one fun filled day though! we hung out with mama smo--aka kelley and jeff lewis--aka cody.

kelley came over early this morning to get a hang of addy's schedule since she will be watching her one day next week. addy was quite entertaining. :)(our daycare is closed--ms. rachael is on vacay!) for lunch we picked up an old friend, mr. bg :) and cody and headed to cici's. not real weight watcher friendly, however, bg is a huge fan!

cici's has an interesting sign above the playroom...

such a random grouping of beautiful people...don't they look like the "all-american" family? ;)

after cici's we headed to a spray park in the dallas area that happened to be closed for cleaning. boo. however, it was a great opportunity for a photo op of "jeff lewis and chloe". ;)

we then headed to the one in lake highlands. we were horribly unprepared...no swimsuits...no towel...no sun hat. BUT we are flexible! i had all we needed: a clean diaper and a dry t-shirt for post water fun!

post swimming fun:

it was so hot, we had the AC on full blast...her hair was all about it. :)

10 minutes later...

we had the best time today. i am terribly sad to leave this little person come monday and go back to our "real" schedule. this summer was amazing--best i have ever had thanks to this little girl. goodbye summer...until next year. :)

flashback friday

the friday before i headed back to work last year...we were a 3 month old mommy and daughter and i was beyond consolable...

day before i go back to work this year...my almost 14 month old baby. i'm not as terrified about the transition back to work this go around (thankfully), however, i am super sad to be ending this most wonderful summer with my girl. she is the coolest chick around and we have had so much fun together! love, love, love her. :)

addy's favorite snack

fruit sushi! peanut butter, bananas, strawberries all rolled up in a piece of bread and sliced like a sushi roll! honey is the "soy sauce"! she loved it!!!

wordless wednesday

HEROES

"The mission of HEROES is to create social,
recreational and vocational programs
designed to meet the unique needs of
individuals with disabilities."

in addition to chillin' with my beautiful daughter and sunning in florida, part of my summer was spent working a summer camp for special needs kids. my good friend, josh, started this camp 5 years ago with only 5 kids--one of whom was his own son. it has grown leaps and bounds with this summer being the biggest yet. we had anywhere from 70-80 kids each week!

i worked 3 out of the 6 weeks and i absolutely had a blast!

when summer began, i was definately questioning my choice to work part of my summer and not spend it all with addy. i'll be honest, i wasn't looking forward to it. we were already paying for daycare through the summer months, plus we needed the extra money to help with our vacation and other bills...so what the heck, right? the first day of camp felt like my very first day of teaching--nervous, anxious, and pretty sad i left my girl.

those feelings all went away very quickly. i cannot tell you the impact the 3 weeks i worked made on me. camp was filled with trips to mcdonalds, trips to the movies, swimming at the pool, hiking 3 mile trails, volunteering at local businesses, games, cooking, karate, yoga, and fun with music. as i walked to my car each friday after camp, i found myself getting a bit choked up overwhelmed with pride and joy. i had the opportunity to hang out with

some amazing children and work alongside people that are as passionate as i am.

this camp is so important because most of the kids we served would get turned away elsewhere because of their disabilities. sad, but true. the parents of these kids were overwhelmingly appreciative--thanking us at the end of each day for "giving our time". it was a nice change of pace from what i have become used to in the public school setting. ;) matter of fact, the parents were so appreciative, they secretly (behind Josh's back) raised over $7000 to put towards the camp becoming an official non-profit organization!

i am so excited to see what the future has in store for HEROES and to continue to be a part of it. it was strange and a bit sad not heading to camp yesterday morning. josh's dream is to make this year round...and when it happens, i'll be there! i am so proud to be a part of this group!! stay tuned--i'll be buggin' you all when our fundraisers begin!!

flashback friday

dusty's 29th birthday

7.13.2007

wordless wednesday

ramblings

so i didn't run this morning like i had planned--it was too dark at 6am and i don't do dark alone. :) what i did do, however, was 22,700 steps on my pedometer today which translates to a little over 10 miles. 3 of those miles was at arbor hills nature preserve...and we might have been slightly crazy taking 22 of our kids out there in the 105 degree heat. BUT we had fun and i got a workout! :)

today was my first official day on ww and i did great with my points. i learned that where i have been messing up badly is when i would get home in the evenings. i would snack as i was feeding addy dinner and then lost all discipline at my own dinner time. sheesh.

i wanted to start running again, but it is SO DANG HOT! so i might be doing some shredding compliments of jillian michaels.

i'm on my way.... :)

i did it. :)

it was time. weight watchers is really the only thing that has ever worked for me....so i signed up.

wanna know what the catalyst was? a 2 minute conversation with rachael from heroes camp. we were both talking about running and getting back in shape. nothing major, but it was enough for me to get my butt in gear.

i plan to run in the morning. wish me luck!