Take pictures...

I saw a slide show today of a beautiful family and it prompted me to think that I don't have nearly as many pictures of my husband, children and I TOGETHER as I should...AND, then I started thinking, I don't have nearly as many pictures as I would like of my parents...my brothers...my sisters-in-law...my nieces/nephews...my only living and dear grandfather...my family together...etc...

I used to be a camera hog...
yes, I would pose!

I'd JUMP in front of any camera that would let me.
Somewhere out there, there are a ton of pictures of me. Well, the me I used to be. I've changed so much since having my beautiful children...mentally, emotionally and PHYSICALLY. I'm not at all the person I used to be...and that's really not a bad thing, except I rarely take pictures now.

I'm now that person who waves that hand in front of her face and looks down...exclaiming,"You'd better not take that picture!"Much like the celebrities do, while running from the paparazzi. GRANTED, no one is looking to make a million dollars off of a picture of me...because my pictures...monetarily, anyway...have no value. Hmmmm...how funny life is.

AND, although my pictures and the pictures of my family have no monetary value. One day...some day...they will carry a value. A value greater than all the money in the world, of course I've always known that...I just needed reminding. AND so, I need to start adding to that treasure.

I'm going to stop and say cheese from now on...well, I'm going to try anyway. AND, I'm going to take pictures...TOGETHER with the ones I love. I'm going to make sure there isn't anyone left out.

So, whether they are candid pictures, posed pictures, blurry pictures, over-exposed pictures, clear pictures, beautiful pictures, any kind of pictures-----just take them...
to have...
to remember...
to cherish...
perhaps, to have them to clench next to you some day ....

7 years...

Happy Birthday
to my little
guitarist, gymnast, dancer, actress, baker, pouter, ponderer, good sleeper, doctor,
diva, artist, mud pie expert, photographer, rock star, cheerleader, big sister, and Princess!

What will this next year bring? I don't know... but I hope it slows down.
I Love you!

God be with you where ever you are... where ever you go... and what ever you do!

Team Renee

Click here to see the wonderful listings!

Here is mine...$.99 no reserve! Thanks for looking!

What's on my cutting table?

Here is a little peak at the fabrics I've been piecing together...

They're sprouting!!!

Now look...

SNAP PEAS

ZUCCHINI

Fiesta Carnival

We took the kids to one of the many FIESTA carnivals this weekend. Lots of food, fun and RIDES...like this GIANT slide my daughter and husband slid down on.

Here is another picture from that day. It is the 750 ft. Tower of the Americas. I love the clouds!

The Shoe Box Parade

Remember my post about the shoe box float? Well, the school's Shoe Box Parade was today! The students were allowed to wear their FIESTA dresses in lieu of their uniforms...that in itself made it a fun day!


Oops! Did I forget to mention that my daughter cut her hair? Well, aside from trims...this was her first "actual" hair cut. She was able to donate 15" of beautiful brown hair to Locks of Love this weekend. She was so proud of herself! The "terms" were that she must still be able to put bows in her hair...and this length still allows for some pretty cute pig tails!

Look here...

Do you see that?

Okay...me neither...but I'm hoping I will see some zucchini at some point.

Tropical Butterfly

Oh my, another one??? Yes, I am in a sewing mood! Over to the left, I stated I sew in my spare time...I guess I've had some spare time!

I don't know if I am planning to list this one...we'll see...but I love these colors and I think the name suits it perfectly...see the beautiful colors of butterflies in the tropical regions here and tell me, isn't the dress a perfect match?? I used remnants I had on hand and combined them with two colorways of FREE SPIRIT's Jane's Butterfly garden.

Aren't my nieces such cuties?? My other niece is modeling the sneak peek two posts below this one.

FIESTA 2008 is here!

San Antonio's biggest event, Fiesta 2008 is soon approaching, and the natives are getting restless! Yes, everyone has Fiesta Fever! If you aren't familiar with Fiesta, read about it here it is a HUGE annual event since 1891. I have met people from all over the world who plan their vacation around this 10 day event here in San Antonio. AND, it wouldn't be FIESTA without parades! There are so many of them, the oldest one is the Battle of the Flowers parade! This is the BIG one... so many businesses close down by noon and yes, you guessed it---there is no school that day! Since having children, we don't do FIESTA...I guess we've become "homebodies", ha ha! However, before we had our children we were fortunate enough to live in a home downtown in The King William historical district which had been converted into 2, we lived in the loft upstairs. The Fiesta event: The King William fair would bring a parade which literally went thru our front yard and we would sit on our balcony and host friends and family. Food booths cluttered our street and our yard as well-- imagine being able to just walk downstairs and get funnel cake, nachos and whatever fair foods you enjoy! Well, along came our little girl and we realized we wanted a backyard for her to play in, living on the top we had sacrificed a back yard which belonged to the bottom dwellers. So we moved! We still love to entertain, just not on the scale in which we used to. I sometimes miss it...but I LOVE my family and am happy where we are at.

ANYWAY, the whole reason for my post...my daughter's teacher had sent home a note one day that each student was to bring in a shoe box from home. We sent one. My daughter came home on Monday with a different shoe box with a note attached asking us to do a Parent/Child project and make it into a float as they were going to have their own little Fiesta Parade at school! Lovely! We love doing projects together! We could choose any theme we wanted. Naturally, I let our daughter choose and she quickly chose to do something with Tinkerbell. Lovelier! So I took out the old "craft" vinyl tablecloth (this was going to get messy) and we all went to work with tissue paper and glue!

This is how it began:

AND, this is the almost finished product:

Isn't it cute?

I was talking with my sister -in-law the other day and she said this year for the 4th of July we were going to have a big picnic with sack races and egg tosses and the whole kit and kaboodle. We had so much fun with this little project, that I think I'm going to suggest that we have our children make their own 4th of July floats and have our own little parade that day too!

Sneak Peek!

Those of you who really know me, already know that I don't list very often...but here's a sneak peek of one that will be going up soon...I"ll let you know when!!!

I've been tagged!

Yup! I've officially entered the blog world...I've been tagged by Michelle at A Boutique Buyer's Blog.

I've been reading Michelle's blog for almost a year now---and I love it! I was able to "meet" her as our boys participated in a Halloween swap last October---that was fun!

Here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

_____________________________________________________

Goodness, this will be hard! Granted there are way more than 7 random facts about me that you all don't know...but which ones to share? And, suddenly I've grown blank, LOL! Well, I'll be back...I've told myself that the magic number is 7 and that must mean that I have 7 days to finish this post, hee hee! To be continued...

Okay, here we go:

1. I LOVE Karaoke! LOVE it! I know, that's cheesy but I do! I haven't done it honestly since I was in college...but I miss it *sigh*

2. I have always loved the GREASE movies! The movie was re-released in theaters back in 1997-98 and I also happened to get engaged within that time. My friends threw me the BEST Pink Lady engagement party! We all got dressed to go see the movie on release night and had a big girl slumber party, OMG...that was soooo much fun! Of course, I've seen the musical as well and I also played Frenchie in college theatre.

3. I am very rarely home on the weekends...we are always traveling somewhere...either to visit family( I am VERY close to my family), friends or just a little family get away!

4. I LOVE camping, swimming and fishing...so we spend a lot of time here at the river! One day, God willing, we'll be able to move back home and retire there.

5. I had my daughter's name chosen since I was 18 ( I had her at 29) yet, chose her middle name 40 minutes before she was born after falling in love with my labor and delivery nurse's name, LOL!

6. I collect Nutcrackers! I have over 50 and love to display them during Christmas!

7. When I was pregnant with our daughter, I took a bottle of Catalina dressing in my purse whenever we went to a restaurant, because I was crazy for salads and no one ever carried it!

Well, you can stop yawning now... I'm done, hee hee!

Now I have to tag 7 bloggers myself, so here goes:

Steffi at Mausbär´s - Nähkiste

Amy at Tote and Tee the blog

Toni at Toni Hamel designs

Mary at My Sons Shine

Wendy at Wendy's World Art

Patty at MODKID

Nancy at Fledge flying is easy

I want to ride THAT train...

We went to "Day Out with Thomas" last weekend, and I will spare you the details---because we were all four horribly, pathetically sick! We're all better now and can now laugh about the 4 hour drive that became 7 as we traveled back home. The drive there was just fine as neither of us knew that the night would bring upset tummies!

Our 2 year old son loves...I'm sorry, that's LOVES, Thomas the tank engine! We planned this weekend 3 months ago and were so excited when March 28 finally rolled around. We were able to ride Thomas and stop at a couple of booths before we went back to the hotel. He really wanted to ride the miniature train in the glass case...

Old MacDonald had a farm, E E D D C...

My daughter had her first piano recital today, and I must say I was so very proud of her! We came in late in the semester, so she's only been taking lessons since February---but she is doing so well! She practices on her own everyday...I don't have to get on her about it at all. Honestly, I never realized what beautiful songs Old MacDonald and Mary Had a Little Lamb were, but for 5 minutes today---they were Masterpieces!

See that pitiful picture? Why am I even sharing it? Well, because a post doesn't seem right without one...and sadly, I only took 3 pictures, *gasp*! Yes, I know what was I thinking? In the world of Mommydom, that's not good--someone tap the top of my hand with a ruler! Sorry, flashbacks from Catholic school! (Okay, so that's not true...I did go to Catholic school...but I never saw anyone get tapped with a ruler!) Anyway, the recital was being taped and we're getting the DVD---so I guess I figured that was enough at the time! I was sad to see that the 3 pictures that I took looked horrible-but, I put a pretty border around it, does that help?