FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This past Saturday our local fire department had an open house. It has been a long time since I have attended one of these so i was excited to see if it was as exciting for me as an adult as it was when i was a kid. AND IT WAS!!! Because now not only did i get to participate but I also got to watch my sons face light up as he played and learned hands on.

There were alot of activities for children and a large selection of fire trucks to climb on and learn about. As well as a few extreamly AWESOME demonstrations.

This particular fire engine belongs to the DFW Airport fire department. It is much bigger than a typical city fire truck as you can tell by my son standing by the wheel its huuuuuge. Romeo liked it not only because it was the biggest but because it was yellow and had a super cool robot that the bomb squad uses (i neglected to take a picture of the robot sorry) and he enjoyed inspecting that.

With my dad being a fire fighter all my life i have put bunker gear on a bunch of times but this time it was romeos turn. He didnt really like the jacket because it was heavy and it was hot out that day. But he did look super cute. '

For adults they were having races. Basically what you do is start out with none of the gear on, someone calls go and you get the bunker gear on and run as fast as you can down and around some cones and the first one back wins. It was really funny because people were falling and getting tangled in the suspenders.

For younger kids they had a few fire extingushers rigged to spray water. At one station you could aim for a bucket and fill it up with water. But at the other station you could use the water rigged extingusher to actually put out a fire! This was one of my husband and sons favorite things about the day. Here is a photo of Romeo and my Dad putting out the fire.

One of the most exciting things for me was getting to learn about the jaws of life up close and personal along with a few other tools used in car accidents to get people out of danger.

It was really neat to watch these guys cut up this car with litte effort. Technology rocks!

The last demonstration we saw was an example of a roof rescue. This was so cool!! We got to see them repel from the ladder truck an actually show us what they would do in an emergency like this. They were able to manuver a gerny and themselves with ease. Im telling you if i ever need to be rescued i would want my life in the hands of these guys.

I am really greatful to the city for holding this open house. Its good for people to see what they really do. Most of the time these are the guys that are forgoten. They work holidays on thier birthdays thier kids birthdays and often miss big family events to put thier lives on the line for us. These men are REAL HEROS and deserve way more credit than they get.

meet me in the garden

I have been on the search for good FREE activities to do with my kiddos before the weather gets to hot. Last week a friend of mine was in from out of town and she suggested that we go to the botanical gardens in fort worth. WHY HADNT I THOUGHT OF THAT!!! I guess coming into the city from the outside she did her research.

We went with our three kids and two strollers. Planned to have lunch and read books and just enjoy nature together with our children.

as you can see it was VERY sunny that day so luckily there are many shady spots because there are lots of trees. we found a shady place with few people around to have lunch. I think Romeos favorite part was chasing the black birds. And Zayds favorite part was eating grass of course.

Romeo enjoyed running around and screaming. (while i was trying to get good photos) HA!

all in all it was a very fun .. but long day. we spent about 4 hours there and got home about an hour after nap time so everyone was pretty cranky when we got home.

Im glad i have such good friends who also have children, and who also have similar parenting styles. Especially ones who suggest fun free things to do that dont involve sitting on a couch all day :)

el dia de los muertos ... but not really

Last week my kids and i went to the cemetery where my family is buried. The plan was to stay and read books until lunch time and then have a little picnic. Unfortunatly when we arrived there the sprinklers were on so i was only able to run over and put the flowers that we had brought on theh grave stones.

This is my great great aunts grave stone. She passed almost 5 years ago on New Years eve. Its hard to believe that it has been that long, it feels like just last week we were sitting outside watching cars go by. see thats the thing i miss most about her i think ... we could spend hours and hours in total silence. she (like me) was content with not talking and just spending quality time together. Its not that we didnt have anything to say to one another its just that nothing NEEDED to be said and that was ok with us .. we both arent that into small talk.
I always feel so sad when i think about when she died because just a short two months later i got engaged ... i wish she had been there to tell. Or there for my wedding or for my kids births. or to just hug... right now.

i also was able to drive by her house because it was on the way.

it looks a little different now than it did then. on the sides of the drive way she had grown these amazing sunflowers ... the kind that if you are a kid you feel like you are in some mythical jungle of sunflowers or you shrunk or somehting. i peaked into the back yard and it is all in direpair which kindof made me sad because she had the best "jungle" for when me and my cousins played. She used to let us all play in the mud and then hug her...shes the only adult i remember letting us do that.

sorry this one is crooked ... idk whats up with it its right on my computer but when i upload it it turns..lol
so anyways

this is my great grandma and great grandpas grave stone. my "papaw" passed when i was pretty young but i am the oldest of the great grand children so i guess that means i have the most memory of him.. and the fact that we lived just next door helps too.
every day after school i would run to thier house from the bus stop and when i got there "mamaw" was always waiting with cookies and milk or those yummy but o so bad for you honey buns you can buy in boxes of like 12. And papaw already had the tv tuned to my favorite show (which changed almost every week). I would sit there with the two of them and just enjoy some down time.

When we werent wathcing tv we were out in the yard working or just going for a ride on papaws trailor attached to his lawn mower.. i know i know that sounds really red neck but who cares it was fun!

my mamaw was an amazing gardener. that woman could grow ANYTHING i tell you! to bad i didnt get any of those genes. She also cared for the chickens and ran the house. she took care of everyone. i hope one day i can be half as good as her at taking care of everything one day.


to some people it might be weired that i take my kids to hangout at a cemetery but if you know me .. you know that i love them . they are so peaceful!!! and the one that my family is at is beautiful. not like modern cemeterys with all flat grave stones there are lots of very old one some that are sculpted there are crypts and monuments.

it makes me wonder if any of my other family goes to visit there. ... probably not.. maybe im weired but all i know is it makes me feel close to them again. it brings back memories that i had with them and that makes me happy

Memory Lane

Today i took the kids on a tour of part of my childhood.

We went to breakfast at this little cafe that my great great aunt used to eat at every day! When i was young my "auntie" baby sat me so i frequently ate there with her and her friends.

Everything from the drive, parking in our usual spot, and entering those doors flooded back fond memories.

Romeo was delightfuly surprised that i was not only taking him OUT to eat but also that i told him he can get anything he wanted. He picked french toast and i went with my regular a waffle and 1 egg over easy. The food was super yummy and the staff was friendly and our food came out quickly.

Romeo Loved his food

seriously people i was so excited to eat this i forgot to take a photo before i got started!

It was exactly as i remembered it pink flamingos and all. The decor has not changed and the owner Mike is still there, smiling and making small talk with each guest.

its a real down home type place where "everybody knows your name"

Mike still remembered me and my family he was greatful to see that i had brought my children to carry on the tradition of breakfast there.

Zaydy enjoyed playing with the butter packages... this is something i distinctly remember doing with my cousins .. we would play "hockey" with them across the table.

if you and your family would like to visit this cafe you can go to http://www.thecafehaltomcity.com/ and find everything from menu items, hours, and directions. lunch items are avaiable but the breakfast is the best.

I am going to try and make this a bi-weekly type breakfast with my kiddos. we all enjoied the time together and the place so much.

holy moly!

Today i gave myself my first piano lesson.. I didn’t bother with scales or finger exercises or anything like that i just jumped right into playing a song. I worked on the right hand notes first and then the left which plays the chords...BAD IDEA!!! I ended up getting so frustrated with the chords because my fingers felt awkward and it was hard. So when I practice tomorrow I will definitely start with the left hand and then do the right.

Since we are still on this topic of piano I wanted to share some photos from my childhood. These photos captured some of my most fond memories with my “mamaw” if we weren’t at the electric organ or the piano we were cooking something oh so fattening but superbly scrumptious in her kitchen.

I remember sitting with her at her organ and listening to her play hymns and Christmas songs for hours and hours.
Though I don’t really remember her ever teaching me to play a song I’m sure she at least attempted.

Even after she would quit playing and move on to something else i would sit at her organ for hours and hours and just play around. I think her allowing me to do this gave me a great ear for music later on in life and a passion that i would not have had if i didnt have the chance to explore on my own. Without tha passion I likely would not have persued other musical instruments in school and I know for a fact i wouldnt have the desire to play the piano now.

I was so enamored that i some how convinced my parents that i wanted to play piano and WE GOT ONE!! My very own piano :) i was probably around 6 when we got it and i couldnt bare to not be able to play SOMETHING so i asked for lessons. Shortly after i got lessons i decided it was to hard and ended up quiting. Looking back i wish i would have stayed with it or my parents had made me keep going. Because from what i hear its alot harder to learn as an adult.

For that reason my children will play piano... no matter how much they wine and complain about having to practice or go to lessons i will not compromise on that. If only for the dicipline and the coordination they will learn weather they like it or not.

And i just hope that one day they will have the fond memories that I do that are brought up by the sound of a piano playing. I hope that they can melt when they hear someone playing, or that others will get chills and have tears come to their eyes listening to them the way i listen to my frineds when they sit on that majestic piano bench.

The Tchaikovsky Compulsion

I have always had an obsession with classical piano. Some how it just gets me in a place that when nothing else can reach me it can pull me out of my shell and evoke emotion even i didnt know i could express. Theres something magical about hearing the chords dance through the air. I have always wanted to learn to play but as many of you know it is near impossible to learn without a piano or keyboard to practice on daily.

This weekend i was excited to find out that we were offerend a piano FOR FREE!!!!

But before we could get the thing we had to borrow my father in-laws trailor. We went after church to pick up the trailor from his house and it had a flat tire. The waiting begins here... we had to wait about 4 hours before we could get it to a shop that could fix it on a sunday afternoon. I got ansy because i was so stinkin excited that i was about to have something i had dreamed about snice i was like 6.
We finally got everything all fixed up and we were on our way :) it only took about 15minutes to drive to the pick up location but it felt like forever since i was packed like a sardine in a car with 4 grown men. Luckily they were all family so it wasn't weired.

When we arrived it was even more glorious than i had dreamt! It was beautiful and i couldnt wait to hurry up and get it home!

fast forward to home

when we arrived at home my brother in-law and father in-law and one of his friends were waiting to help us unload it. It was
quickly wisked inside my house into a not so permanant home in my dining room (we will later move it to the study) BUT ITS HERE!! For all to enjoy for children to bang on and for me to attempt to teach myself to play until i can afford some traditional lessons.


My two year old has already taken an intrest as expected. Well see how he feels about it when hes 7 and i am making him practice for an hour each day and take lessons hehe :)

arent those little fingers ADORABLE and the adorable is multiplied by about 100,000 billion because they are tickling those gorgeous ivorys!

A big shout out to all my friends and family that helped! AAAAAAND if you know how to play the piano please feel free to drop by and play me and my kiddos a tune or 12 :) it would be greatly appreciated.

Amazing Husband Yummy Eggs

As many other people now-a-days I am on the hunt for the most healthy and fresh food for our family. So you can imagine my excitement when my husband came home one day from work and asked me if I would be interested in buying eggs from one of his friends who has chickens. YES!!!!! To my dismay we had just gotten eggs from the store the day before so I was on a mission to eat/use them asap!! And for the first time in a long while we went through a dozen eggs in about 3 days. So that next day my husband put in our order for 12 farm fresh eggs :) yayyyyy.

After an agonizing two day wait he finally brought them home.

arent they beautiful!!!

I grew up with farm fresh eggs. My great grandparents had chickens when i was growing up and we lived next door to them so I got the benefit of helping my “mamaw” go out and get the eggs from the hens enclosure on many occasions. Not only did they have chickens our other friends in the neighborhood had chickens (among other farm animals) and my friends and I would go and play with them and collect the eggs.
So not only are fresh eggs yummy and great for me and my family there is this amazing nostalgia I get from seeing the brown and greenish white eggs in a carton each morning when I go to make breakfast.

So all that being said today was the first day I have had a chance to cook one and eat it. And it was just as AMAZING as I remember. If you have never had a fresh egg (and by fresh I mean not from the super market) you have got to try it. The yolk is so much more rich and yummy and the whites aren’t as slimy and snot looking they are actually appetizing. Ha!

Breakfast today made me long for the day that i have the space and a back yard functional enough for chickens. I can't wait to have memories with my kids teaching them about where food comes from and showing them fresh eggs being laid.

for all of the reasons above i would like to say how greatful i am for my husband knowing how much i would love getting fresh eggs and being willing to pay more for them and bring them home from work whenever we need them and also for being willing to ask his friend if i could bring the kids sometime to get the eggs themselves so that they can have that experience since we wont be able to have our own little chicken coop for quite some time.
kudos good sir! well done! you rock! and I LOVE YOU!