Happy 19th to my sweet baby girl, Jordan!
Happy 20th to my wonderful husband!

He got me platinum to celebrate the awesome testimony we now have..    :)

We're on our way down to Galveston for family weekend. Can't wait to spend time in my girls new world. And celebrate her 19th birthday on Sunday. Hoping to meet some of her new friends, visit her new church, and see the dolphin family that lives in her backyard. We'll be staying at the Hotel Galvez, should be a nice upgrade from her dorm for a few nights.  :)

Didn't lose any weight this week :(
And my back is killing me, don't think it likes running. Too bad. Ballet starts Thursday, gotta get used to the pain.

Many pics to come this weekend..

Took Hannah to the eye doc today because she said some signs were blurry while driving. Her vision isn't that bad, but we went ahead and got glasses anyway. She was so cute when she put them on, she looked around like she was seeing the world for the first time. I think her words were.."Oh wow, I can see!!" She got these super trendy RayBan "nerd" glasses and she looks adorable.

Also, Jordan got accepted into yet another volunteer program, this time at Moody Gardens. She will be working in the penguin exhibit! She's pretty excited.

Look what I got today :)

Day 7 of Operation Weight Loss -- My numbers have been all over the map this week, I suppose my body is just adjusting to the new routine. But today on day 7 I am actually down 1 pound from last tuesday. I'll take it. Man, it's hard to lose a pound. Hopefully the rate will pick up this week, now that my body knows I'm serious. Yesterday was a rest day and my body hurt so bad. I've got that acid build up everywhere. Part of it was from working on the stairs with Josh this weekend. AKA, the never ending project.
Day 10 of said Never Ending Project -- (so technically we only work on this on the weekends, for the most part, but still, it has been 10 days)

 

prettier view from upstairs :)

Picture on left is after he tore out the carpet. The one on the right is this morning. As you can see, he had to completely redo the bottom 3 stairs, which took almost a whole day. Making and painting the white kick plates took another whole day. This weekend he got almost all the dark wood cut out and installed, just 2 pieces left! Then we start trim work.  The front of each step obviously will not be natural wood, it will match the stair. Then we need to do the bannister and handrails. I had no idea this would take this long. It's a good thing to have a husband who's good at carpentry, but my desire to accomplish a long list of projects around here has diminished with each passing day of this project. I dislike the house being filled with saw dust and tools. I need clean.

I just have to share..  In Galveston there is a branch of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network. This is one of the things Jordan wants to do for a career, but she was told that the wait to be even just a volunteer would be YEARS due to the hundreds of applicants. There are seniors that still haven't heard back from them. Well as a parent there is nothing better than to see the favor of God on your childs life. She got accepted today. And the once a year training for new volunteers is next weekend. She is giddy and it is a testimony of God's goodness when you are faithful. I am beyond excited for her and so proud of the testimony she is building. She will now be on the list of people called when a dolphin is stranded in the ocean somewhere. And she gets to help babysit the ones that are already rescued and nurse them back to health. 
There just aren't enough words to express how good our God is. All the time.

For more information about the organization, here's a link:
http://www.tmmsn.org/

had to add, some of these made me laugh again, for my own personal amusement

I did it. I did what I told myself I would do. I signed up for an adult ballet workshop at Ballet Austin. When I pushed the button I cringed. Not because I don't want to do it, but because I'm afraid of my body not cooperating. I spent the last hour trying to find a long torso leotard, because at 6 feet tall, I don't exactly fit into traditional one piece suits of any kind. I just bought a leotard. That sounds ridiculous. And I have to buy tights and ballet shoes. Don't laugh.  

So I'm turning 40 in December and the last two things on my pre-40 list that I haven't done yet were this, and losing 16 pounds. I'm working on that one too, because I have to actually WEAR that leotard on November 1st. YIKES!!!! OMgoodness, I have to go run now. I ran yesterday till my legs started giving out, then got onto my bike and rode. Then I came home and helped with the staircase for a while. (That project is never ending. It's like the If you Give a Mouse a Cookie book.. it just keeps on going in the wrong direction..)

The engineer at work.

BTW, for all of you not in Austin... It's FREEZING HERE! It's 50 and I have my jacket on and my teeth are chattering just going outside for a sec ..

Yesterday, Hannah and I drove to Houston to meet up with Jordan for the day. She had decided not to go on her clubs camping trip for a variety of reasons, and Hannah wanted to start looking for a dress for the spring formal. So we met at the Galleria and spent the day shopping there, and at some stores nearby. We found THE dress. It is one of the most beautiful dresses I've ever seen, and when she put it on, it was just perfect. It's a long pale pink dress that looks so good with her white skin and brown hair. And it was a great deal.  :)
We had such a good time hanging out all day. The girls fell right back into their way of talking in quotes and cracking each other up. I have missed that so much. More than anything, as a mom, seeing my kids love each other makes me happier than I can explain.
When I came home, Josh had spent the day tearing out the carpet on our stairs and had stained all the wood that will replace it. He hopefully will get to install it when he gets home from church. I am so excited and thankful for this man spending his weekend bettering our home. It has needed this for a long time.

                                         Here's the pre installation picture. I also need to take down the handrails and redo them to match.

If you guys are ever looking at jewelry, please stop by Cedar Park Jewelry in the railyard and tell the owner, George, I sent you. Look for the big guy in a hawaiian shirt. He is the sweetest guy, as is the whole staff, and so helpful. They specialize in custom work and designs. Josh has had 2 necklaces made there for me, designed by Josh himself, that I absolutely love. They also buy all your old jewelry that you no longer want, or they can change it into something else for you. Today I was in there looking at rings because we have a 20 year anniversary coming up :) and after George showed me a bunch he thought would appropriately fit my long skinny fingers and also represent 20 years well, I had found one I was pretty fond of but obviously wanted to show Josh. He SENT ME HOME WITH IT! He said bring it back tomorrow sometime, try it out! Who does that?? Anyways, he is one of my favorite locally owned businesses, and I just wanted to give him a shout out and recommendation.  Today I was serenaded by one of his older regular customers "Elo" a 85 to maybe 90 year old man. He told the whole store how beautiful I was and how he was admiring me. Then he sang me a few songs including "you are so beautiful". George laughed and said what other jewelry store gives you that kind of entertainment?? :)

This is really just for me to remember the awesome work Hannah did this year in vocabulary. She writes the funniest sentences every week and years from now they will make me smile just as much.

Just booked Josh's trip to Paris and Nice, France for November. SOOOO not fair. I would LOVE to be able to go with him, but flights are outrageous right now and I wouldn't want to leave Hannah even if they weren't. A few years from now, though, I will be going with him on some of these awesome trips. For now, I'm a homeschooling mom, which is so much more important, and I know from recent memory how fast this time goes by.
Even with this realization, it doesn't make me not jealous. 

His hotel in Nice overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. :(

Saturday we had Hannah's friend Eamonn over for most of the afternoon and evening. They were working on his song that he's auditioning for youth band vocals with. (that didn't sound grammatically correct).. We invited him to stay for dinner and a movie, and we rented Battleship. It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I thought it was pretty cute and funny actually.
Sunday after H and J got home from church we went to nana and papa's for Sophie's birthday party. She got a karaoke machine, unfortunately for her parents. (again with the weird sounding grammar)

miss this

Jordan's not going to be home for quite a while this time. It's been a week since we've seen her, and it will probably be another month. Next weekend she's going camping at the beach in Corpus so her group can volunteer at the Texas aquarium for a weekend. The following weekend Michael is going to visit her in Galveston for the weekend. Then there's an empty weekend, but seems silly to come home since we're going down there the next weekend for family weekend and her birthday. But I don't know if 5 weeks is an acceptable amount of time for a mom to not see her 18 year old daughter. We'll see.

don't ever take family time for granted, it goes by so fast

Hannah and Eamonn baking cookies