Happy 29th Birthday Sis!

On Saturday, my sweet little Sister turns 29! Hard to believe... seems like yesterday we were little girls playing (I mean fighting!) with each other. Time marches on and in a weird way, it is cruel. Now we are all grown up with children of our own. Wish we could go back in time and rendezvous one last time in our homemade fort or go exploring in the woods behind our house. Sis, I love you way more than you will ever know. And never forget, even though Mom birthed you, you will always be "my baby." I staked that claim the day you were born on November 14, 1980!

A House Divided

Well, what can I say? Since Mama is the only one that posts on here, Mama's team(s) get all the love! While Daddy is a die hard Longhorn fan, Mama loves her Baylor and LSU! So this weekend while us two lovebirds are fishing on our boat (just the two of us, wahooo!), we will be slinging some mud at each other I am sure. Chris always gets jealous when my team wins or when I catch the biggest fish! So, for me, Sis and especially my brother-in-law who played Baylor football, GO BEARS!!! Beat Texas!

Zach Urbanus

One of the Centex Shooters alums, Zach Urbanus, was named by Fox Sports as one of the top 50 shooters in the country playing Division I basketball. #37 to be exact! Chris has coached Zach since 2000 and we have had so much fun watching him grow into such a talented man. He now plays for Citadel and is their starting point guard. Besides his amazing abilities and basketball IQ, if I had to name one, just ONE person I could handpick for Mackenzie to marry one day, it would be Zach. He is the whole package deal and Chris and I talk all the time about how much we admire Zach, his tenacity, intelligence, drive and what we southern folks call CHIVALRY and MANNERS. He's got it all! Congrats Zach on this honor and keep shooting!

Posted from Fox Sports:
37. Zach Urbanis, 6-2, 170, G, Jr., The Citadel: He shot 44 percent both as a freshman and sophomore and was 73-of-165 as a frosh and 75-of-170 last season.

"He's special because of his unselfishness and also his courage. He doesn't need to take a lot of shots to be effective, yet he is always ready and willing to step up in tight games and take and make the big shot. Tremendous work ethic and has gotten stronger. Zach has a terrific understanding of moving without the ball and getting open." The Citadel Coach, Ed Conroy

Cannes Film Festival

Here is a link to a 5 minute video (a 2007 Greek short film) that won first place at the Cannes Film festival. There is a phenomenal lesson to be learned about the gift of patience and a reminder of what it is worth. For those of you who have ever been asked "why?" or "what is that?" a million times by a child, well, you can relate to and appreciate this I am sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNK6h1dfy2o

From 0 to 60 in 3 Days

Ok, so our team did it! All 60 miles, every person and NO ONE had to go to the medical tent not once! It was an amazing journey as always and my third year didn't disappoint. I was amazed, humbled and even with blisters, able to laugh my butt off on so many different occasions. I apologize for not having pictures to post, but I am waiting on them to be e-mailed to me.... I will post soon. A very special heartfelt thanks to my Sis, Cade and Cindy for following us on the route, honking for us, bringing us lunch and being our biggest support system. You guys ROCKED!!!

For the complete "low down," please go to the right and click on the blog link to "our cousin Jackson." This is my cousin Shelly's blog and she did a stellar job of putting the weekend into words. Our team consisted of Shelly, myself, my brother-in-law Charles and his Dad Fred. We were definitely the 3 Stooges Plus 1!

For my Grandma

Tomorrow I leave for Dallas. This weekend marks my 3rd year as a walker in the Breast Cancer 3 Day. In 3 days I will walk 60 miles in THE BIGGEST and BOLDEST breast cancer fundraising event in the WORLD. This is not my opinion folks, this is a true statement! I have dubbed this event my annual pilgramage back to "self," life and what it is really all about. I truly believe that once we find the cure for breast cancer, we can cure any kind of cancer. Although my Grandma just passed away from lung cancer, the fight for a cure is very important to me. I cried earlier when I saw my shirt from last year with her name on it; I walked "in honor of" her. This year I walk in her memory. I am walking for my daughter Mackenzie. I want to be here a really long time and watch her grow old. I am walking for my Mom and all of the other important women in my life. I am walking for those not here to walk and for those that are here and not able. I am walking to make the statement that "cancer sucks" and we will beat it one day. I am walking because I believe and my heart is on fire. I am walking because everyone deserves a lifetime.

So... Cheers to all of the amazing women and men who will be joining us in Dallas this weekend. Cheers to 3,000+ people camping in pink tents, sleeping on the cold, hard ground and getting blisters like you have NEVER known unless you've ever walked 60 miles in 3 days. Cheers to the muscle aches and pains and maybe even an injury or two. BRING IT ON- NO PAIN NO GAIN!

P.S. I sure hope I come out of this as tough as I sound:)

Trick or Treat...MEOW!

Here is our precious kitty kat and the metamorphosis of the excited and alert kitty kat to the sleepy kitty kat. We went trick-or-treating with Mackenzie's cousins on Daddy's side, TJ and Kai. Kai was a beautiful Princess Jasmine and TJ was one mean sword slingin' ninja, hiiiiiii yaaaaaa! We went trick-or-treating for about an hour, got just the right amount of candy and came home just in time for Texas kick-off. The evening ended with a goody bag of bracelets, candy, stickers, glow sticks and lip gloss from Nana B. Now kitty is in there trying to fall asleep... we'll see how that goes, but it's not looking too promising.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Live and Learn

Well, what can I possibly say about how wonderful last weekend was?! My sister, brother-in-law and Cade came to visit and we spent some wonderful quality time together. Starbucks, shopping (nothing more wonderful and "quality time" than that!), dinners..... we had a blast! Chris had a fishing trip planned in advance of the wedding invite (see below), so he, his Dad and brothers went fishing. 13 bull reds, several stingrays, a shark and several keeper trout, flounder and redfish completed a fantastic fishing trip. Even better for Chris was that he missed the Sunday trip to Dallas. Here goes...

Warning: Long post

Please, just go ahead, close your eyes and imagine the excitement of THIS part of our fabulous weekend and the reason I decided to title this blog "Live and Learn." If you have children or have been around them, you may have had a similar experience. If not and you DO have children, then you are in for the ride of your life. Here goes: FIVE (5) adults and 2 small children (let me be more specific- a 3 year old and a 2 month old) decide to make a 1 day trip to Dallas and back. From Austin. For a wedding. In a Yukon. That would be about 7 hours of driving with stops. WHO DOES THIS?! Why didn't my parents who have raised 2 girls know any better and force us to go up the day before and get a hotel room??? On the way up, Mackenzie decides to get fussy, we make an emergency stop for breast pump paraphernalia, Charles's cuff on his dress shirt gets "poop juice" (I am trying to be polite here people, work with me!) on it due to the infamous "horrible timing baby BLOWOUT." During which time Mackenzie decides she now needs to go to the bathroom. Mom gets mad at Mackenzie for being fussy and throwing a temper tantrum for an entire hour due to the fact Barbie has been decapitated or something like that. Then Mom gets mad at me and because there are impressionable young children around, she calls me a "bat." As in, "quit being such a bat!" Whatever that means. I nearly wet my pants laughing because now Sis and I are making faces at Mom and making fun of her from the very back seat, just like old times. Don't worry, only Cade saw us because he is rear facing. I think we made him giggle.

We make it to the wedding and it is beautiful. My Great Aunt Nell got re-married in an elegant yet very simple service. You just don't get better than an 8 minute wedding. No, really. The kids were great and my sweet precious, should be exhausted daughter got just the right dose of pure sugar from the cake icing to awaken the "singing monster" in her. You know, the one that comes out in quiet places when it shouldn't or when you just want peace. That one.

On our way back, we make a quick stop at our old coffee house dive on the Baylor campus, Common Grounds. All went smoothly until singing monster debuted. At least she's not crying or fussing I remind Mom and Dad. I make friends with Sis's breast pump (again) and can't help but think to myself, "I am so glad that is not me!" I hated pumping. Dad's nerves are fried because singing monster and really good hearing aids do not mesh well. He removes the battery and then his hearing aid, but is still driving 80 mph trying to get home. I wonder why??? We eat dinner and all seems to be going well. Until we get in the car to leave. Melt downs were coming, Sis and I as new Moms knew this. We know we put our children through hell that day, what could we expect. And so it begins. Cade goes into an all out fit, crying so hard his voice is vibrating, he turns purple and you have to blow in his face just to keep him breathing. Mackenzie is throwing a screaming fit because she didn't get a stuffed animal out of the machine as we were leaving the restaurant. What is this like you ask? Besides wanting to pull your hair out, it is like fingernails scraping on a chalkboard and not stopping. Dad picks the perfect time to stop and get gas (way to go Dad, here's your sign!), and at this precise moment, I remember a random quote. "Life is 90% what you make of it and how you CHOOSE to react to different situations." So what do I do? I laugh so hard I nearly wet my pants. Or maybe I did. And then I whipped out the camera, pressed "video" and even though it was dark and there was no footage, I wanted to preserve the moment and how it sounded.

Moral of the story: You live and learn. I learned you NEVER make a trip like this with small children. Not in one day. I also learned how valuable a DVD player really is. Riding in Mom and Dad's Yukon we did not have a DVD player. If you do not have the luxury of having a built in one in your car like we do in the Tahoe, then you invest in a portable one. Like we did for the Honda. I also learned that even if your toddler sticks a nickle in the mechanism and it quits working, you go buy a new one for $50 and bungee the damn thing to the head rest in front of said child BEFORE embarking on your trip. It is so worth it!

New dress

Every girl needs a new dress once in awhile. And why should it not be pink with the the new Susan G. Komen breast cancer logo??? FREE shipping and 25% of the sale price goes to charity. All for less than $20. I am the Mom! Here's my plan- On Saturday, October 31st, we have an appointment to get Mother/Daughter and Halloween portraits done. Mackenzie is going to be a kitty cat, the cutest one you've ever seen. Just wait! For her 3rd year pictures, I decided that she would wear her new dress and I would wear one of my new t-shirt/shorts combos and my new tennis shoes for my 60 mile walk coming up November 6-8. What is really significant is that this is the year of "3". Mackenzie is 3 and this is my third year to walk in the Breast Cancer 3 Day. Not to mention 3 is one of my favorite numbers. It was my address growing up (#3) and the secret code between my parents and us girls to mean "I love you." When we got too big for our Mom to sign our warm fuzzies she used to slip in our lunch boxes "I love you," she would sign "Mom, 3".

***Now, the video needs a short explanation. I think Mackenzie is an aspiring singer/dancer. She thinks when you sing, you must close your eyes and throw your head back. For her Birthday, Chris and I got her a singing BARBIE BD card. That card is still going, what kind of battery does that thing have?! I wanted to video her trying to multitask: Singing with her eyes closed, while trying to dance, while at the same time keeping the card held open so the song doesn't stop. It was loads of fun! And as you can see, Lola thoroughly enjoyed it.

Go Texas! Beat OU!

My two peas in a pod. Mackenzie has been cheering non-stop for awhile now- GO, TEXAS, FIGHT! When we score, she jumps up and down and says, "we did it, we did it!" I on the other hand, walked 10 miles this morning for training and am now in my PJ's at 2:00 p.m. Fantastic.... fixing to rendevous with my paperback in bed with the windows open, enjoying the cool, fall weather. While my 2 favorite people cheer and holler in the next room.