Sheridan's first day of preschool

Last week Sheridan started preschool at Council Oak on Wednesdays and Fridays thus officially beginning my career as taxi driver. She goes to preschool from 9-2 and then I pick her up and take her to daycare and head back to work. The good news is that on those days I actually make it into the office before ten o'clock. I'm very excited that she'll be in a learning environment with some structure but I was concerned/skeptical about a few things:

1. Is she going to scream bloody murder on the first day when I drop her off at her new surroundings? She didn't even notice I was there once she walked into the room full of toys.

2. Will she really sit down at the little table and eat her lunch? They are very smart at this preschool and have seat belts on the chairs to keep them in their place.

3. Is my child, who is NEVER still for more than one second, really going to lay down on a mat, in the middle of the floor, unconfined and take a nap (also something that Sheridan rarely does)?She was asleep on the mat when I picked her up! Can I bring these teachers home with me???

Here are a few pictures from the morning as I was trying to get everything all packed up with Sheridan's help :\

I promise her lunchbox doesn't weigh 100 pounds...although she makes it look like it does

Demonstrating that it's much easier to pretend it's a drumAnd she carried her backpack just long enough for me to get this shot
Guess I'll be carrying the lunchbox, backpack, sleep mat and teddy into school. Anything else?

When I picked her up in the afternoon the teachers said she had a great day! I was very impressed to find a daily report in her diaper bag that told me everything she did that day. Very official. Her teacher (Miss April) said she was very busy! No kidding. I'm glad to know she doesn't reserve that just for us! On the "diaper section" next to the times and what lovely surprises they get to change it said 'sat on potty'. What? They're going to potty train my kid too! I heart this school!

My friend Sara's little girl, Natalie also goes to Council Oak on the same days Sheridan does but she's in the 2 year old class. Sara called me while we were making the trek to daycare and shared with me her conversation with Natalie:

Sara: "Did you see Sheridan today at preschool?"

Natalie: "Yes. She was running all around."

Sara: "Where was she running around?"

Natalie: "On the playground. Miss Tonia was trying to take her picture but she wouldn't be still long enough."

Now THAT sounds like my child.

HH Monthly dinner

So it all started at our former employer Harte-Hanks (hence where the HH comes from). A group of us started scrapping once a week and would rotate houses. The hostess would provide dinner and we would scrap/gossip. Many great stories came from these evenings and my favorite are both from Meredith with the Wendy's story behind her signature phrase "this simply will not do" and why she boycotted HEB due to a mishap with the photo lab. Our group started making yearly trips to Laredo in the fall for Christmas shopping or for Heidi and I to buy every piece of pewter we saw. Sadly we have not been to Laredo in many years due to the less than desirable shootings and Buddy's (Meredith's husband) disapproval. (Note: We value Buddy's opinion because he does/did something with the state government and border control...I think. I definitely know he works for the state.) Anyway...we also started our annual girls lake weekend (which we call GLW..turns out Dell is not the only one that can have acronyms!) at Heidi's in-law's house on Lake LBJ. At GLW 2006 we decided that getting together just once a year for our weekend of fun at the lake just wasn't enough. We don't scrap anymore during the week because of our busy lives/schedules. So we decided to start a monthly dinner and the hostess of the month picks which restaurant we eat at or they can host at their house...but that's never happened.

Monday night at our January dinner I got in trouble for not posting the pictures from our December dinner on my blog yet. Sorry Kate. Maybe I need to get a family assistant like Meredith once had and then I would be able to stay current with my blog. But that's neither here nor there. Back to our fabulously fun December dinner at Chuy's. Here's my list (thanks to Kate's help) with a little recap of what each person brought to the conversation:

Shelly B: Shelly had her insurance card on her but quickly reminded us that it's been a LONG time since she's been in an accident. But I'm sure everyone's definition of "long" is different.

Michele: We were glad Michele was able to take time out of bar-hopping to join us for dinner.

Heidi: Heidi has a very creative theory on how she saved money from two fender benders. Jeff (her husband) is NOT buying it. Although she did learn that if you're in a hit and run accident that is your fault as long as you stop to make sure the people are alright before you take off, then technically it's not considered a "hit n' run". Good to know and ladies watch out if you see Heidi driving because she might be out to make some money.

Debbie: She had a super cute necklace on that I must immediate have! What was that website again? Plum something....

Liane: Also the expert when it comes to fender benders and found her maid Brenda to be very resourceful as a translator for her most recent accident.

Kate: Poor Kate realized that everyone...even Michele....has a maid. Maybe she can buy the Louis Vuitton carryon with all the money she'll save by not having one.

Meredith: Wisely decided against a homemade banana bread baking marathon for Christmas gifts for Buddy's co-workers.

Me: I was very excited about my new maid that cleaned our house that day and even more excited that Cameron was impressed with her work. Hopefully, I'll be just as impressed with his work on the bronco!

And now for the pictures......

Shelly B, Kate, Michele

Heidi and Debbie

Liane, me and Meredith

I smell a rat...

Not just one. Not two. Or even three rats. But FOUR! Yes, that's right people the death count is up to four. I asked Cameron the other day how many he thinks there are and he said "One. That's how many I thought we had." Not sure why I expected him to know the answer to that question. He doesn't have a crystal ball to look into. I realize it's impossible to guesstimate when we only see one at a time. It would be much more convenient if they traveled in groups or even used the buddy system. But I'm telling you, if it gets to be more than six, we are moving!

UPDATE: Number 5 bit the dust last night. Cameron thinks he missed his calling and should go into the rat killing business. I think he only missed his calling if he can get rid of them once and for all! ;) We are a lot closer to the lucky number six and moving day than I thought/hoped we would be. Since the baseboards from Cameron's tile project still aren't completey finished I've decided I'm not going to let them run me out of my house. I don't want someone else to enjoy what I've waited six months for. Instead, maybe we need a cat.

Working on my fitness

No, not me (although I should be). Or Fergie. But Sheridan is up in the gym working on her fitness. I'll be her witness...

How does this thing work
I think I'll just smile and look cute
This looks interesting....

Just my size

Sheridan found my shoes the other night and walked into the kitchen like everything was totally normal. Cameron and I immediately scrambled for the camera and video camera. She loved the noise the heels made and would walk around in circles laughing. It was priceless.

Everybody loves Santa

Or not.....

My Christmas Break in a Nutshell

On December 21st, my last day of work for the year I had high hopes of what I would do on my Christmas vacation....sleep in, scrap, go see a movie or two, and RELAX! Surely I could squeeze that into eleven days off work. Turns out this is what I did instead:

1. Told Sheridan 'no' forty-seven times a day NOT to touch the Christmas tree and ornaments.

2. Spent two afternoons with Cameron and Sheridan (probably the reason why it took two afternoons) finishing our Christmas shopping.

3. Watched Dora the Explorer eighty times. Ok, maybe it wasn't really eighty times but it certainly feels like it because the theme song is permanently stuck in my head.

4. Killed a rat in our backyard who had been driving our dogs crazy for weeks...which in turn was driving us crazy. Actually Cameron did this. I did not participate.

5. Listened...well sort of listened....to Cameron explain in detail all of the things he was going to fix on the Bronco and the complete process for each part being replaced. Wonder if he would be interested in hearing about the layout for my next scrapbook page and every embellishment I plan to use?

6. Chased Sheridan around the house, around my parent's house, and pretty much anywhere we went. I have discovered that this activity actually makes for a great weight loss program so this I did not mind.

7. Discovered that aforementioned rat has friends. Lovely. Cameron (using his top notch detective skills) concluded from the shredded pieces of paper (from a manual that was stored under the grill) that the new rat must be a pregnant female that was trying to make a nest to have her babies. Even better.

8. Celebrated Sheridan birthday twice therefore baking cupcakes twice. (Will post more pictures on this later.)

9. Ate about a pound of white trash. Thanks a lot Meredith for giving Tara that recipe. It's become the death of me. Readers - if you would like to gain 10 pounds in a week, let me know and I'll be happy to send you the recipe!

10. Cleaned/picked up the house every time I turned around...or so it seemed. When does that new maid come back?

So am I glad to be back at work??? Yes. I need the break!

The infamous Bronco

There truly are no words. Actually, yes. There are. I think it would look better inside the garage! ;)

The "better" angle

Cameron says it will look better once it's washed....verdict is still out on that.
A little rough
You might be thinking "wow, that glass is really clean!" But no, no. There is NO glass in that window! Hopefully we won't find some random person sleeping in the Bronco one morning. :\
Oh, and one more thing I learned last night. Apparently we do not have any keys to this Bronco. Something about recalls on the ignition for certain year models and blah, blah, blah. I'm not really sure. Bottom line is: once the ignition is replaced then we (and by we I mean Cameron) can replace all of the locks and then we'll have keys to the Brown Beast. I think I'm starting to understand why this was only $400!

You have a baby....in a bar!!!!

I never thought my favorite line from one of my favorite movies (Sweet Home Alabama) would apply to me but turns out...never say never! On Tuesday night Cameron's group at work had their quarterly soiree at the Broken Spoke and it was open to the whole family. I thought there was surely some miscommunication but went along with it because Allison said she and Blake were taking Abbie. Great! At least we wouldn't be the only ones. Once we got there I was pleased to see there were several other kids running around and didn't quite feel like a crazy parent for bringing my child to a bar....apparently it's a family bar??? Really I'm just upset that I didn't think of this concept first!

Should we be concerned that Sheridan seemed right at home in a bar????

Like mother like daughter....that's a little scary actually!Again, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree....
Abbie and Allison

A recent conversation with my husband

Cameron: "Guess what? We're the proud new owners of a Bronco!"

Julie: "Excuse me?"

Cameron: "Yeah, I talked this guy out of it."

Julie: "Seriously?"

Cameron: "Yes, it was only $400!"

Julie: "Only $400? Can it be driven?"

Cameron: "Not exactly. The engine is blown. It needs a new one."

Excellent. It is at this point I sort of tuned out to him rambling on about using it for parts for the Bronco his dad recently bought or vice versa because several thoughts popped into my head:

1. Are you sure you talked the guy out of it?
2. Who cares. Better question: what am I going to buy on my $400 shopping spree? Hmmm.....

Days of Thanks

It's so hard to believe that the holiday season is upon us! It is by far my favorite time of year, I just can't believe how quickly this year flew by! It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Sheridan's first Christmas and birthday! I know, it sounds so cliche but it's true! This year we had the best time with Sheridan because she is at such a fun stage. Everyday she says new words and she loves trying to put her shoes on....most of the time she gets the right shoe with the right foot....but I think it's mostly coincidence. None the less, it's precious!

Anyway, this year for Thanksgiving we went to Temple on Thursday to spend the day with Cameron's family. The picture below is of all of the cousins and our kids. Leah (in the middle) is expecting their second child in May and we are anxiously awaiting to find out if she's having a boy or a girl! My instinct tells me it's a BOY! Kelly and Jason (right) just had their first child, Natalie Paige, on October 8th. She looks just like her dad which seems to be par for the course! When we first got to Aunt Brenda and Uncle Kenneth's house Sheridan was very fussy and clingy....hence why she is not looking towards the camera in the picture below! ;) But after she ate she changed her tuned and entertained us all.

Sheridan thought it was great fun to put on my shoes! We thought it was hilarious!

Reminded me of when my sister and I would put my dad's boots on when we were little!On Friday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family because Sarah and Cal came into town that morning. The day started off on a good foot when our beloved Aggies beat the hell out TU (yes I meant to say it backwards!) for the second year in a row!!! :) My question was: why didn't we play like this all year??? Hopefully the answer lies within our new coach who will take care of it next year. But back to Thanksgiving. Usually it's just the six of us for Thanksgiving but this year Richard (my mom's brother) and his wife, Jonette, and daughter, Autumn joined us. My dad's mom was also with us. And Jonette's mom and step dad joined us. We had a house full but it was a lot of fun!

Gig'em

I CRACK UP every time I look at this picture. Sheridan really started posing/smiling for the camera this weekend!

Cal and Sarah Sarah read Sheridan some bedtime stories and again...Sheridan posed for the camera!

Happy Halloween!

I only took a few pictures of our little pink poodle on Halloween night. In my defense though, I had to take a ton of pictures because Sheridan was constantly on the move!

This was the 1st and only house we went to b/c Miss Sheridan was a little fussy as the night went onLast year for Halloween our neighbors invited lots of families over for pizza and trick or treating. Since we had such a great time they decided to make it an annual tradition. Most of the kids were Hunter's (our neighbor's son) age and they had a great time trick or treating together and playing in the front yard while we passed out candy.

me and KarenRichard and Karen

Nick (Richard's brother) and his girlfriend

After everyone else left, the four of us continued to have a good time with a few rounds of Tuaca

Richard & Karen - we had a great time as always! So glad we're neighbors!

Girls night out

On Thursday night Shaunna, Courtney and I had a much needed girls night out and indulged in dinner and a little Austin theatre. We ate at El Chile which I just love! And then we went to see my friend, Zach's latest play called Inherit the Wind at Austin Playhouse. The show was excellent and we had a great evening!

me, Zach and Shaunna