Joli

This week my precious friend, Joli, from Tulsa came to visit. This was so sweet of her because all 3 of her kids were at camp and she chose to use her adult time to come see me! Joli and I have the kind of friendship that we can go for months without talking and then pick right back up where we left off - like no time has passed.

Tuesday night she was dying to meet Lazy Mom Leslie, so the three of us and my other good friend, Julie, went out for a girls night. We had a great time and it was fun to show off my "new friends" to my "old friend".

Wednesday we just hung out by the pool and talked. We talked so much during her visit that after I dropped her at the airport Abby said, "you guys sure talked alot!" We stayed up close till midnight each night giggling and telling funny stories.

Today I introduced her to my favorite store, Soma. I think Joli wasn't understanding why we were going there, but she fell in love and went home with lots of goodies! We finished up with a yummy lunch before I dropped her at the airport.

I already miss you, Joli! Thanks for coming to see me!!!

Swim Team

Most of you know that all of the Herrold boys were swimmers growing up. There's nothing their Mom would love more than for one of her grandchildren to also swim. Hannah swam for Cedar Ridge one year. It was lots of fun. She probably had about 30 people on her team and they swam against the other local Country Clubs during the summer. It was very low key, but a good time.

Well, swim team is HUGE in Texas. We signed all 3 of our girls up for the swim team at Sweetwater (Sweetwater Surfers). There are 200 people on their team PLUS a waiting list. Huge I tell you!!! They started swimming every day after school for an hour the whole month of May. The first meet was tonight. Or, I should say IS tonight. Daniel, Hannah and Abby are still there. These meets are lllllooooonnnggg! We had to be there at 4:00 and the word on the street is that it will wrap up around 10:00. (One of my friends just texted me, "I hate swim team!" LOL)

This picture is in the parking lot. The swimmers are divided by age and gender. This is essentially staging! It looks like a tailgate party, but not nearly as fun!!!

The girls did great and loved every minute of it. Ellie Grace participated in a freestyle relay and individual freestyle. She got 1st place in the individual race and although she did great in the relay, they were unfortunately disqualified. She did walk away with a great participation ribbon though!

Abby won first in her relay (she swam the anchor!), first in backstroke and second in freestyle!

Hnnah won first in her relay (she swam butterfly), first in backstroke and first in butterfly. At the time of this writing she still had a couple more events.

And now, I must gush over my husband! He has willingly and voluntarily taken charge of our volunteer duties. (Each parent must work 3 half meets.) He let me and Ellie Grace leave around 7:30 and is still there with Hannah and Abby. What a trooper!!!

I promise not to gush every Monday, but this post is for Grandma!

Party of Five

Last week I kept my niece and nephew (Emma and Luke) while my sister Allison was out of town. Her hubby won an awards trip with his job to BERMUDA for a week!

I was thrilled to have them, but a little daunted at the task of having 5 kids for the week and going back to the toddler stage! They were little darlings, though. They made their parents proud. Luke LOVED the fact that we have a pool in our backyard. He said he is going to tell his Mom to get him one of those. It was my secret weapon to wear them out everyday! I forgot how tiring it can be to have little kids around the house. I did manage to squeeze in a couple of much needed naps during "rest time"!

The best part is that we get to see them in exactly one week when we hit the beach in Florida! We cannot wait!

Eight Things

I have been tagged by Annie to do Eight Things...

Eight Things I Am Looking Forward To:
1) end of school
2) Destin
3) spending time with family and friends in Tulsa
4) summer: no bedtimes and no wake-up times!
5) seeing my sister next weekend when she drops her kids off
6) seeing my sister when she picks her kids up (Just kidding Ali, we will have fun!)
7) taking my kids for their first trip to Kanakuk this summer!
8) summer nights by the pool

Eight Things I Did Yesterday (this could be embarrassing!)
1) went for a 5 mile run
2) went to lunch
3) floated on a raft in my pool
4) watched The Young & Restless while cooling off from the sun
5) took my kids to swim team practice
6) played tennis
7) went to Bible Study
8) cleaned up for the cleaning lady

yep, that was sorta embarrassing, but I am a self-proclaimed Lazy Mom!

Eight Things I Wish I Could Do
1) sing- my secret dream is to be a professional country singer!!
2) swim...like really swim...would love to do a triathlon, but I don't have a good stroke!
3) Give thanks to God in ALL circumstances
4) lose these last 5 pounds!
5) be completely debt free, including mortgage!
6) give over and above (could do this if number 5 were true!)
7) sew (wish I could sew my own window treatments)
8) sleep all night without having to go to the bathroom (TMI?)

Eight Shows I Watch (oh geez, another embarrassing one!)
1) American Idol
2) The Young & Restless
3) The Bachelor/Bachelorette
4) Grey's Anatomy
5) Private Practice
6) King of Queen reruns
7) Everybody Loves Raymond reruns (right after King of Queens!)
8) Desperate Housewives

Eight Bloggers I am Tagging:
1) Denise: Koffords in Colorado
2) Stephanie: Real Life Mom
3) Melanie: The Rossi Family
4) Jenny: Keeping Up with the Joneses
5) Allison: Fun with the Fosters
6) Nicole: The Blue Pitcher
7) Donna: Donna's Days
8) Karen: PaperDoll Designs

Anyway, here are the directions:Here's how to do this 8 THINGS thing:- Mention the person that tagged you.- Complete the lists of 8's.- Tag 8 of your wonderful bloggy friends.- Go tell them you tagged them!

Ellie Grace's Site

Tonight Ellie Grace was playing on my computer when she googled "Ellie Grace". (She's not supposed to be on google, but that's a different post!) She came across a website about a girl named Ellie Grace and then went upstairs, but left it up on the screen. This is an incredible story about one little girl's journey with cancer. Please take the time to go read their story, but grab a box of kleenex before you sit down. What a precious family! http://elliegrace.squarespace.com/journal/?currentPage=15

What Happens In Vegas...

Two weeks ago Daniel and I had the pleasure of traveling to Las Vegas to meet up with 2 of our good friends from Tulsa. We had the BEST time. Thanks to my Dad we got super rates at Bally's, which is right in the middle of the strip. We got to enjoy some R&R by the pool, lots of good food, a little gambling (and NO, we didn't win a thing! Does anyone?). My favorite night of all was the night that Kim and I stumbled upon (not literally!) the piano bar in Paris. It was so much fun! They were 2 of the most talented musicians ever and knew every song. We were going to just stay in there for a few minutes and told the guys we would meet up with them, but 3 hours later the guys came back looking for us! It was a blast!

Oh, and lucky me, I got my picture made with Michael Jackson.

It was a wonderfuly weekend and we are so grateful to Daniel's parents for keeping the girls so we could get away!

Lubbock

This weekend I took Hannah to a gymnastics competition in Lubbock, Texas. Have you ever been to Lubbock? If you haven't, take my word for it. It's not a pretty place. I mean absolutely no disrespect to anyone fond of Lubbock. I'm just stating the obvious. It is very, very dry; very, very windy; very, very brown. There are no trees. Seriously, no trees. The few trees that are planted look weak and thirsty. Evidently, it only rains like twice a year there.

We went by to check out Texas Tech University. It's a nice school. They did the best with what they have. Most of the building are brown. I'm sure this is a necessity for when a wind storm comes through and makes the buildings dirty. The brown just blends right in. The stadium though was super sad. I wonder how many seats it even holds? It looks like a high school stadium. Mike Leach needs to start making some demands after the great season he had last year!

But, as for the meet, Hannah did great. It was very bittersweet because we were competing against her old gymnastics team. It was really hard to be there with the current team, but still wishing we were on the old team. We absolutely loved SSB and it was hard not to choke up when I saw her old coaches who we love!

My Mom met us in Lubbock and it was Hannah's first girls' trip. We wouldn't choose to go to Lubbock for a girls trip, but it was a fun weekend. For another funny story about this trip, go here.

Sugar

Sugar has officially been a member of our family for 3 months. She is about 5 months old. (I'm a little sad to tell you that I don't know her exact birthday. It's a few days before Thanksgiving.) Anyway, she has grown so much. Remember what she looked like when we got her? Well, after a day at the groomers, here is what she looks like now:

Isn't she sweet??? We love her!

Easter

This was our first Easter at Sugar Creek and away from "home". I am so thrilled that my parents came to town to spend the weekend with us. One of the first things they did was take the girls shopping for some new Easter duds! Don't they look precious??
We are really loving our new church. It is SO MUCH larger than what we were used to in Tulsa. At Evergreen we averaged about 400 each week and at Sugar Creek we average around 4,000 each week. The funny thing is, it doesn't feel that big. We were a bit hesitant to go to such a large church, but it still feels like family. It's a tough concept to explain.



The Easter service was amazing. The music was fabulous. It was awesome to see the church so packed. (My big sis taught me this..."church was filled with CEOs..Christmas & Easter onlys!") No matter why they were there, it was still great to see the place so packed.



We enjoyed a delicious brunch at Pappa's Grill and Steakhouse. I am still full from it!!! Hope your Easter was as blessed as ours!

Tennis & Tiaras

Thursday night we had a tennis event at the club called "Tennis & Tiaras". This was my first official tennis even to play in. I am happy and comfortable going to my beginner drills and playing with my beginner friends. Playing in "events" makes my palms a bit sweaty! All of us beginners decided to sign up for the event so we could play against eachother.

I partnered up with Vicki and we even coordinated our outfits. I wanted to get a cute photo of us together, but my friend Julie insisted on being in the picture. That would be fine and dandy, but look at how tall and thin she is. She makes us look big!!! and short!!! And, she's totally not wearing the right color of pink! :)

Do you remember when I first moved to town and couldn't carry on a conversation without tearing up? Well, Julie is one of those girls I cried to. She asked me how things were going and through tears I told her I couldn't talk about it. Well, she then went home and told Leslie about me and Leslie called me and now Leslie and I are Lazy Moms and going to publish a book and be rich and famous and skinny. So, thanks, Julie. I guess you do deserve to be in my blog!

Now, back to the tennis. My competitive nature comes out in these things. I love having fun, but I also love to win. And, when Vicki and I went inside for a little break and noticed the table of ribbons and tiaras, we were smitten! The banners were like Miss America banners that said "Winner" on it in glitter. We both were dying to get our hands on those things. It felt like homecoming all over again, but this time we wanted to WIN!!! And, win we did....take a look

Kemah

My parents are in town this weekend and today we headed to Kemah. Kemah is located on the bay side of the ocean. It received significant hurricane damage, but has already mostly rebuilt. There was still plenty of damage in the town, but I'm sure the heart of Kemah is tourism so they got that up and running pretty fast.

They have a neat boardwalk with lots of rides, shops and restaurants. We actually took the girls there during spring break and it was CRAZY packed so we promised to come back when Juju and Paki were in town and do the whole thing to boot!

Here they are on The Inverter! Love the facial expressions!

A fun-filled day followed by the Hannah Montana movie. And, sigh.....I am already dreading the drop-off at the airport tomorrow. I don't understand why my parents don't think Sugar Land is the perfect retirement city???!!!

Lazy Mom Confessions

Lazy Moms are having a Mr. Linky party today. We are supposed to link back to our blogs and make a Lazy Mom Confession. My Lazy Mom confession is this: today after Daniel and the girls left I climbed back in bed. And, I'm still in it as I type!!! Now, the secret is out, but I enjoyed the morning. It's COOOOOLLLLLD here today and I wasn't ready to get moving!

Field Trip

Today Ellie Grace's class had a field trip. This is very exciting at our house. At the schools here, every grade gets one field trip each year. (we didn't do this at our last school, so this is a big deal for my girls!) Each class decorates a plain white t-shirt so that they will all match and then they wear them again for field day in May. Ellie Grace's class did hand prints on their shirts. Each child put their hand print on each shirt and the teacher wrote their name inside the hand print. They are cute.

Ellie Grace's class went to downtown Houston to watch a play. This made this mom a little nervous. My baby went on a big yellow bus all the way to downtown Houston...yikes!

After the play the came back to a park here in Sugar Land to eat and play. Sweet Ellie Grace fell asleep on the bus! I met her at the park and had lunch with her. She was so glad I went, and I wouldn't have missed seeing her there.

Abby's class goes on a field trip in 2 weeks. This means EG now has bragging rights to the field trip. She's the little sister and has been on a field trip before her big sister!

Book Update

Just wanted to give a quick update on our book status over at Lazy Moms. We put together a book proposal a couple of weeks ago, which felt really grown-up by the way, and sent it over to our agent. Last week he was in New York pitching several different projects to publishers. The publisher either says, "Yes, I'm interested in that," or "I don't think that's for us". We got SEVERAL yeses. Super exciting.

The next step for us is to provide a more detailed writing sample for the interested publishers. Tonight, Lazy Mom Leslie came over and we worked on that. It's amazing how funny we become with just one glass of wine!!!

So, once again we find ourselves in the position of "hurry up and wait". We hurry and then we wait.

We are enjoying every step of this process so far and it's fun to be able to use our brains for things other than 4th grade math! I'll keep you posted!

Lazy Mom Confessions

Tomorrow, over at Lazy Moms, we are doing Confessions of a Lazy Mom. I want you, my fellow blogging friends, to play along. Think of a funny, lazy mom story or something you have done to cut corners and post it on your blog. We will have Mr. Linky up and running to link back to your site!

Hoedown

One of the fun things about living in the great state of Texas is that they are really proud about their heritage and they doing a great job of passing it on to the kids. Thursday was the 1st and 2nd grade hoedown. The kids came decked in their western wear. I had to beg Abby to wear these boots. She said they were a little big and uncomfortable, but doesn't she look good? She'll soon learn that girls will wear anything on their feet if looks good!

Here she is square dancing with her partner, James. She looks like she is concentrating very hard. I don't think I ever saw her smile.

Now the partner dances are over and she runs off to her friend Emma. They are way across Wait, she has a HUGE smile on her face. I guess she wasn't concentrating after all. She just didn't like that yucky boy/girl dancing.

It was really cute and we could tell the kids worked really hard. Yee Haw!

Sandra Lee/Semi Homemade

We are featuring Sandra Lee on the Lazy Moms site today. This is really an exciting partnership for us. I would love it if you could all check it out AND leave a comment. We want Sandra to know how much everyone enjoyed the post!! Thanks!!!

Girls Night Out

Oh, and one guy. On Thursday night, everyone's last night in town, we had a grown-up night. My Mom went to spend the night with my Aunt Raini and catch up with some old friends. Daniel, Ali, Kristie and I went to our country club for "Martinis with the Manager". Each month, our club hosts a free happy hour with appetizers, drinks, and a d.j. It's so much fun and even more fun when you are there with people you love! The weather was GORGEOUS that evening. We spent our time out on the patio. Kristie and Allison were being really silly (or maybe it was the wine), but they would see a cute girl, go up and introduce themselves and tell them that their sister just moved here and could they be friends with me. It was pretty funny and not embarrassing at all!! Not!

After happy hour we met up with Kelsey and Kaylee for one last hurrah of Mexican food at a fun restaurant in our Town Square called Escalante's. It's delicious, upscale Mexican food and it was a fun end to the week.

Giveaway

Go here for a cool give away!

The Children's Museum

On Thursday we debated on whether or not we should go to the Houston Children's Museum. We were so tired and thought a day of doing nothing would be great. But, we decided that we would regret not going so we picked ourselves up and headed to the museum district. The museum recently added on, doubling in size, and it just opened the new wing on Saturday. The line was CRAZY long, but luckily it moved fast. We entered through the original exhibits and did all of that, which is great, but we had done it before. Here the girls are in the music room.

Here they are pulling themselves up on a suspended chair:


We stepped outside to an awesome water play area, which I'm not sure how new it was, but it wasn't there years ago when I went. It was beautiful outside and the kids loved getting wet. We helped them restrained themselves from getting completely soaked, but they had fun.

We then went to the new wing. Holy cow!!! It was amazing. It was set up like a city and there was a bank, TV station, diner, vet, art school, grocery store and more. There was a huge jungle gym and rock wall. The kids receive ATM cards when they enter and they track their progress through the city by using working ATM machines. It was so cool and I know I'm not doing it justice!

Here the kids are giving the weather report. Hannah on the right, and my nephew Luke on the left.

Here is Abby giving some news and as I try to snap her picture I get my handbag in the shot...whoops!

Here is a cool shot of the diner. They had a kitchen with play food where the kids could prepare food, tables with menus where we could sit and order...just so fun.

Obviously, we thought we made a great decision by going. I highly recommend it and can't wait to go back!

Spring Break '09

Ok, not exactly like MTV's spring break, but pretty fun in my book. I am absolutely LOVING having my sisters and Mom here. I do not want them to leave. EVER!!!

Yesterday was a great day of shopping. We hit the outlet malls in Cypress and they were pretty good. There was a Cabi outlet there. The clothes were from their line a year ago, but that's ok with me. The prices were tremendous.

We also hit Harwin. Harwin is this street in Houston that sells knockoff handbags and sunglasses. It's similar to the ones in New York. I didn't get anything, but my teenage nieces thought it was terrific. They are actually pretty good fakes, but I am not a faker. Every time I get a knockoff, I KNOW. You may not know, but I know. And, I'm never happy that I spent the money.

My Aunt Raini and cousin Jacque came over last night. I have the Cabi clothing line at my house and we introduced my Aunt to Cabi. She had never seen the line and fell in love.

We had a fun girls dinner and then all watched American Idol.

Today was a laid back day. We needed one. We have been on the go non-stop. Allison went to see Scott's brother's family and Kristie and the girls shopped some more while I went to play some tennis. Daniel's boss is in town tonight so we are going for dinner with him, his wife, and their daughter and future son-in-law. The best part about this---we don't have to pay a sitter. I have realized how spoiled we have been. With no family here, we have to pay a sitter every time we leave the house. We are excited that my Mom is here to keep the girls!!!

This afternoon the weather was gorgeous. My girls braved the pool, we made margaritas and sat outside. We are looking forward to enjoying the pool this summer!

Rodeo Roundup!

Last night, my sister Allison, her kids and my Mom pulled into town. We have been anxiously awaiting this week and it's finally here. Today we headed out to the Houston Rodeo. Ellie Grace was probably the most excited about this. They have been talking about this at school and she has been planning out how she was going to see cowboys, wear her cowgirl hat.

I'm afraid she might have been a little disappointed. We didn't actually see a show, but there was alot to walk around and see. We may try to get back later this week to see a show. Here we are watching chicks hatch.

Other highlights were the petting zoo, watching a cow be milked, sand art, and sitting on a John Deere Tractor.

Of course, it wouldn't be a complete day without the food! The most fun part was just being with cousins!

Catching Up

I am so sorry that I have been an unfaithful blogger. Really, I am sorry! Lazy Moms is taking a lot of time, but will hopefully be worth it. I want to catch you up on a few things with Lazy Moms and a few things with the Herrolds.

We have an agent!!! Absolutely amazing. We are working on numerous things with him, but the biggest item is our book proposal for him to present to publishers. I started tonight with a very rough draft. It's so surreal. I can't believe I am writing a book proposal. This wasn't even in my wildest dreams!!!

We had our first media appearance at Fox 26 Houston. The Lazy Moms got tons of air time at the 5, 5:30 and 9:00 news and then we were live guests the next morning on their morning program. It was great exposure for our website and great practice for us!!! It was a blast!

We had open house at the girls' school tonight. I can't believe we are at this point in the year. We have almost survived our first year at a new school. The girls are doing great, and although there has definitely been an adjustment period to curriculum and expectations, I feel like we are ending the year on a positive note.

My 2 sisters and their kids and my mom are all coming to visit for spring break. I absolutely cannot wait. The house will be probably the most chaotic house you have ever seen, and I am going to try to soak up and enjoy every moment of it, knowing that in a few short days they will be headed back to T-town!

I gave Daniel tennis lessons for Valentine's Day. Besides spraining his ankle chasing down one of my killer balls, he is loving it. We have our first couples tennis match this weekend (ankle willing!) and are excited about that.

Speaking of this weekend, I am headed to the rodeo. The rodeo in Houston is a huge deal. Daniel and I are going to the Clint Black concert tomorrow and next week I will be taking the kids with their cousins. They have learned all about it in school and they are dying to go!

That's about it for now!!! I will take lots of pictures next week and blog all about it!

Lazy Moms Hit It Big!!!

I am in Nashville right now working on Lazy Moms...please check our website at www.lazymoms.com and look under News Alerts to see our big news!!! I am so excited to share this with all of my friends!!!

June Bugs

June bugs in March? Seriously? I didn't even know that was possible. But, we've got 'em. And, why don't they call them March bugs?

We're Moving On Up

The Lazy Moms are excited to announce that we have our first media appearance scheduled. Tomorrow, the local Fox affiliate is coming to Lazy Mom Leslie's house to interview us. We are so excited. We hope this is the first of many great things to come.

On Sunday, we leave for Nashville to meet with a VIP. I will fill you in on the details later, but just know "we're moving on up!"

On a completely different note, I got hit with a terrible stomach bug this week. I would go thru it all again for the 4 pounds that I lost. Yippee. I did gain one pound back, but that keeps my total loss at 13 pounds. Only 4 pounds left to go. I can now officially get my old clothes zipped. Don't get me wrong...I wouldn't wear them in public yet, but I can get then over my hips and that is a feat in itself.

Tumbling and Trampoline

Hannah had another gymnastics meet this past weekend. Luckily, this one was in Houston. I was not prepared for what a HUGE meet this was. This was TNT as well as traditional gymnastics. There were former Olympic Champions and coaches there. It was really neat. Friday night we had to leave our house at 4:00. She had a practice from 5 to 7 and then at 7:15 they started the Synchronized Trampoline Competition. This is where you perform a routine and your partner does the same routine at the same time on another trampoline. Hannah and her friend Alden were together. They looked awesome during practice. When it was finally time for them to go, they messed up. They didn't start together. They didn't do one single skill synchronized. They got a big fat zero. Daniel's jaw dropped. All I could do was giggle. We just spent 4 hours to watch her get a zero!!! Oh my! Hannah and Alden were terrific sports. They laughed it off and didn't point fingers. What a night!

The next day she competed in power tumbling, double mini and tramp. She placed 2nd in tramp, 3rd in tumbling and 5th in double mini. All in all, a great meet. She had a great time and just absolutely loves it!!!

TMT--Lazy Moms

On Tuesdays, the Lazy Moms will be posting Ten Minute Tasks. We will have a Mr. Linky for you to link back to your site. I would love if all of my blogging friends participated. The idea is to find something that needs to be done, set the timer for 10 minutes and get it done. (or at least get a good start on it!)

Thanks for helping this Lazy Mom out!

Spongebob Breath

For any of you that have kids that watch Spongebob, you will remember the episode where Spongebob and Patrick have such terrible breath that no one wants to be around them. They finally realize that the ice cream sundaes they have been making are the cause. The "ice cream" was actually a white onion which gave them halitosis. This has become how we refer to breath in our house. If you have Spongebob breath, you have to go brush again.

Well, our precious Abby has Spongebob breath all the time. I have even asked the dentist about it. Evidently, some people just have to deal with bad breath more than others. Yesterday, Daniel after smelling some bad breath, Daniel made the executive decision to go buy mouthwash for Abby. When he told me about it I was so worried that it would hurt her feelings and make her feel different. Boy, was I wrong. She is so super proud of her mouthwash. This morning, as I was laying out clothes for church, I told her to go brush and use her mouthwash while I was laying out her clothes. She said, "do I have to? The mouthwash is my favorite part and I want to save it for last!"

Guess what I get to go buy for her sisters? Mouthwash...they want some of their own!

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