HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY LAUREN BRYLEE!

I cannot believe six years has passed since my baby girl was born. My how time goes by sooo quickly. It still seems like yesterday. She has grown and changed so much from that dark haired little bundle they handed me December 21, 2002 at 1:13 am. I have uploaded a few pictures of Lauren's past six years. The first is her hospital debut, followed by a 6 month picture where she had started showing patterns of female baldness! Followed by her second birthday where she was definitely a blondie with blue eyes! Easter 2005 in the blue dress...(pictures always have been a challenge :0)... Her 6th birthday cake making a wish and her first school picture, kindergarten 2008. Happy Birthday my sweet little blue eyed girl! We love you!

SO THIS IS LIFE.....

Hello All...
What a busy month! Where did the time go? I can't believe it is only 8 days til Christmas! There has been no time for blogging, I haven't even had time for sleeping! Well the last month has been very, very busy. Terry left for a week after my last blog posting, which leaves me to do everything with little time to spare. During that week I worked at both the dr's office and the hospital. I also managed to squeeze in dancing, a softball meeting, and the fun run. Erin was chosen as an alternate for the school fun run and ended up getting an opportunity to participate as well. She came in 13th place out of approximately 7o kids from surrounding schools. I was very proud of her, however, probably not as proud as she was of herself. Kalei had the chance to participate in the fun run as well when she was Erin's age. Erin placed much higher than Kalei and was beaming with excitement....Lauren's comment...."I could have done better than both of yall." gotta love Lauren!

Weeks past after the fun run and I still didn't have the opportunity to blog, just too busy, in all the Christmas hustle and bustle, holiday parties etc. I did, however, take the opportunity to snag a few shots of everyday life because the blog is always in the back of my mind! Here is the snow we experienced here in Houston last week. Amazing! It was very warm and humid the day prior to the snow. It snowed on Wednesday and it was supposed to be in the 60's the next day. Love the saying, "if you don't like the weather here, stick around it will change shortly." Here is a picture of our sago palm in the snow, there is something not quiet right with this picture...palm+snow???

This past weekend was one of those I went into thinking in my mind "I hope on Monday I can say that wasn't so bad after all." Wednesday I made dance recital costumes all day. I worked Thursday and Friday at the hospital. Got off Friday night shopped until 11:00pm. Came home baked Lauren's birthday cake which I started about midnight. Woke up early Saturday am went out party supply shopping, came home started dressing the girls for their dance recital. Left for dance recital finished up about 615pm, headed downtown to see the play"White Christmas" which was wonderful, came home started cake decorating finished up about 230am. Woke up Sunday am for church, came home from church and started preparing for Lauren's party at 2pm. Needless to say I didn't sleep much last week and now you know where I've been and why I have been longing to blog but just couldn't do it. I made it to Monday! Just once I would love to enjoy the season minus the hustle and bustle. Today I was off and I had lunch with my friends Pam and Jennifer. What a wonderful break to enjoy a bit of adult conversation! That could have possibly one of the best moments I have had in a while....thanks ladies!

Licking the bowl....love the chocolate around the mouth.....priceless!

A picture I thought I would never see, especially because she will barely let me brush her hair!

Erin's dance costume I made for jazz!

My two little dancers, this was a hard picture to snap..Lauren had no intentions of taking it!

My beautiful little ballerina. I never thought she would do it but she did a wonderful job at her first recital!

THE 50TH DAY OF SCHOOL

Can you believe that the kids have been in school for fifty days already. Didn't think I would make it past day one without Lauren, but I've made it fifty!! My how well I have done! The kindergarten classes celebrated with a fifties day sock hop. All the kids were encouraged to dress up in fifties attire. My mother in law made Erin a poodle skirt a few years ago for school so we pulled it out and pinned it up on Lauren. There was only one slight problem...I would be at work that morning which left Terry in charge of dressing Lauren. I just want to say he did an excellent job! Way to go Terry! He even took pictures for me so I could blog! You are such a great girldad!

TURKEY BEDAZZLE

Well its officially confirmed, by the time you get to the third one anything goes! I am usually very OCD about the girls school projects, or should I say "my school projects that I do for the girls." I usually tell them every little tiny detail that needs to be done and where each little thing needs to be placed...or place it for them. I have always heard the saying that by the time you get to your last child you are tired! Well I must be very tired. Lauren had her first school project this week. It was actually due this past Monday, however, I am still working on my organization and I placed the assignment in the general mail stack. I found it Sunday night about 11:30pm. Needless to say our project was a little late! We started working on it Monday evening and here is what we came up with. The feathers were going well, so were the tiny balls used around his mouth...here is where the funny part came in notice the pastel colored pom pom balls in the right corner. Those were going to be the turkey's necklace. However, I had to impose. It took some convincing but I won and we just added them at the bottom of the page. As bad as I hated to let it go I had to leave the bedazzled turkey feet. Some battles you just cant win. If you look closely you will see the turkey has gold jeweled feet and a few pink jeweled "bedazzled" toenails! I guess this is better than the green jewels she wanted to place all over his body...I won that one we settled on a popcorn body! I placed the glue and I let her do it all by herself. I was proud of myself for letting go!

THE TOOTH FAIRY VISITS AGAIN...SO SOON!

Usually when one tooth comes out another shortly follows. Lauren's other tooth has been hanging around, literally. Erin accidentally hit her in the mouth the other night in bed. It has been hanging on ever since. I really thought it would fall out during the night and she would swallow it and be totally devastated....but it didn't. She finally pulled it herself last night. The tooth fairy was prepared to visit earlier in the week but Saturday night caught her off guard. She left a five once again and there was one happy little girl this morning.

A TALE OF TWO PRINCESSES...

The girls were sooo excited to dress up for Halloween. Erin was a fairy and Lauren was sleeping beauty. One of my favorite things to do is take pictures of my children (in case you haven't noticed.) I love capturing memories. I dont really like traditional pictures. I like candid shots. I saved up and purchased this awesome camera that is way beyond me! I probably have no business with it but I wanted it! Isn't that the way it always goes....my friend Jenni has been my inspiration. She has the same camera....of course she had it first and I had to have it as well. She takes absolutely beautiful pictures and I can only follow in her footsteps and hope to do half as well as she does. Halloween was a perfect opportunity to get some shots in. As you can tell Lauren doesnt care to take pictures and prefers I leave her alone. She did let me have a few and told me "I am done, you can take all you want of tootie." Erin, aka tootie, is very, very photogenic she loves to take pictures and would pose all day long! Thank goodness for one. Kalei follows Lauren's beliefs, or should I say Lauren follows Kalei because those two are exactly the same...twins 8 years apart! Anyway here are some of my practice shots...and then a few of Lauren...followed by the sleepy little princess after a long night of candy grabbing...A TRUE SLEEPING BEAUTY!

MISSION ORGANIZATION

A replay of our Sunday....church, lunch at Olive Garden, football, football, football, yardwork, a little shopping, LAUNDRY...LAUNDRY....LAUNDRY....This is pretty much redundant of every Sunday, except if it is a Sunday that I work and its work, work, work, LAUNDRY, LAUNDRY, LAUNDRY. Oh, I forgot Desperate Housewives. It is one of the few shows I am faithful to. In fact, it is the only show I am faithful to. Anyway the point of my story is...HELP! Does anyone have any organization tips? Is there a book? a website? and inspirational calendar? I will try anything at this point. I am trying to get it together. I feel that I am constantly picking up the same things and just shoving them in a different spot! I am slowly but surely conquering clutter but it is a huge task! My friend Kay that I work with is totally my hero! Kay has it together! I wanna be just like her. She is totally organized in every aspect! I always like to be around her and "pick her brain" for ideas. My major problem is mail, children's school papers, and laundry. I cannot get excited about laundry and I just don't understand why? I put it off and put it off. Then I do it but I don't want to put it up. I put all the mail by the phone in the kitchen along with the kids cute school papers and papers they bring home that I need to remember dates and when it falls over I know its time to go through it! Speaking of...has anyone ever seen the inside of my purse??? OMG! If you have seen my purse you know this is serious and I need all the help I can get!

HAPPY FALL YALL!

This week is Red Ribbon week at school. Each day has different theme for the kids to dress up and participate in. Its a cute way to celebrate and teach the kids to say no to drugs. It was a really fun week. The high school participated as well. Yesterday was twin day at the high school. Kalei and Stephanie were thing 1 and thing 2 from the Dr Seuss story. I thought K had a very original idea. Today Kalei was a princess, of course, "princess Kalei girl." Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of K because she gets up waaay to early for me and my camera, not to mention the fact that she thinks I am totally emabarrassing(...mission accomplished!)

Today was "Don't fall into drugs" day. The kids were encouraged to dress up in fall colors or scarecrows. Lauren wasn't so keen on the idea of dots on her face. The fact that Erin had them as well didn't impress her either. So I had to use the "Lauren you are 5 and not the boss!" line early this morning. Here are my two little scarecrows!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN...TGIF...AND SO ON.....

Happy Halloween everybody! It's every child's favorite day, besides Christmas..candy, candy, candy! I guess it is every dentist's dream as well! I personally think Halloween and Christmas should be spread apart more. The two days every child looks forward to come so close together and they have to wait another year for a little joy, but who cares about my opinion! :0) Another problem with Halloween in the south, isn't it ironic that we sweat just about year round and the costume your child picks out just happens to be a sleeveless sheath and guess what there is frost on our pumpkins! However, if you pick out that cute little wool lamb suit, or the footed fleece pumpkin suit that is oh so cute, its 90 degrees out with 110% humidity! ~oh well that's what we Southerners get! Along with hurricanes, and snowless winters...blah blah blah...

On to much cuter things....WHAT A WEEK! I have already put in 45 hours as of last night this week, hence, the TGIF! That was working hours, not counting family hours which totally consisted of pumpkins. We started off the week Sunday evening working on a pumpkin for Erin to take to school for display. They are having a little contest so we will see how cleaver my idea was. My idea was to make a "pumpkin mummy" however I think he turned out to be "osama bin pumpkin" instead. Of course, the kids wouldn't get this but I think it is hilarious! Well Erin was very proud of her pumpkin mummy(aka "osama").

We had dancing on Monday, which turned out to be our Halloween costume trial run. Every year the girls get to dress up the week of Halloween in their costumes and go to dance. It is very cute because they usually get to dance to Halloween tunes and for me I get to see where I need to tweak the costume and what I am missing...so works out perfect for us all!

By Wedensday our poor little pumpkins were still sitting under the graces of the LSU flag proudly displayed outside of our house...(even if they are having a tough time, I always tell Terry a true fan never turns their back, we Texans know this, just look at the Astros and Texans!) Anyway our pumpkins are still just pumkins and no jack o laterns as of Wedensday night. So here we go with our pumpkins in tow...we start digging and you hear "eehew gross pumpkin guts!...and you thought our girls were "girly." We all got our turn digging out pumpkin guts one by one. As we were carving the pumpkins, Buzz our cat decided to join in. We finished up the pumpkins late that night, however maybe the Manuel family should stick to traditional jack o latern faces with triangles because we were supposed to have a cute witch face and frankenstein...but frankenstein kinda looks like "bubba-stein" to me! Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

THE GREAT PUMPKIN

Today we ventured out to the Pumpkin Patch...every year the Methodist Church by our house has a Great Pumpkin Patch. The girls get so excited when the patch opens every year. We waited a little late to go to the patch but as we all know if you go to soon your pumpkins are "not so fresh," when it comes time to carve them. The pickings were slim but we managed to find a few good pumpkins. Kalei wasn't feeling so well but I dragged her out anyway and promised her she didnt have to take a picture at the patch....well I changed my mind and made her get in at least one picture and she wasnt very happy...but oh well....I am the mommy, that's why! I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weekend that God has given us. Hopefully I will have some pumpkin carving pictures for you soon!

LAUREN HAS A WIGGLE!

Lauren has, or should I say had her first loose tooth a few days ago. We called it her "wiggle." I just happened to think I bet Lauren will have a loose tooth before long and I mentioned it to her and she informed me she already had one. I checked and sure enough, it wiggled! So we had to check her wiggle everyday. I snapped the first picture on her way out to the bus one morning as I was sure she was going to lose it that day but she didnt. I could hear her and Erin's conversation in the kitchen one night. Erin decided she was going to pull Lauren's tooth...so her they go. I hear "Lauren, Lauren, be still Lauren!" then I hear Erin say, "EEEHHEEW!" a few moments of silence followed by, "oops, wrong tooth!" I am trying to contain my laughter but just cant help it! Finally Dr Erin DDS gives up and I give it a try. It came out on the first try and thank goodness because I dont think there would have been a second opportunity granted by Lauren! So Lauren lost her first tooth and being the totally unprepared mother that I am we borrowed Erin's tooth fairy pillow and anxiously awaited the tooth fairy's visit. Lauren was so excited to wake up the next morning and find that the tooth fairy had left her "one five dollars!" What a generous tooth fairy I thought! The tooth fairy doesnt have lunch money today but there are some happy kids in the world this morning!

Thank You Very Much Tooth Fairy!

Love, Lauren :0)

KALEI'S FIRST OFFICIAL DATE!

They were so cute but very nervous!

K and Connor

where did all the years go?

Kalei and her bff Stephanie

Well at last blog I told everyone about Kalei's Homecoming date. It was a very, very hectic day. We started out the day looking for earrings, ended up late to band practice, made a nail appointment, changed the nail appointment, picked Kalei up from band practice, come home showered, washed her hair, went to nail appointment, left cell phone at home and could not contact anyone from nail place to let them know we would be late, came home contacted everyone...by now its 415 and we havent even begun make-up and hair! Yikes! Of course Kalei decided she want to wear her hair down, which meant I had to use a tiny curling iron to spiral curl all of her hair...one itty bitty little section at a time. Her date arrives at our house on time as expected, and poor Kalei is a few curls short of a head full. Luckily they had Erin to entertain them while they waited.....all the more time Connor had to "officially" become nervous! Anyway we got her ready and thanks to my friend Misty for hauling Erin to softball practice earlier in the day...just one more thing to scratch off of my todo list for the day! Also Misty helped Kalei's best friend Stephanie get ready as well. I was supposed to help Stephanie fix her hair but I barely got Kalei done, so mucho gracias Misty!!! Kalei and Connor took a few pictures and headed out to The Cheescake Factory for dinner. I tried my best to capture the moment, minute by minute, by the end of the night the kids probably had burned retinas from the flash! I think my baby girl turned out beautiful and I was so proud of her, still makes me teary eyed to look at her!

Life is hectic...

Okay so who said having three active girls who enjoy softball, dancing, band, numerous other school activities, working two jobs (because I love what I do...), being parents to a teenage girl......AND TRYING TO BLOG WOULD BE EASY!! Maybe I should have titled this life in the fast lane. My problem is dabbling in too many things at one time. I should be a once a month blogger. I love my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything...my only concern is what are we gonna do when the girls are grown and gone...I know sleep! Anyway I am trying to blog and it seems when I have time I have to do it all at once while I am in blogging mode...so let me see if I can catch you guys up on the Manuel month of October all in one day!

HAPPY HOMECOMING!!!

Happy Homecoming everyone! Here is what we have been doing for the past few weeks...working on a mum. Apparently this is a big deal in Texas. Homecoming=Mum.

Kalei had this bright idea to make her mum, she thought it would be quality time we could spend together....ok....so I thought.....a few staple sticks and glue gun blisters later..viola!! All in all it was fun. Dont know if I want to do it again but I did it. For my family who lives in Louisiana this is a "Texas Thing" you just wouldn't understand!! And remember since we are in Texas, bigger is better..and this mum is on the small side.You spend all this money...and I do mean all of your money on this mum...that you wear one day....which would be today for Oak Ridge High School and tonight is the big game. Tomorrow is the dance, which is a formal affair....it will be Kalei's first of many things....first formal dance, first date, first time to pin a boutinnerre on a guy, first time to go out to eat on a "date," oh my...remember those days...makes me feel kind of teary eyed! Kalei and Connor have been friends forever and are going to the big dance together. While Terry misses it all, however, this maybe a "good thing"......at least for Connor! Terry is in Louisiana for his 20 year class reunion. HAPPY HOMECOMING OAKDALE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1988!! Ha now we all know how old Terry is! I am so bummed I couldnt go with him but Kalei needs me..even if she thinks she doesn't, her hair does!! I was up late last night trying to figure out how to attach this to Kalei and I was up with her at 5am this morning to take this picture...the first of many...look at my baby girl! Love Ya K!

POST IKE

Hangin out coloring

gone!

going....

going...

Amazing what kids do when there is no internet!

Move over Jim Cantore, (TWC anchorman)

these two are on the scene!

pics from the 'hood

turning in to my section,

Terry actually helped push a car out of this water

He had on hip boots and water came in them!

............so long IKE!!!

Well we made it thru IKE....9 days without power, and we were some of the lucky ones who got power back rather quickly. Lets have an IKE recap...Friday I spent the day cleaning..why I dont know...but we would have a clean house and clothes if nothing else....Friday nite, early Saturday morning we lost power about 1am...we were all still up and you hear a loud..."awe man!" from around the house. Well that lead to an even longer night. I made the girls sleep in my room on the floor and I never slept a wink. Terry and I ventured outside about 330am or so to watch the wrath of nature. It was absolutely amazing to watch mother nature in action. After that I spent the next few hours texting one of my friends who had a crank radio....her poor husband cranked the radio all night long...crankin' is no fun if there is no ice cream as an end result! Anyway we finished out the night with our front door "honking" like a kazoo, apparently the weather stripping at the bottom of our front door came off and every time the wind would howl, the door would sound like someone was blowing a kazoo or harmonica...after a while I found it some what amusing and couldn't help but laugh. About 600am we started to see daylight and all the family phone calls started to pour in, after reassuring everyone we were ok I decided to get some sleep, even if it was short lived. The next few days were long yet amazingly kind of fun. There was no tv, no power and not much to do. We hung out with friends and socialized to the wee hours of the morning, met almost all of our neighbors and discovered just how awesome they all are. We had a big feast in my next door neighbors yard one evening. The only requirement bring something to eat if you have it.....we stopped counting at 100 people in one front yard! Lauren met new best friends and even learned to ride her bike without training wheels. Kalei hung out with all of her friends and Erin and I colored and almost completed every coloring book we had. We played games and put a few puzzles together. It was all good until the humidity came back on about day 5 or so, by day 8 my patience had grown very thin and I was real snappy...thank goodness for day 9 and school openings.....I have posted some pics I took in my neighborhood and some of the girls just hanging out....