I'm back ..

i picked up my computer today .. i am once again a whole person .. the dell catalogue came yesterday and i found myself looking thru it .. wishing that i had what was on those wonderfully beautiful glossy pages .. but no longer .. i will be out of commission on thursday but back to my full glory on friday ... and oh .. i have so much to share with you ..

Soccer ..

 i do not like not having a computer .. i can not download any pictures .. i can not email .. ellie can not practice her spelling .. i can not shop .. the world is ending as i know it .. so i am posting from my work computer that has some really old pictures on it .. so i thought that i would share a few of my favorites with you .. look at sweet little ellie .. she is 7 weeks old in this picture .. she is laying in the porta-crib .. aka .. pack n play .. that i laid in as a baby .. the little angel hanging over her head is on the mobile that my granny bought my mom when i was born .. how's that for some hand-me-downs .. i still have the mobile by the way ..

this is ellies god father .. uncle jon .. on the day that she was baptized ..

cash .. having some lunch .. he was 2 !!

cash and his "ipod" .. he was singing along to bingo i think ..

me and jeff .. we hardly ever have picture taken together .. we were at the Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City last year .. and yes it was cold !!

Ellie got her report card ..

to celebrate ellie's amazing grades i made cupcakes .. big big cupcakes .. i got a new cupcake pan and was dying to make a batch .. all i can say is thank goodness for report cards ..

white cupcakes with fluffy pink icing and pink sugar sprinkles ..

i am so glad that ellie made good grades ..

What did the big kids do ..

not to worry .. the big kids got to play in the snow as well ..

watch out for jeff's truck ..

slow down .. stop .. turn ..

i'm good .. not to worry .. i had it under control the whole time .. you should not worry so much jenny .. you know what .. your right greg .. i am going to go back inside .. where it is warm and cozy .. think relaxing thoughts .. wish for sunshine and make a hot coffee .. i am not going to stand out here in the cold anymore and watch you all get crazy .. but you know that the minute that i go inside .. they are going to put cash into uncle greg's razor and turn him loose .. and that .. would send me over the edge .. so i will stay out here in the cold and keep an eye on my speed loving .. have no fear .. motocrossing son .. because i DO NOT feel like driving to the ER in vinita and paying a fortune for stitches in cash's head and a broken arm .. because cash only knows 1 speed and that is full throttle .. so when he crashes .. it is going to be a BIG crash .. so 10 more minutes everyone and then we are ALL going inside .. whether you like it or not ..

What to do with all this snow ...

what to do with all this snow .. well .. first you must deploy all your heavy equipment .. dump trucks ..

front end loaders ... scoopers .. and

two 7 year old kids that have enormous amounts of energy because they are hyped up on pancakes with syrup and cinnamon rolls and the added the excitement of the snow

so they rolled and rolled and scooped and scooped ..

and look what happens .. not only did they make a snow man .. they also made a snow dog .. if biscuit would have held still long enough to have a picutre taken you would see how much they look alike .. she knocked the nose off the snow dog right after i took this picutre ..

look at how great it looks .. by the way papa .. we borrowed some of your charcoal for his eyes .. i tell you what .. it was a great way to spend the day ..

now .. with the weather warming up this week .. lets see how long he lasts ..

Oh Cash .. hold on ...

we took advantage of the LAST snow for the year and did a little more sledding on sunday with hunter and greg .. they hit a bump and poor cash .. he just flew off .. head first .. right into the snow ..

oh jeff .. stop .. do you see that he fell off .. i am taking pictures from the back porch .. there was NO WAY that i was going out there .. the wind was blowing and it was cold cold cold ..

look .. he is trying to get up .. poor guy .. i am bracing myself for a very upset kid .. i am thinking .. great .. now i am going to have to go out there in the cold and wind and plow my way thru 10 inches of snow and save my baby .. really jeff .. could you not go just a little slower so that he won't fall off .. i am getting my coat on at this moment ..

come on cash .. you will be ok .. pick up .. dust off and get back on .. now where's ellie .. i am losing kids right and left ..

oh look .. cash and ellie .. are they going to get back on .. or come running to me .. back into the warm and cozy house .. i will make you some hot chocolate i hollar .. please come in .. it is cold outside ..

what's this .. they are getting back on .. what is wrong with them .. those kids of jeff's are crazy is all i can say ...

Texas Chili Parlor ..

After we went to the LBJ Library it was time for lunch .. so Jeff looks in his book of places to eat and deceides on the Texas Chili Parlor ... it is a favortie hang out for locals and UT students .. and i love chili ..

looks neat on the outside .. lets go in I'm hungry ..

lets just say that you would not leave here hungry .. even the kids plates were huge .. they all ordered hamburgers .. we are eating lunch at a place that is known for its chili and they order hamburgers .. really .. not me ..

i ordered frito chili pie .. level 2 on the spicy chart .. it was out of this world yummy .. there were no beans in it though .. there are no beans in texas chili maammm .. this is what i was told .. they also had super good salsa .. so when you go to the texas chili parlor .. order the chips and salsa and the frito chili pie ..

and then there is this .. mom .. why is that deer wearing a black bra and how did it get there .. you know i am just not ready to answer those questions yet .. eat your lunch please .. we are going to the capitol next ..

Austin Part 1 .. a boy and his tube ..

Cash found himself a tube .. you would have thought that he had never seen one or had one in his whole 3 years on this earth .. he carried that tube everywhere we went .. he had to carry it everywhere because there was a little boy following him around that stole his first one .. he was not going to let that happen again ..

into the water ..

out of the water ..

he figured out how to spin it around .. this amazed him for at least 15 minutes .. i am going to have to find a tube like this for our pool .. anyone have any ideas .. the entertainment value alone is worth every penny ..

tomorrow .. the texas chili parlor and the black bra ..

Heading home ..

Another glorious day in the sun ... We have to go home tomorrow ...
Bummer !!

LBJ ..

it was a little rainy on tuesday morning so we drove into austin and took the kids to the LBJ library .. minus the skutt bike .. it was pretty neat .. this is what the oval office looked like when he was president .. we then went and ate at the texas chili parlor (a huge hangout for the UT kids)  .. oh my .. it went a little like this .. ELLIE .. mom why is there a black bra on the deers antlers ? .. ME .. eat your lunch honey .. ELLIE .. did a girl throw it up there ? .. ME .. not sure .. ELLIE .. i don't think i want to come back to this place again .. ME .. good i said .. then we go to the bathroom .. remember we are working on spelling and sounding out words .. ELLIE .. mom .. what does FUC .. you know what the last letter is .. spell ? .. ME .. not sure honey .. lets go and wash our hands .. ELLIE .. mom what are those drawings up there .. what are those people doing .. ME .. you know what .. i got wipes in my purse .. lets just go back to the table .. i am thinking that tomorrow i pick where we eat .. not jeff .. the chili was super though .. the atmosphere not for kids .. little kids that is .. thank gosh cash did not pick up on any of this .. he just ate his chips and drank 4 sprites ..

Where we are ...

in case you want to know where we are .. we are here .. on the beach at the Lost Pines Hyatt .. it is pretty neat .. and i don't even like sand .. we kinda look like the griswalds though with all the bags .. sand toys and towels .. oh well .. you never know what you might need .. the kids swim and build sand castles .. jeff reads the paper and i take pictures .. not a bad way to spend the day if you ask me .. we are thinking that we might go and see the LBJ library .. do you think that they will let cash bring in his skutt bike and ride it up and down the aisles .. me either .. !

more bliss ...

a bit of a sunburn ... my favorite jeans ... and a steak dinner with
my jam-buying husband and kids ... I ask you ... does it get any
better than this ? oh yes it does because they are making smores again
tonight !!!
Sent from my iPhone

Pool Side .. in the warm sun ..

we made it to austin on sunday .. the weather is amazing .. 85 and sunny .. not one cloud in the whole sky .. so we took advantage of all this sunny weather and spent the entire afternoon at the pool .. i dare say that we even got a little sun .. the pool is heated so the water is not to bad .. the lazy river is not heated and it is COLD .. turn your lips blue cold .. the kids don't seem to mind .. jeff does .. i think that every kid in texas is here as well .. ellie has already made a handful of friends .. they make smores from 7-9 every night .. i ate 4 of them .. OMG !!!  they were delicious .. i really just wanted 3 but the guy put 2 more marshmallows on my stick .. i didn't want to hurt his feelings so i went ahead and ate it .. i took one for the team .. so now .. i have to go and spend some time with "my boys" on the treadmill .. seems bon jovi has a little something to say about 4 smores .. i bet he will say .. lets just have 3 tonight ..

self-checkout ..

ellie was out of school on thursday and friday for conferences .. so she went with granny .. cash and i to tulsa on friday .. oh what fun we had .. while i got a very quick manicure granny and ellie did a little shopping at walmart .. they thought that it would be fun to use the self-checkout ... who doesn't secretly think that it is fun to swipe those items across the little scanner and hear it go beep .. we do that is for sure .. so ellie scanned all the items for granny ..

ok granny .. i need your credit card .. we have to pay now .. ok ellie .. let me help you swipe it .. she is just almost tall enough to do it herself .. if only i had let her wear her heels ..then she would have been able to reach it ..

it says that you need to sign granny .. i wonder if ellie thinks that granny signs it "granny" or .. sally lane .. i will have to ask her .. i wonder what visa would say if she did sign it granny .. ummmm ...

Cash ...

CASH:  oh papa .. i love your chicken ... are we having any cake ? .. what about ice cream ?.. do you have vanilla ?.. i love love love vanilla ice cream .. your chicken sure is good .. can i have some more carrotts? ..  PAPA:  thanks cash .. i am glad that you like my chicken ... yes you can have more carrotts .. i don't think they have any ice cream .. and yes we are having cake .. CASH: .. yea !!  i love cake .. we eat cake all the time .. my momma loves cake to .. she eats cake ALL the time ..

CASH: pop spielmann .. do you know what kind of cake we are having ? .. and why is there no ice cream ? .. POP SPIELMANN: .. i don't know cash

CASH: .. oh pop spielmann .. i love cake .. POP SPIELMANN: .. so do i cash .. did you have to wear this silly hat at your birthday party ? .. CASH: .. my mother makes everyone .. and i mean everyone wear that hat .. that way she knows whose birthday it is .. the hat looks really nice on your head pop ..

and now .. lets eat some cake ..

Meet the family ..

on saturday we celebrated pop spielmanns 90th birthday .. upon request from hank .. i took lots and lots of pictures .. this is grammy and pop and their 3 kids and the kids spouses ... that is hank and denise and the far left .. next is nancy (in the purple sweater) she is grammy and pops daughter .. and her husband hank shirk .. nancy and hank live in CT .. next to nancy is grammy and pops other daughter .. diane and her husband .. randy .. they live in ramona .. right next door to grammy and pop .. isn't that neat ..

look .. me !!!! .. i am in a picture .. this is grammy and pop .. hank and denise .. and hank and denises kids .. greg and jay .. yes .. i know .. jeff is not in the picture .. it was welcome back weekend at the lake and he could not get away from work ..

see where i am going with these pictures .. now it is grammy and pop .. hank and denise and their kids and their grandkids .. i did this little series with every family .. and then the cousins and some of pops friends that celebrated with us ..

this is the whole crew .. yes i know cash took his skutt bike with him .. what a group ..

and even more impressive .. these are the GREAT grandkids .. 9 of them .. we are just missing sydnee .. jays daughter .. she lives in MT .. that would make a total of 10 .. not bad for a 90th birthday if you ask me ..