Chip smoked a brisket that was SOOOOO good this weekend! So good that Madison even wanted it! A lot of it! Just the meat! No sauce - just the brisket :) Chip was so proud he's still talking about it! After a good meal, we were off to take Elmo for a walk!

Madison and I found some cool stickers for your walls this weekend and we decided to decorate her room! Good times! She helped! Not sure what look we were going for but it was fun!

Making brownies.....Yummmmm!

Yeah, this is not because Halloween is coming up - this is because Madison is a Princess EVERYDAY :)

Our neighbor put up a pool for the kids. Madison couldn't wait to go over and check it out with all her friends :)

New Dora Watch

So excited, I found this new little watch for Madison that has Dora on it. I knew she was going to love it. I gave it to her when I got home and I was right! She's never going to take this thing off - which is great! If I had noticed it didn't work!?! Ugh! Bummer! Now what? She won't take the thing off so we are running around with a broken Dora watch! LOL

Good thing it was only a few bucks :) You get what you pay for!

Busted Up!

Oye! Seems our little darling had a battle with the pavement at school yesterday while playing outside :( The concrete won :( Can't tell but her whole lip, etc is busted up! Poor baby - I like her face how it is so I'm hoping she's more careful in the future! xoxoxo

Let's Go Swimming!

All dressed and ready to go!!!

So Helpful :)

Check out Madison reading to our neighbor's little girl, Vivian :) They were catching up on Toy Story!!

Family day :) Chip started all of us playing games together. It's fun. Madison always win and each game is like the speed round. We are working on her attention span and patience but for the most part, it's fun :) This is Madison, playing Hungry, Hungry Hippo and Candyland! And of course, showing me her friends made from Play dough!

Ugh - Pizza disaster! It's a RARE occasion when I get excited about cooking so it's sad that it always seems to turn out this way for me!

On Saturday, Chip and I decided to get the neighborhood kids together and let them play in the water and grill pizza's. I went to a friends house a few weeks back and she grilled pizza's that were amazing and surprisingly, diet friendly! I asked her for the recipe and went and got all the stuff to make the most gourmet pizza's Chip and I could come up with. Saturday morning arrives and I attempt to make the dough 3 times. It's like cement! It's horrible! Not only is it not edible, it's like ripping the skin and hair off my arms. Although discouraged, I take a break and a few hours later, I decide to try again. Same results. This time, instead of playing and kneading the stupid thing by hand, I just toss it out. 3rd time - again. At this point, I walk outside almost in tears I'm so frustrated and tell Chip to just order pizza's.
Just then, our neighbor, Pizza extraordinaire comes to my rescue. He has a fancy machine and whips some dough together in like 5 min! Angels are singing! I take my dough back to my house and let it sit. I start chopping all the veggies and meats you can imagine to make my magical pizzas then I receive the worst news! Our neighbor comes in and tells me the wheel on our grill collapsed and the grill went slamming down onto the concrete. To make matters worse, my chef, Chip, burned his hand badly trying to catch it from falling. By this time, it's late, the kids are tired and starving and I finally give up on my pizza making. What a nightmare.

The silver lining, I walked out the next morning to find the grill, upright, sitting on a brick. I laughed to myself and thought, you know you live in a bad part of town when they put your grill on blocks :) So funny!

Cheese! Look at my new earrings!!

Game ON

Miss Madison does not fool around when it comes to playing the Wii and NO ONE can touch, talk or take the Wii-mote without paying some sort of price. She's getting pretty good at baseball :) Too funny!

She won't even let you get close enough to wipe the chocolate kissess of her face! It's all business!

New Toy

Love working for a gadget geek :) My boss will buy the newest, latest, greatest everything and I normally end up getting the left overs! SO, my new latest hand me down? A 3rd monitor and it's a touch screen! It's from the kitchen in his house - and it was one of 6 if that tells you anything! LOL! I'm so pumped! I can officially run China from my desk :)

The Joy's of Parenting...A 2 Year Old!

Ahhhh, the joys (and pains - mostly pains) of parenting a 2 year old! Those of you who have been through this or are currently going through this will just laugh or smirk. Those of you who know Chip and I well will probably shake your head in satisfaction that "revenge" has come so early :)

First, Madison is over 3 feet tall. This may not sound like much but trust me, I stand 5'4" on a good day and at this rate, she will be out ranking me in height by the time she's 5! Second, why is it that ALL 2 year olds talk and look at you as if you are an idiot!?! What happens when they start to walk and even better yet, talk that makes them think that they now know everything!?!?

Seriously, I'm not sure how people restrain :) It's an effort.

For example, I go to pick up my little darling at school and it's raining. Hard. Needless to say, I forgot the princess' umbrella. I'm parked in the first spot at the school and my doors are unlocked.
We are standing at the glass doors looking to leave and Madison says "Mommy look it's raining and it's dark!"
Me: "I Know Sweetie - let's hurry to the car"
Madison: "Mommy - where is the umbrella?"
Me: "I forgot it honey, I'm sorry. The car is right up front and Mommy will run" (In 4 inch heels)
Madison: "Ok - hurry"

I cover my precious angel's head with a jacket (Oh yeah, I'm wearing WHITE FYI) and make a mad dash for the car - praying I don't break an ankle in these heels. I open the door and get her in safely and fairly dry! I'm impressed!
While standing out in the rain, completely soaked in totally see through clothes and mascara running down my face that would put Gene Simmons to shame, Madison proceeds to tell me that the water dripping off my long hair is getting her "wet" and for me to close the door.
At this point, there is no saving me. I finish buckling her in and walk around to my side of the car and get in.

As I'm squeezing out the water of my hair and clothes and trying to salvage what's left of my make up, Madison proceeds to tell me that she's wet, and cold and that I didn't bring an umbrella. You don't say!?!? I stopped for a moment debating if strapping your child to the hood of the car is legal in Texas - that would show her wet! :)
I quickly snapped back to reality and drove home wondering how I was going to get the little darling from my car to the house without a drop of rain on her precious skin. I quickly thought to call Chip to meet us outside with an umbrella - Nice going mom! I'm feeling pretty proud of myself as I see Chip waiting for us. He rushes out to the car, umbrella in hand and quickly gets Madison safely (and dry) from the car to the house.

I rush to the garage and I'm soaked. I look like I just jumped in a pool with all my clothes on. Chip is nice enough to bring me a towel. I take off my wet clothes in the garage (yes the door is shut people - let's keep it clean!) and head inside. The final kicker?!?! After all my sacrifice...Madison looks at me and says "Mommy! Daddy brought an umbrella and didn't get Madison wet!" "Good job Daddy!"
YES - GOOD JOB DADDY! I growled under my breath.

Let there be light!!!

My parents gave us their old under cabinet lighting since they replaced theirs :) Chippers put it up last night - looks pretty good huh! I like it! Looks much better in the dark - and when my counters are clean!

Denise and I took a little "me" time and went to get our toes done last night! Was a fun break from the norm! We are even going to see Eclipse this weekend!!! So fun! Look at me! 2 social events in 1 week! I'm baaaaaaaaaack :) Watch out Chippers!!! LOL

Happy Birthday Chippers!

Man o Man - Hard to believe it's been over 11 years that I've been celebrating Chippers birthday :) He's gettin' OLD!!! LOL
Thank you again for everyone who made it out to his final party on Saturday! He's a big boy now so I don't think I'll be doing big blow outs for him anymore!!! He had a good run!
We had a great time! We all went bowling at 300 Houston. We kept having issues with our original lane and the place was packed so we got moved to our own PRIVATE VIP Lane and that's when the fun really started! Mostly everyone bowled close too, or over 100 each game so really, we did good! Happy Birthday Babe - I love you! xoxo

Crocs :)

I've never really been a huge fan of Crocs. They are cute but not really my thing - I'm more a high heel type of girl :) Maddie's school requested that she get Crocs while potty training so in case there is an accident, the shoes are easy to clean. So, off to the mall we went this weekend and got Maddie her first pair of Crocs! Goodie for me - she LOVES them! I of course, wanted Pink.....it came down to a burnt orange color or red. I'm glad we got the red :) Anyway, she put a Nemo, Thomas the train, a bling'd out turtle and a Mickey Mouse on them for decorations - who knew!?!? Only Maddie can make Crocs cute!!! LOL

Happy 4th of July

So, even though it's been a total down pour in rain for the past 6 days straight..and counting it didn't stop Miss Maddie and I from having some 4th of July fun - out in the rain!!!