one particular harbor..2007

this pic is titled "what do you mean i cant go!" as you can see he was decked out in his margaritaville cheeseburger in paradise tshirt (compliments of his aunt kate & uncle rob).. and he looked like he really thought he was getting to go! however, he did have an outstanding time with his grandma trish and grandpa springer.




mommy and daddy did get to go to the show and it was AWESOME!!! we had such a good time. nick and jenny arrived in mckinney around 3pm. we loaded up the cooler in the back of the mean green machine..kissed the babies good bye and headed out around 4pm. much later start than we had anticipated but it was worth the wait to spend the day with nick and jenny! we were not settled into our parking spot until 5pm. im amazed at the amount of money they must make on parking... we were so far away from the stadium-i think we were officially in BFE..or little elm.. im not sure~either way i think they are both about the same distance from frisco. and there were tons of people still showing up. we got out the ipod speaker system.. the modern day boom box.. (maybe the best invention ever..), our lawn chairs, our coozies and cameras and let the good times begin! one of kyles friends from college that he hasnt seen in quite some time came to tailgate with us... it was great to see you faith! we took lots of pics...with each other... with randoms pirates and elvis impersonators.. with ticket scalpers... and men with random hats.. so much fun. we hung out in the parking lot for a couple of hours and then made our way inside.
...quickly here's the ticket story. we bought our tickets the day they went on sale. we were in sec D just to the leftside of center stage on the floor row 21 - face value $125. easily $300 invested after all the inconvenient convenience fees and such that ticketmaster charges. nick and jenny bought their tickets that morning on stub hub...sec D row 2 for less than $80 each. no stupid fees involved. craziness! needless to say we were a little bitter. however, when we got to section D..they showed their tix first-the guy just checked the first one and we were all off to row 2. all bitterness quickly dissappeared! it was an awesome show. we had such a good time! the music started on our walk down.. you know the tune. FEELIN HOT HOT HOT! and we got to our seats just as he ran on stage. perfect timing! the second encore wasnt over til around 1030pm.. the music was great. the crowd was cool. a drink did get spilled all over me..i think somehow thats becoming a tradition at pizza hut park..but i did not let it spoil my time..it was totally an accident and there was a flying beach ball involved. we sang all night. he played a variety of stuff.. and what he didnt play for us we played for ourselves in the parking lot afterwards! earlier in the day we had a discussion about some random friends that we always seem to run into at events like this. amy & wes. kyle knows them from college..and amy and jenny actually went to high school together. as we were sitting in the parking lot waiting for the crowd to clear and basically not wanting the fun to end...jenny spotted them just walking by on the way to their car..which was one row over. completely random. so we hung out a little longer...perfect end to an awesome day. good times, good times.

the craziness has begun

today is the day!!! in just a few hours we are off to see the lizard and i can hardly wait! yesterday i was kinda bummed that no one got tickets to go with... not that kyle and i cant make friends with a group to hang out with - or that we wont run into about 1,000 people that he knows.. anyway. i was whining to nick and jenny last night. and this morning theyve already bought tix online and are driving up from houston as we speak. i love them! they saw jimmy last weekend and obviously did not get enough! its gonna be awesome! im sure this will not be my last post today........................... right now ive gotta get this house clean before my in-laws get here to watch the little people!

anywhere you go.. you can always take the weather with you.

how things have changed since we were kids...

i know.. it makes me feel/sound old just writing the title of this. but its funny. kennedy and i have always had a tradition of getting donuts on the way to school (or daycare back in the day) on friday. DONUT FRIDAY. we dont always get to go nowadays..because there are always other kids in the house but this morning i told her that if she was ready by 8:00am when gracyn arrives that we would probably be able to make it on time for school. as we got into the car i asked if she had cash. i did not.. and i clearly cant go inside with her and 3 infants. she told me where her wallet was and i ran back into get it. now.. last friday she went to the spring carnivale at school with her friend tristan. i gave her $20 to spend. so today when i ran into get her wallet i looked inside to see that she had enough cash for breakfast. there were $23 inside. as i got back into the car i asked her how much she spent at the carnivale. and heres how the conversation went after that..
kennedy: around $7 bucks..and a $5 ticket
me: how do you still have more than $20?
kennedy: i had money when you gave it to me.. from my last trip.
me: you know when i was a kid (how old does that sound!) i always had to bring my parents back the change from trips and carnivales and movies and skating..
kennedy: wow mom. things were harsh when you were a kid.

my rainy adventure

these pics were taken post story...

so many posts today! i just have to share a quick story. it has been raining in mckinney ALL day... and as you know kennedy walked to school with christian today. i called his mom around 2:30 to make a plan for picking them up. she was not going to be able to make it on time..and seeing that she always picks them up in a crunch... i volunteered. i pulled the tahoe into the garage. i put all the babies in their carseats. except korbin, of course, because he has outgrown his carrier. he now has a big boy carseat.. so, once i had everyone buckled up i took him out first. next i took diego. i put him in the third row. with the truck pulled all the way to the backdoor basically, i was able to stay dry under the cover of the hatch door. then i put gracyn in on the drivers side.. backed up a bit so that i could get to the passenger side without going around the back of the car. buckled paula in on that side and we were ready. and we were dry. i was so proud of myself. four babies buckled in the car during a thunderstorm. and no one got wet. thank God for garages. then i put the truck in reverse, looked in the rearview mirror and guess what? its garbage day. so the big stupid green garbage can was in the middle of the drive way. i had no choice but to get out in the pouring rain and move it to the fence. our alley way was basically a river at this point. my feet were soaked. my jeans were wet halfway to my knees. my hair stuck to my face. lovely. i went to the school.. found the munchkins..and we went to mcdonalds for a snack. drive thru, of course. i had a soda and french fries. i needed a reward for at least trying so hard.

stars they are.. bright shining stars-they are not.

i feel the need to at least comment on last nights game. as game 7's go...it was exciting. the outcome was unfortunate... i do have a confession. korb was not wearing his stars gear. sorry guys. looks like this is all my fault.

at least we still have basketball.. and the rangers.

big giant boo boo!

when thinking of having children every mother fears something they or their partner has that they do not want to pass on. for instance..i have a friend who doesnt want her son to have her chin -personally, i do not think theres anything wrong with her chin, but she does. another friend whos fear was daddys ears...i say either way there will be hair to cover them eventually. and yet another friend who's first words to me after her daughter was born were ... be honest, does she look like me? and btw..shes mommys little clone. anyway, point being we all have something. my greatest fear is my asthma. yet to be determined if the little man will have it...kennedy seems to be in the clear. however, kennedy did inherit something from mommy that im not sure she will out grow... SHE IS A KLUTZ! its always something. she falls..she trips..she runs into things..she hits her head. i feel so bad for her..because i do those things too. so yesterday i was making dinner. she was riding bikes in the front yard, with basically every kid on our street, like she always does..when i heard the front door open. i said, "hey kenners dinners almost ready." and then i heard her screaming. i walked out of the kitchen to see jenna (next door neighbor, shes 8) holding the door open and carla (christians mom-he's kennedys best friend) carrying her across the street screaming. my first thought was that she'd been hit by a car... turns out she just crashed on her bike. she did, however, get a really nasty boo boo. its a deep scrape, about the size of a quarter, in the bend of her foot. like the spot where the top of your foot becomes your shin - if that makes sense. the part that bends every time you take a step. not sure how that is ever supposed to heal. she whacked it on the pedal when she fell. kyle says he hit his foot there on his bike a hundred times as a kid. thats one thing i can say ive never done. probably because i decided at a very young age that bicycling was not for me. because im a klutz. so the question of the day is.. is it a good combination that kennedy has inherited a drive to be competitive despite inheritting my clumsiness? maybe she can persevere and successfully be athletic.. or maybe she will just continue to hurt herself in bigger ways than i ever did because i was too scared to try new things. im sure only time will tell. she is quite determined...maybe she will overcome it.

one more thought on this subject. every day kennedy and christian ride their bikes to and from school together. its only a few blocks away.. they have their cell phones..and they call as soon as they arrive and before they leave. i know she's only 7 but its working out really well. anyway. this morning she asked if we could drive to school or if she could ride with jenna. she wasnt feeling up to biking. i agreed. then christian came to get her around 8:10. i met him at the door and told him that her foot was still really soar and she didnt think she could ride her bike. she came out of the kitchen while we were talking..looking sad. so he said, "kennedy..do you feel like walking? cause, i could take my skateboard instead of my bike so that you can keep up with me." she smiled and off they went. so cute.

friday night with the girls..well some of the girls

our monthly GNO was a lot of fun. we were missing quite a few of our regulars..but we did manage to have a good time. christy was the first to arrive.. sitting at a table for 10 all alone for about 20 minutes waiting for those of us who or habitually late. christy we are so sorry! as ive said in posts before..im not sure why im late, but its always comforting to know that there are others out there who have the same problem! nikki, kelly and i arrived around the same time. nikki did beat us but i dont think by much. it was a party of 4 for a couple of hours. we ate..we drank..we talked about our weight.. and what to do for next months GNO. the margaritas were good.. the weather was perfect.. there were texts from those who couldnt make it.. and from those who assured us they were on there way... by 9pm our party of 4 became a party of 7. we ate.. we drank.. we talked about our weight.. and what to do for next months GNO. when the restraurant closed and we were forced to leave our comfortable little patio, most of us made our way to the colony. ~casa de degele. it was late night snacks, blankets, a surprise appearance of SHELLY!! and girl-talk until jason came home. all-in-all a great evening. thanks girls! i really really really look forward to this every month. weve made it 4 in a row! lets start planning next month~

a special thanks to nikki for always remembering her camera!

heres a link to the other photos..just in case you didnot get it from nikki. http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=7e9x0vhw.7fvyymws&Uy=-vfmfn3&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=31137930796_927512458108

remember that pre-birthday party at the cardwells that was really about visiting with chuck??? nikki just sent me the pics she took that night..again thank you for always having that camera handy! i really enjoyed seeing them so i thought i would share....

i stand corrected..

so number 10 of the things i learned last weekend was disproved last night (thank god). the stars won..in OT. craziness! now, being completely superstitious we will have to do all the things we did last night in order for them to continue to win. korbin has to wear his stars onesie (no matter how tight it gets) and bib.. and little socks-that his auntie kel made fun of.. and unfortunately that includes not watching the overtime... hope kyle can live with that!!! i think it might be the only way......................

this is the best pic i could get of him this morning.. kinda fuzzy-he was too busy playing to be photographed. but you get the idea. look at those fat arms!!!

television is cool...

seeing that i dont really leave the house mon-fri - there are a few 'friends' i look forward to seeing every week by way of tv. we have our schedule of things we watch every week..as im sure most families do. they include 24 on monday night. idol on tuesday (& wednesday). lost on wednesday. and er on thursday. oh, and every televised dallas sporting event (you know mavs, rangers, stars, cowboys....) anyway. i really wanna talk about tv today!

first of all... why was i so sad to see sanjaya leave idol? ive been totally hating that he's made it this far. he clearly doesnt belong.. but for some reason when he cried during his fairwell video i felt myself welling up too! what a dork!!! maybe its just that stupid sad song they play.. or maybe that he's just a little kid and simon is so mean to him. hmmm. not sure. who will win? my money is on melinda and blake in the finals. kyle thinks jordan will take it all. guess we will have to wait and see.

AND THEN CAME LOST!!! it was so awesome! i know some of you have given up on it.. but it was as great as it ever was and we were on the edge of our seats the entire time!!! i cannot say that about a singe episode of gilligans island KATE!!! (jk!) that kate austin..what a slut! kyle, will you make me a mixed tape??? do you think desmond should just let charlie die? did penny's father somehow make desmonds boat crash on that island? how is that possible? what IS the cable thats buried at the beach?? why is juliet pretending to like jack? and what is she doing on the beach? dont they know all there is to know about the people on the plane? does everyone think that the others just left? i mean were they not on another island just a couple of weeks ago? dont you think thats where they are now? in the words of the great kelly cardwell WHAT THE CRAP?!?!?

ok.. i know everyone has probably stopped reading my blog this week because you dont care about my LOST addiction or buffett. i promise to post something about team palmer soon! only one more day til GIRLS NIGHT OUT!!! cant wait...

10 days til BUFFETT..

OMG! this rain is making me crazy... and tired.. and grouchy... and hungry... BUT its helping me look forward to that one particular harbor that i visit every year! 10 days til jimmy buffett brings sunshine to dallas-even if it does rain...like it did last year..but hopefully not like merriweather post 99... i know some of you out there (heather..nick..jenny) have less time to wait for your boat drinks and the pascagoula run but i refuse to be jealous! when my buffett day 2007 comes... yours will be a memory. a very good one, im sure, but a memory just the same. think of me while you have your fins up and my school boy heart will be with you come april 28th. cheers to music that can make a stormy night disappear with a little havana daydreaming. until then i'll be pacing the cage and counting the days... hanging out with little miss magic and my little land shark and trying not to let this weather get me down!

10 things i learned this weekend...

• just because a baby cant 'crawl' yet..doesn't mean he isn't mobile!
• there aren't any sports left that my husband doesn't follow.. and subsequently, super kyle may still exist - but he's getting a lot smarter.
• building a fort in your bedroom is still cool for little kids..
• aaron cardwell thinks tahoes are good.
• sometimes you need a full day in your pj's.
• even if you stay home all the time..you can still catch a cold.
• i'm pretty good at poker.
• wait for things long enough and they will come to you..
• you should get to know your neighbors..
• if a stars game goes to OT.. you should just turn it off and get some sleep. they're gonna lose.

did you know...

...that you can post comments on any blog entry? obviously you dont have to - i appreciate everyone reading just the same. but sometimes you all email me really funny things about the posts. (ZACK!) it might be fun to share. of course you can always just read.. im totally guilty of 'stalking' my friend sarah..i read and never comment. once in a while i let her know im reading..just to make myself feel better. anyway, i told kate on friday night that i would point out the spot to leave comments so thats what this post is all about. i will keep writing, comments or not! blogging is kind of addictive..(sarah you were right)

3 is the magic number

33 that is... saturday was kyles birthday and we celebrated in true KP fashion! funny how birth'days' seem to last a week in this family.. with that in mind, in order to really tell the story of kyle's birthday, we have to back up a little. as everyone knows kyle has been talking about building a poker table for quite some time (maybe forever). last fall he finally splurged and bought all the supplies and they have been sitting in our garage since...november??.. dont get me wrong, he has talked seriously about starting on the table, it just seems we always have another project going.

so, with the floors finally finished and a week or so of recovery time from that, on friday (3-30) the poker table project began. a week should be plenty of time to get it done, right??? how hard can it be.. thats what we all thought. all day saturday kyle and aaron worked.. on sunday afternoon kyle and i worked on the padded rail (the hardest part! not really but a good contribution).. sunday evening brye and derek came over and the fun continued.. monday evening work work work, tuesday evening the building party moved to leonard .. anyone know where that is? me either! thats were derek minchey grew up..his dad has a wood shop. and some really cool tools. kyle and derek (and poor nicole) worked until 1 am or so.. wednesday night the k-team and i joined them. we only stayed until 11ish.. they worked again until 2 am and then brought everything back to our garage for staining and construction. thursday night.. my mom and dad drove in to pick up the kids for easter. so the work did not start until 8ish when we got them on the road. friday - good friday - brye came over and spent the entire afternoon staining. nick and jenny showed up to lend a helping hand around 7. then derek and nicole came by and helped with some of the finishing touches (or i thought they were finishing touches)..

with the table just about complete, in plenty of time, around 930pm we headed to the cardwells. they had people over to see an old friend from college that no one had seen in a while - seemed like a pre-birthday party to me! we had a great time.. every one left around 1am - and then there were cardwells and palmers. we had a nice stroll down unt memory lane... and finally made it home around 230am.

of course that meant we got a late start on everything saturday.. no big deal.. its almost done right?.. after lunch and the 17th trip to lowes in the last week.. we got started on making our house 'party' ready. inside cleaning is for girls..outside 'cleaning' is for boys. easy for me to say.. that meant kyle had to cut the grass.. on his birthday.. between snow flurries. YUK! anyway, back to the table. kyle finished up the last of the staining and sealing stuff and all that was left was construction. in true form of the entire project.. it was not as easy as it was supposed to be. but with the help of awesome friends and family the table was complete. it was like a reality tv show where they are down to the wire ... a real 'will they get it done in time feeling'. around 8pm (one hour after showtime) it was done. and honestly - i think everyone was a little surprised. and anxious. and overworked. and under-thanked (not sure thats a word). thank you so much to everyone that helped. the party was a blast.. and kyle did get actual birthday presents from the fam.. but the gift of helping him build this table, i think was the best birthday present he could have ever gotten. it turned out so awesome. im sure it will be in our home for a very long time and we will make lots more great memories around it. THANK YOU MINCHEYS.. THANK YOU CARTERS.. THANK YOU CARDWELLS.. thank you to all of the last minute helping hands as well.

the pics of the table are actually kind of morning after pics... it was in use the second the last screw went in - no time for pics then!

as i said the actual party was a blast.. with the excitement of the table i kinda forgot to take pics til late. however, seeing that the mincheys left around 515am --- maybe the late night pics captured the party at its best. derek.. because im feeling so thankful about all that you did with the table..i will not post the hula hoop video.. but just know that it does exist.. and someday it will resurface like a certain video of kp in a girls bikini spring break 99 at padre did on friday night.

happy birthday kp!

happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear daddy, uncle kyle, kp....
happy birthday to you!!!!

more to follow.. including pics of the party... we love you.. awesome poker table... you rock... happy 33!!!!

the estimation jar

funny kennedy story... in first grade kids learn about estimation. kennedys class has a box that they send home (used to be a jar, guess it got broken a few times).. they are supposed to put a quantity of something in it... and then the kids in class have to guess, estimate, how many pcs are inside. yesterday kennedy brought home the estimation jar. she searched all over the house for something to go inside. first she put 91 pcs of candy in it (dont ask where she found that many pcs of candy)... then she said that had already been done, a lot. i suggested cottonballs.. not so easy to guess how many cotton balls there are, right? she said that had been done a couple of times too. she said, "dont worry about it mommy i will come up with something good." and then she said.."i know the perfect thing!"

its sauce packets from taco bell.. from our refridgerator. mostly hot..some mild and a few fire. wanna guess how many total? 56. pretty creative. she said, "mommy, im sure no one has ever put hot sauce packets in the estimation jar before." i think shes probably right.

korbin's 6 month..ok 7 month check up

i took korbin to see the pediatrician yesterday for his 6 month well baby check up. obviously i was running a little late, he had bronchiolitis when he turned 6 months..his first and only time to be sick, and i skipped the well baby visit. we had seen dr e three times already during that week and a half and i made an executive decision that he shouldn't have to get 'well baby' shots while he was not feeling well. so we are a month off... none the less thats not the point of my story. as if you cant tell by looking..he is still a big boy. 21 lbs 13 oz...95% - 29 inches...97%. he is so sweet and such a happy baby. at 7 months he is almost crawling.. rolling and scooting EVERYWHERE.. babbling lots of nonsense (he says dada - but he says it all the time..not sure he actually associates it with dada) and this week he even learned to zerbert. it is so funny!!! these pics are the newest. i feel like we take new ones everyday... i guess thats good. i think he might be winning the blue-est eyes contest. sorry dada..you may be moving to second place.

btw.. there are new pics up on hal's website of all the kids at dalton's birthday party last weekend. they are all really good. some of dalton eating cake..one of nick and dalton in black and white that is so precious..one of kenners eating the icing off the toy soldiers that were on top of the cake..and several of korbin with papa and on my shoulders. he captured the moment much better than my sony cybershot..imagine that! http://hal.exposuremanager.com/g/daltons_first_birthday

happy birthday dalton!

we spent the weekend with my family. it was so great to have everyone together. today is daltons first birthday and we spent the weekend celebrating. i cannot believe it has been a year since we first met his sweet little face. he is walking every where and it is adorable! im posting a few pics from the weekend and a link to see a ton of pics taken by a good friend of nick's who is an amazing photographer. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUBBERS!
http://hal.exposuremanager.com/g/dalton