birthday girl...

happy birthday nadia! one year old, one year gone way too fast. my sister did good. i mean my sister did really good.... quite FABULOUS in fact. birthday balloons marked the trail to the house and even more balloons welcomed the guests to nadia's very first birthday. what a lovely day! beautiful skies, texas heat, crystal blue swimming pool, delicious food, a full house, tons of presents, enough candy for the next 5 halloweens, strawberry cupcakes, a pink pinata, and a lot of love. what more could a little girl ask for.

schoolbag of tricks...

it's back to school in 3 weeks and i have been working on my schoolbag project. hopefully i will have 22 schoolbags ready by mid august. at least that's the plan! each student will have a schoolbag attached to the back of their chair. finally, i (nor my student helpers) will have to bother with collecting and passing out school supplies anymore. of course, it would be nice if i didn't need it in the first place but i was so tired of those few kids who kept sticking their arms and hands in their desk getting their glue-on-their-hands-then-peel-it-off fix (it doesn't matter if i use to love doing this too!) or shredding papers to throw around or make their "paper art". hopefully this will work. i have a good feeling about this. and i think the kids will love it. they will have a chance to become more organized and practice some good old responsibility. above are pics of my first completed schoolbag. i used scraps of fabric that i had on hand but i already visited my local fabric store to purchase some more "boyish" fabric for my boys. peace must be maintained.

beachy day...

mama earth can spin quite fast. but she sure did slow down a bit when my sister's hubby came home for a two week visit from Iraq. she looked so happy! my parents, boyfriend, and i met up with them at port A for a day at the beach. dinner at snoopy's was so relaxing and the water and moment so enchanting. it was a family moment that i hadn't experienced since my brother passed. all i could do was smile. he must have been there because the moment was perfect. we were a family and a happy one too. here are my darlings playing at the beach.