A LONG Day at the Park

Late Sunday night we received a call that my sister had fallen and hurt her knee. The ambulance took her to the hospital where they found she had popped her knee cap out. They sedated her and put it back into place, but it left her very sore. Since I had taken Monday and Tuesday off work following a hard week, I volunteered to take the kids for a couple of days.

They awoke bright and early on Monday and we were off to the park before 9:00 AM. Here is Kyleigh and another neighborhood kid peeking out of the treehouse.


Marcus had to work, but skipped out for an extra long lunch to play. He surprised us on the playground. You can tell the kids love being goofy with Marcus!







After the park, we drove over to the Arboretum to have Thundercloud subs in the park. Everyone liked climbing on the cows. This one was decided to be a vanilla cow that makes vanilla (white) milk.

All my love and respect to the stay-at-home Mom! I hope to join you one day, but learned the 2 kids-to-one adult ratio is harder than I thought! One kid-to 2 adults is much better!

Chicago Vacation is Coming!

October 2004- This is the last time we went on a vacation together! It has been way too long!

We are super excited to be going on vacation at the end of the month. Both Marcus and I have had a very busy month and are looking forward to spending time together.

We will be headed to Chicago! We have plans to see a Cubs game, see the Memorial Day fireworks at the Navy Pier, shop on the Magnificent Mile and see a couple of museums and shows.

Watch the countdown above and stay tuned for pictures as our Chicago vacation arrives!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Every year my Mom and I celebrate Mother's Day with pedicures. We had fun this morning with brunch at Chez Zee and then pretty painted toes to enjoy this beautiful warm weather!

Happy Day Mom!

Mo's 70th Birthday Gala

Thursday night I was able to plan a 70th Birthday Gala for Mo Anderson, the Vice-Chair of the Board for Keller Williams. She is an amazing woman with a heart and faith bigger than anyone I have ever seen. She has so many friends, family, and associates that wanted to be there. Many flew from all over the country to celebrate. The event was sold out and we had almost 800 people in attendance.



It was a magical night with surprise family and friends, including 2 of Mo's college girlfriends. I hope my college girlfriends are at my 70th birthday!

I had a lot of fun planning the evening- it was my chance to have a creative event with fancy linens, piano players and a 28" tall birthday cake lit with 70 candles! This is what everything thinks of event planning, but I rarely get to plan this kind of a party!


Check out my favroite part- we put blue gels on the underlighting of the ballroom ceiling to make it look and feel festive.

Happy Birthday Mo!

Family Feud Jenkins style

Friday night our bilbe life group got together at the church for a little clean fun... or so we thought! After a hearty Cuatro de Mayo mexican potluck dinner, we busted out a game of Family Feud... boys versus girls.

However, after intermission our game show host spiced things up and each team was able to steal a player from the other team. Us women looked at the men and proclaimed, "they can offer us nothing." In the end, the women picked the funny one and Marcus joined the girls.

The men, going for the win, chose me. Some may call it ruthless, some may call it competitive, but in the end, I call in victorious! The men + Anna = Winners!

All of the game show madness drove our host, Randy, a little bit crazy!

Marcus would like to point out that had he taken his points from round one, he would have won the game. Can you say SORE LOSER? Yep, LOSER!

The Time of My Life!

Tonight I went to see the 20th Anniversary re-release of Dirty Dancing with my friends Heather and Kathy. Can you believe it has been 20 years! Wow!

The studio was filled with women- we counted 12 men total in a full theater. I know it was 12 because a group of women would stand and cheer for them and announce, "its a man!" everytime one entered. Marcus is confident they lost a bet!

It was so much fun to be in a theater of people who have seen the movie and know every line. Everyone cheered and booed and said the lines back.

In the final scene when Lisa Houseman performs at the talent show, the movie audio went out. But, no worries! Everyone in the crowd sang along in place of the movie audio. Luckily it came back on for Johnny to enter the room and proclaim, "Nobody puts Baby in the corner."

I had the time of my life...

Kyleigh's Turn in the Bluebonnets

Cohen took a turn in the bluebonnets a couple of weeks ago and today was Kyleigh's turn. There are not as many this time of the season se we know they'll be replaced by less appealing weeds real soon.

Until next year...

Tea Time

Happy 6th Birthday Miss Emily!

















Kyleigh spent Friday night at Emily's house. We are good friends with her parents and Kyleigh loves to play with Emily. They enjoyed an "Alice in Wonderland" style tea party with fun dress up toys.

Thanks for having Kyleigh over to celebrate your birthday.

I love Walmart!!!

Walmart is so smart- boys shop there for random stuff and get oil changes. Boys do not go to the florist. Therefore, sell roses at places where boys need to kill time and they will buy them. Smart boys that is, smart boys like Marcus.

I'm one lucky girl because Marcus gets me flowers at least once a month and it doesn't break the bank.

Two dozen roses at Walmart- $9.99
Impressing your wife- Priceless

She works hard for the money...

Nothing exciting to post this weekend. I have an event coming up on May 8-11 and I am slammed at work. So, here is the picture of my weekend....

I have to say that when I started at Keller Williams I thought having a laptop made me important... wow, look at Anna. She has a laptop, she must be important. People need to reach her outside the office. I think now it makes me a slave to the office. Having a laptop means you are expected to work more. I don't like it. Laptops stink! :)

Backyard in Bloom

Our backyard is blooming with a variety of flowers- pink and red roses, purple little flowers and this creepy looking coral plant. Marcus cut a few of them in placed them in a bowl for me.

Disclaimer: The gerber daisies did not come from our backyard. Marcus, Kyleigh and Cohen bought them for me when I flew home last Saturday.

The Zilker Day

Well today was mostly spent down at the Zilker Park...

While Anna was flying in, I went to my friend Bill's baptism....Congrats Bill!

This was not your average ceromony...Bill had his friends and family, and a nice picnic, followed by a light dunking in Barton Springs...

Yea! Its Steve!

After that, we took Kyleigh and Cohen to the airport and then off to ice cream...they would pick the ice cream that gives you blue tongue..

After that, it was a ride down on the Zilker Zephyr...

Good south Austin day!

MJ

Tale of two cities...or the irony of the windy city

Well....Anna is not back in town today....why you ask..? Because last night we had the storms roll through Texas.....so Anna got to stay at the lovely Marriot in Chicago at O'Hare airport. With no luggage.

Here's the fun irony...we just booked our vacation tickets for end of May....to lovely...Chicago! So in abou six weeks, its back to O'hare....hopefully the next trip to the Windy City will be more fun!

While the wife's away....

Well,

Currently Anna is out this week on a trip to Denver and Ohio.....while she is out, I have been dedicating my time to the land of Azeroth. That's right...I'm a geek...a World of Warcraft geek.

So WoW is a mega huge server based game, where people interact as one of two factions, the Alliance or the Horde. I happen to play as a member of the Horde...either an Undead Mage, or a Tauren Hunter.

You see, the Alliance consists of the races, human, gnome, dwarf, and Night Elf.

They have begun to battle with the races of the Horde, the Tauren, the Undead, the trolls, and the blood elves.

Now, the World of Warcraft game has a large amount of quests, interaction with ingame characters (called mobs) and other players. Most other players that are not of my faction, the Alliance, are out to kill me when I'm not looking (called ganking). As a mage, I'm easy to kill. as a hunter, not so much.

So my mage is leveled as high as she can be, level 70. My hunter is still growing, level 49 of 70. Long way to go. But the journey is a fun part. Currently I am in the fantastic land of Feralas...a lush wilderness. I am spending tonight getting down to the Un'goro Crater....a dangerous place....

But lots to be won there! For the Horde!

MJ

The Raiders strike again...

As anyone who really reads the blog knows....leaving a lil un with us is just an invitation to have us create a new Red Raider to the world.

Landry and Bella Richards spent the evening with us tonight, and we thought we would share the joy of the double T with them...

"says here...made in College Station?!"

Bella even got her Mike Leech imitation down. Look at that. He has the same look when they are 4and inches.

MJ

Wide World of Colors

This year for lent, I gave up shopping on Zappos. (No, I am not catholic, but I always give up something for lent. It makes me stronger.)

I LOVE Zappos. Never has shoe shopping been easier. Free overnight shipping and free returns. Sort by color, sort by price, sort by heel height: comfortable strappy sandals, purple dressy wedges, 4" t-strap heels, you name it and you can sort by it.

Tomorrow, oh tomorrow is a blessed day. Tomorrow I can turn on my computer and I don't have to fight the urge. I can type w-w-w-.-z-a-p-p-o-s-.-c-o-m with fast fingers. I can browse, sort and purchase new shoes for spring. I think I'll even get up early and purchase before church services...... oh, I can't wait.

Happy Easter to all! May you enjoy that which you have sacrificed-

- Anna

Spring Flowers...

I love springtime. It is a chance to plant pretty colors in the yard. We seem to enjoy new potted plants in the spring and then they die in the heat of summer. So, for now, we are enjoying orange gerber daises, white, pink and purple pansies, and red and orange zinnias on the front porch.

iConnect with Dessert Night!

Meet the ladies of iConnect....

In January our church went through an expansion and shifting of classes and Marcus and I joined iConnect. It is a class of about 40 couples in their late 20s to early 30s. It has been fun to meet all of the new people in various fellowship activities.

This part Thursday night a large group of the women in the class met up for dessert night. We had 15-20 different desserts to sample and recipes to take home. It was yummy! For those who know my dessert portfolio, I took Seminary Pudding, a favorite recipe from Mary Neal. Thank you Mary!

2006 Scrappy Awards

I love to scrapbook. My system is to complete a book for each calendar year. Tonight, I completed the 2006 scrapbook. It consists of every day adventures, little weekend get aways and special times with Kyleigh and Cohen.

At the end of each year, Marcus and I stop and go through the book- not to reminesce or reflect on our year, but to count the major players and determine the annual scrappy winner.

Past winners have included Marcus (2004) and Marcus (2005). In 2005, he won by a narrow margin over the 2006 Scrappy Award Winner..... Kyleigh!

Those of you who spend any time with me know how much time I spend with my niece and how important she is in my life. (It should also be said that I love my nephew and he is just as important) For those quantitative people out there, she appears in the book 44 times. Marcus and I tied for second and Cohen followed in a close 3rd place.

Congratulations on your esteemed award Miss Kyleigh! Uncle Marcus is jealous and plans to reclaim his award in 2007. Watch out! :)

Anna

Vivo Our Birthday!

Long live the birthday celebration! Tiffany and I celebrated our birthdays Saturday night with Mom. If you haven't tried Vivo's in East Austin, it is worth a visit. The patios (where these pictures were taken) are beautiful. There are numerous decks and fountains. The restuarant belives in ingniting all of your senses. For example, the ladies bathroom sinks are filled with ice and rose petals..... apparently, the men's room is filled with graffati! Their food is wonderful, too!

We took a couple of pictures in the patio area after dinner......

Marcus, Kyleigh and I.... She was such a little lady at dinner. She drank her water in a wine glass and felt special! It was amazing to watch her be so grown up. I think it is happening too fast for me, and I'm just her Aunt!

Cohen on the other hand, was a 2 year old trapped in a high chair in a nice restaurant after having the freedom to run and play all day. The walks to the fountains as we awaited our food were a life saver.