Hippity Hoppity

It's Tradition!

Way way way back...probably all the way back to my ancestors in Italy (but I don't have any pictures)...we were always making homemade pasta.

Everyone remembers their first time.

Forrest's first time making pasta was when he visited my family in Paris. It's like initiation.

It's tradition...an apron for everyone, a little flour on your cheeks, and a full glass of red wine.

Davis, this was your first time and you were awesome! You loved cranking that pasta maker and you helped Annie knead the dough. You also loved eating the finished product with a big'a meat'aball!

My Little Cowboy

During rodeo season here in SA, Davis' school had their very own little rodeo in the courtyard. I couldn't make it, but Forrest was there for all the fun! They had a chicken toss, a petting zoo, bobbing for apples, pony rides, and more!

New Floors and a Sign!

We are well on our way to selling this house! Our new floors are in (why didn't we do them sooner?) and we actually have a 'For Sale' sign in our front yard. Nobody warned me about all the work that goes into selling a house. This makes buying a house look super easy!!!!! Most of the work is due to the fact that we live in an old home (circa 1941). Old doors, old windows, rotted wood, chipping paint, cracked tile floors -- all these things needed to be repaired before we put it on the market. That's just half the work. The other half is keeping this house clean with a 2 year old and a dog. I vacuum daily and wipe tiny little hand prints off the door daily. Just hoping it pays off in the end! We shall see so stay tuned to the saga of selling our house! Here are a couple pics to re-cap the floors:

Before

Lovely linoleum we found after ripping out tile

Goodbye old tile!

Hello new tile!

New Tile

The new tile appears a little brighter/whiter because of the dust and grout. We had to spend a couple days scrubbing it off = fun! But well worth it because our floors aren't slippery anymore, the tiles don't rock, and there are no cracks!

Last Minute...how we roll...

We have been talking about putting our house on the market for MONTHS. It's been a tough decision. It's one of those things we know we will eventually need to do, but also one of those things that we don't need to do RIGHT THIS MINUTE. So of course we procrastinate. And procrastinate.

Our reason for moving is space. Our cozy 2 bedroom 1 bath isn't practical, especially as Davis gets older and needs more space. Sharing a bathroom hasn't been ideal. Our tiny bathroom serves as the guest bath, the master bath, and the kid bath. Knowing that when it goes on the market, it could sell in days is scary. Knowing it could take more than a year to sell is also scary.

Like I said, all the 'talking' about putting our house on the market has been happening for months. And in those months, we have made small little updates and changes. Fix some rotting wood here, replace some broken blinds there, and de-clutter closets. We decided to leave the big projects alone and just sell the house 'as is.' That last decision was changed last week, the week we decided to put the house officially on the market. Since these are big projects I'm talking about, we didn't get our house on the market as planned, but our goal is to have it on the market in two weeks. In these two weeks (you recall we've had months to do this) we will have fixed the doorbell (that's never worked), two broken windows (that have been cracked since we moved in), and remodeled the floors.

The floors! Oh the floors! These floors have been driving me insane since we moved in over three years ago. My biggest issue with them is that when wet, they are extremely slippery. Our floors are often wet from a messy Duke drinking water. My next issue are the lose pieces of tile. Apparently the flooring underneath the tile didn't do well keeping the moisture out and the grout has completely disappeared over the years. The tiles rock back and forth and some even stick up unevenly. Not fun barefoot. And the last issue I have are the cracks in a majority of the tiles. It's just plain ugly.

We've dealt with the issues over the years...luckily the tile is only in the kitchen and one living room. Now that we are finally replacing the tile in order to help sell the house, I really wish we had done it sooner. But that's us, we like to wait to the last minute. If something is optional, we usually don't opt to do it.

The biggest decision this past week was between tile vs. laminate vs. carpet. Once we decided on tile, the issue was picking something that matched. I love decorating a shelf. A shelf you can move photos and change the placing of books, tile is permanent. The decision is a little more stressful.

Here are the before pictures of these two rooms.

For Annie

We have a bunch of Annie's in our family due to the fact that we have three Ann Marie's. I call my grandmother Annie and Davis calls my mom Annie. My sweet sister, Ann Marie, isn't a grandparent yet (hmm thank goodness) but I'm sure the day will come when she will also be called Annie. I believe all the Annie's are destined to be just as fun as the one I grew up with!

Annie is from Houston, raised 5 kids, has 13 grandkids, and 4 (one on the way) great grandkids. Age has nothing on Annie. When someone says she's young at heart...that is an understatement...not only is she young at heart but this woman could run a marathon. She's in shape, a social butterfly, babysits, rodeos, plays bridge, loves book-club, and is very involved in the community.

Davis with Annie in Houston

Davis and Annie at Cheesecake Factory

At our home in San Antonio celebrating Davis' baptism.

Girl's trip to NYC in April 2010

Lajitas trip July 2011

Texas A&M Tailgate November 2011

Rodeo By Day

As much as I love the rodeo show and concert, I really love walking around the exhibits. And so does Davis! We went early in the morning to try and avoid the crowds on the last Saturday of the rodeo and it worked. Davis ran around like a crazy cowboy and had a fantastic day!

He insisted on sitting on every tractor! He kept asking me for the keys :)

Milking a cow!

Petting Zoo!

He loved every single animal in there. We fed them and helped brush them.

Loving that hat hair! Maybe time for his first haircut?

Rodeo By Night

The last week the rodeo was in SA, we got a babysitter (Nana!) and headed to see some cows, bulls, and Miranda Lambert with our friends Brandon and Jordan!

I seriously cannot contain my excitement when those cowboys are buckin' it on a horse or cow. I literally scream each time one flies off and my hand immediately slaps over my jaw, that has dropped to the floor!!!!

Loved seeing Miranda perform! I love all her songs, all her twang, all her pink sparkles, and all her hair flying around! She played all her hits and even a Gaga song! Sadly, no Blake Shelton appearance and no songs from her group, Pistol Annies.

I wore my harmonica necklace so I could jam with Miranda. And I did. I think they appreciated the back-up!