Divine Nature Room Redo

Maggie's 16th birthday is coming up and after much deliberation, she decided to redecorate her room instead of having a party.

(kind of made me sad - I've been planning her sweet 16 since she was born!)

Anyway, she wanted her room to look really different, so she began shopping for styles that she liked months ago.

After a trip or two to different stores with her, I suggested that she check her personal progress book to see if all of these shopping hours could be used towards any of her goals. Sure enough - it would be perfect for her 10 hour project in Divine Nature!!

So she began keeping a pretty detailed notebook of her hours, things she wanted, prices, pictures, color swatches, receipts etc.

Here is her room before:

notice the color test for just the right yellow on her wall?

Finally - we began the project

Tommy hired Scotty to help build the wall that she wanted

during all of this, maggie was diagnosed with mono and ordered to rest - she refused because she was eager to finish - but sometimes, she gave in to being wiped out!

her cool new fan

putting together some furniture - at about 1:00 a.m. - she chose to buy all of the main pieces from affordable Ikea in order to stay on budget

(by the way, she DID NOT succeed in that effort - not even close!)

again - the before...

...the after

before...

...after

before...

... after

Thanks to daddy and Scott for building the wall, and to Mariah for sewing all of those pillows!

Impromptu Tim

Tim and I had a little impromptu photo shoot - not many shots taken - maybe only 30 minutes out, but some of the pics are cute.

Well, I may be a bit partial!

Timothy Joseph Wright - September 2010 - 10 years old

how can he look so grown up in the above shot and so young in the below shot?

This one is blurry because he was laughing so hard - but I really like it - this is a classic Tim happy face!

and this laying down shot is a classic tim look too - a friend saw this one and said

"now THAT is tim!"

I agree!

This is my absolute favorite pic - I love those BOY hands - so chubby, with ratty looking cuticles and chewed on nails! SO TIM!

my birthday dinner

Ok - it was dark in the Cheesecake Factory and these were taken with a phone, so excuse the bad photos! These are just a few shots from my birthday dinner. We took BFF Michaela and Justin along. Dinner was of course, yummy - dessert was ok too - ironically, i don't really like cheesecake, but I love the pasta!!

most recent iphone dumps

periodically i try to dump all of my iphone pics on to my computer - here are a few of the latest:

maggie after being picked up from school - shaving her legs in the front seat before heading out to the golf course - evidently you can't swing a club with stubbly legs!

tim and BFF michaela getting comfy while I shopped at the container store

Sprout and Charlie were supposed to be helping me get Tim out of bed - but they decided to join him instead!

Classic Gran and Papa (tommy's folks) taking a little nap in their green room.

Gran just had heart surgery - I wonder what Papa's excuse is?

I LOVE that they both have their mouths wide open!

Sprouts latest kill - we were having trouble figuring out what it was...

until we took a closer look and found a little foot and a jaw - front teeth still in tact! We are guessing mouse!

Tornado!

I jacked this pic off of Justin Woods facebook - thanks justin!

This was the tornado that came through quiet little Forney a few days ago. I should have thought to pull out my camera and get some pics of us and all of the animals hunkered down in our safe spot (the downstairs bathroom).

Seeing us all in there really would have been comical, except for Tim's hysterical crying, the dogs nervous panting and one of the cats incessant screams about being in his kennel!

Tommy was on his way home and saw the same view that justin captured, as he drove right under it! SCARY!

I will say it made for an exciting change of pace in my otherwise typical afternoon - the best part was the tear-filled, shaky voiced, heartfelt prayer that tim sent up for daddy's safe travel home to us. Best prayer I have ever heard!

football weekend

For someone who doesn't like football, i sure seem to end up at a lot of games lately! How does Tommy manage to get out of going?

This weekend was friday AND saturday night football - the first was Justin's game in Kaufman against Terrell. We sat with his family - except Tim - he brought his friend Michaela along and they hung out under the bleachers most of the time.

justin - #81

that is justin on the ground - note the guy in the air - justin had just knocked his legs out from under him!

Tim and BFF Michaela

Mag with Justins mom, Annette

Then Saturdays game was Forney's Varsity team against University High in Waco. We drove out there (about 2 hours south of us) because this year Haley made the Highsteppers!

We didn't want to miss out on our first chance to see her half time performance!

Mag and justin at the waco game

that is Haley jumping! We were sitting on the visitors side, so we only got to see the backside of the routine.

She did a great job - Seriously, I cried a little! I was just so proud of her!

Haley in her super snazzy highstepper uniform! maggie is jealous!

mag and another friend, Katie

Goodbye Summer

A few pics documenting the last days of summer - regarding school stuff anyway!

tim getting his supplies together (like a good student)

while Maggie, not ready to think about school yet, watched and acted out a scene from The Uninvited with Haley.

she was being the scary dead mother

The kids got their annual Father's Blessing from daddy the night before school started

First day arrives!

Traditional 'hand on the front door, ready to leave with my backpack' pic!

p.s. we hate uniforms!

with BFF Josh, and Haley (more tradition pics)

How excited are you, girls?!

Back to school Survival Kits were waiting for them when they arrived home!

charlie literally peed himself when Tim came home!

she's a little dramatic with her excitement

she just LOOKS insane!

Homework already!

The kids were both excited to tell me all about their day - They both felt pretty good about their classes and teachers! YAY!!

Maggie read this poem in her English 2 class and was really impressed with it. I felt the same when she shared it with me, so I thought I would post it here.

From the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines

he wrote a poem

and he called it "chops"

because that was the name of his dog

and that's what it was all about

his teacher gave him an A

and a gold star

and his mother hung it on the kitchen door

and read it to his aunts.

that was the year Father Tracy

took all the kids to the zoo

and he let them sing on the bus

and his little sister was born

with tiny nails and no hair

and his mother and father kissed a lot

and the girl around the corner sent him a

Valentine signed with a row of X's

and he had to ask his father what the X's meant

and his father always tucked him in bed at night

and was always there to do it

once on a piece of white paper with blue lines

he wrote a poem

he called it "Autumn"

because that was the name of the season

and that's what it was all about

and his teacher gave him an A

and asked him to write more clearly

and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door

beause of the new paint

and the kids told him

that Father Tracy smoked cigars

and left butts on the pews

and sometime they would burn holes

that was the year his sister got glasses

with thick lenses and black frames

and the girl around the corner laughed

when he asked her to go see santa claus

and the kids told him why

his mother and father kissed alot

and his father never tucked him in bed at night

and his father got mad

when he cried for him to do it

once on a paper torn from his notebook

he wrote a poem

and he called it "Innocence: A Question"

because that was the question about his girl

and thats what it was all about

and his professor gave him an A

and a strange steady look

and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door

because he never showed her

that was the year Father Tracy died

and he forgot how the end

of the Apostles's Creed went

and he caught his sister

making out on the back porch

and his mother and father never kissed

or even talked

and the girl around the corner

wore too much make up

that made him cough when he kissed her

but he kissed her anyway

becuase it was the thing to do

and at 3 am he tucked himself into bed

his father snoring soundly

that's why on the back of a brown paper bag

he tried another poem

and he called it "Absolutely Nothing"

because that's what it was really all about

and he gave himself an A

and a slash on each damned wrist

and he hung it on the bathroom door

because this time he didnt think

he could reach the kitchen----