Boo at the Zoo!



Maddy and our Zoo Director surrounded by a cauldron of haze!



Our local children's zoo holds a "Boo at the Zoo" every year.   In case you can't tell, Maddy is a Tooth Fairy this year.  Cool temps meant we had to cover her "tooth" shirt!  So many cool costumes to see and fun for the kids to walk through and see the zoo at night.  I think the only animals out were the peacocks -- who have their own lovely plumes, so that is probably why they get to hang around.  Bonus for them, lots of candy misses the treat bags and they feast on tootsie rolls and caramels for days on end!  :)

We went with our neighbors this year and had so much fun . . . even though on our way out, we hopped on the wrong bus to shuttle parking, got yelled at by the bus driver, had to ride around again and then ended up walking to the car anyway!  Oh well -- it makes for a good story though my foot was absolutely killing by the time we got home. 

More fun booooo activities on the weekend leading up to the big holiday! :)  Happy weekend!

Favorite Photo Friday

I had hoped to have some new photos up, but didn't quite get that accomplished!  These are two of my favorites from 2008!

Fall, 2008





Love that Girl in a hat!  Fall 2008



Weekend Update

Time for a weekend update! 

Let's do some random bullets this week for a change of pace!

• Whoa -- a few days have escaped me as I recover from my poor little foot surgery!  Holy smokes -- never believe a doctor who says -- "this will be a piece of cake and an easy recovery!"  HA HA HA!  So not true!  My foot and toes killed me!  Oh. My. Word. I had no idea it would hurt so much!  Add to that a bit of a reaction to pain meds and I was one hurting cowgirl!  Anyhoo, let's put that behind us now!  And remember my initial plan to have the right foot done almost right away after leftie heals??  Yeah, am definitely rethinking that!

 

• Since we already had tickets to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert, I hobbled along to that though only lasted until intermission.  It was a great concert and I'm sure I would have really enjoyed it had my foot felt better.  Seriously, not only is he a great person and musician, he is the cutest guy!  He looks like Doogie Howser all grown up!   Hope he returns and we can attend again!  Maddy had to get a CD and we love it!

• And now for the Shutterfly giveaway!  Maddy picked and I couldn't find the camera to get a photo of her with the winning numbers, but they were 5, 9 and 10.  So, that means, Laurie, Kim K. and Mary have each won 25 free cards from Shutterfly.  I will be emailing each of you with the secret code!

I Heart Shutterfly!

Have you figured out your holiday cards yet? I know it's early, and believe me, I am usually still addressing cards at and/or after Christmas, but this year, I decided to start a little early. My coworker, Jodee, is super organized and told me how she planned her photos a couple weeks ago. She probably already has her cards addressed and is just waiting for the holiday stamps – yep – she is like that – ready way ahead of time!  I wish I could be more like her!





One of our family shots from last year!  Am still thinking of recycling it for this year!



 So, I decided to follow her lead and try to get some photos of Maddy too. Last year, we had a family Christmas card with Mr. Tennis and me too - I loved it and it was from Shutterfly.  Some friends told me that my card last year was the best quality and nicest they received, now who doesn't like to hear that! But managing to get my hair looking decent two years in a row in a photo is really asking a bit much, so this year I figured a card with just Miss M would be fine . . . unless I recycle a photo from last year!  Hmmm -- I do like deducting a year from my age whenever I can!

What a great family photo-card!

Somehow, I was able to get some photos I liked and went to Shuttterfly to look at their cards. Oh how I love Shutterfly! The holiday cards this year are gorgeous and always such great quality.  One of the many things I like about Shutterfly is that I can make as many draft cards as I want while attempting to get the perfect one.  This year, I made about four different drafts -- some with just one photo and others with two photos and you can add even more photos! I go for more traditional looks and Shutterfly  has those along with lots of fun funky styles too. I swear I could have spent an entire day playing on the site and making draft cards up.  This year I made 4 or 5 and then showed them to Mr. Tennis for his input.  Luckily (for him!) he liked the very same one that was my favorite.  But really, who says you can't go with more than one holiday card?  I went with traditional colors + fun polka-dots because Maddy and I DO love polka dots!



Another fave -- love the black and white photo and monogram ornament!



Since I'm not a scrapbooker, am horrible at keeping track of photos and lousy at journaling, I usually do a photo book after a trip and Shutterfly has come to the rescue for me there too!



This sample reminded me of the book we made after our trip to China to meet sweet Maddy as Maddy looked a lot like that adorable little one as a baby!

 Bonus -- last year, I even had one of those very cool canvas prints made – be still my heart – it turned out so beautiful! Do I sound like a commercial for Shutterfly? Really, they have the best products and service!

Anyhooo, Shutterfly has some really beautiful cards this year and your satisfaction is guaranteed! And you know what else I love . . . you can also order matchy-matchy return address labels!!! :) 



Can you tell that I love a monogram and red/greencombos?

 Do you blog? 

Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season?  Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q 

And as much as I love Shutterfly, they evidently love me too and have given me prizes of  25 free cards for three of my readers. 

Leave me a comment and I'll pick 3 winners -- love me a giveaway, don't you!        

Boots -- All Kinds of Boots!



The Moon was still out this morning when I left for work!



The cooler weather here has me thinking about boots -- all kinds of boots.  No, I'm not mentioning the

s-word (you know which one I mean), but who doesn't love boots! 

Last year Maddy and I had some Fuggs -- Fake Ugg*s!  I'm sure the real things are super comfy, but let me tell you -- the Tarjay faux brand is also very comfy at a fraction of the cost!

I found some adorable boots on zappos -- don't you love the service from zappos!  Zappos is the only place I can usually find shoes for Maddy as her feet are either very small or an extremely popular size as we can never find any locally that work and are comfy for her . . . except at zappos!



Michael Kors -- love him and his boots!




Dansko -- Aren't these fab!!



Who doesn't love a wedge??



While I love all those boots, unfortunately, these are the boots I'm looking at for the next few weeks!  

I have bone spurs on my big toe joints --who knew??  My poor feet have been killing me for ages years!  I finally went to the doc and was relieved to find out that it wasn't bunions, but bone spurs!
 Anyhooo -- I will be having those nasty bone spurs shaved off my left foot next week and then after leftie heals, I will have the right foot done a few weeks later.  Hoping to have everything all healed up before bad weather hits so that I can actually wear some cuter boots!!

Wordless Wednesday!

So Grown Up . . . Sometimes!

Every now and then (and more often lately as she is almost 10 after all), I can see a glimpse of my little girl all grown-up.  So sweet and beautiful!  No, I am not at all biased, am I!  :)

She asked me recently if I think that she will look like her absolutely favorite singer when she grows up . . . Taylor Swift!   I said, well no, but you may look like the very talented and beautiful Ann Curry -- she seemed ok with that, but still wants to be a Rock Star! 

And then, there she is again -- my little girl -- still loving those crazy Webkinz and so silly -- getting a bit tired of the camera pointed at her!!  Look at that crazy feather in her hair -- guess she is a bit of a Rock Star!

What a funny and lovely girl!

Going on a Pumpkin Hunt!

In between the usual weekend chores of laundry, grocery-shopping, cheer class and cheering on the Huskers (guess we didn't cheer nearly enough), Maddy and I made our way out to our nearby pumpkin patch. 

Can I just say that I love Nebraska in the fall! 

 It was a perfect day with the sun shining and temps cool in the mornings, but warming up nicely plus low humidity!!!  The trees are turning color and it is truly the best time of the year.  Such a lovely day out and instead of joining the hordes there at 1 PM, we didn't make it until around 4 PM.  Perfecto plan as it was not nearly as crowded and we could enjoy the sights without feeling rushed.

Of course, we had to ride the little train, pose with a friendly (?) skeleton,

 Goof off with a scary monster,

Take the hayrack ride out through the spooky forest and . . .

hunt for a pumpkin in the pumpkin patch! 

Guess who rode in our hayrack ride along with us -- a lovely golden retriever jumped on at the last minute.  When we arrived at the patch, he sauntered off to find his own pumpkin -- so sweet.   Maddy was so curious as to who he belonged to because he did not even have a collar on AND he acted like he owned the place.  Well, he does own the place -- rather his owners do!

We had such a fun time even though Mr. Tennis was out of town and missed it.

Not to worry, Miss Maddy has a return trip planned for him too!