thursday

i have had a few rough parenting days with boyd.

{and in all fairness, he'd probably say the same thing about me}.

last night i went to bed with a raw throat from getting onto him so much, 

{and a little bit of crying on my part}.

and then my mind does tricky things to me like, how in the world will i parent him when he's 10, or 15, and i feel like i just can't do it. and i know better than to get ahead of myself. so kevin came home and i let it all out to him, and somehow i felt better. and then very nicely he told me to go to bed.

when boyd was an infant my mother in law said to me, these are the easy days.

and i didn't believe her. now i do. 

who knew little boys could be so sassy and stubborn and trying.

i knew boys were full of energy, but i didn't think my perfect child could test me so much.

thankfully he's cute and funny and loveable, within 5 minutes of all the above.

on top of how i have felt about parenting, life still happens and throws you curveballs on a daily basis.

i pulled out this max lucado book yesterday, and it's funny how god speaks directly to you, when you need it the most.

 sometimes life leaves you feeling sad and frustrated with so many {little} things...relationships, broken promises, let downs and disappointments...you know, the usual pity party that is a dangerous party to attend.

i tend to run away from god when i'm feeling down, but i know i should run straight to him instead.

max lucado will tell it like it is, in a positive way. i love his words.
{unfortunately, i hang onto life's disappointments like they are gold. i need to learn to let things go}.

boyd had splash day today, and his last day of pre-k.

i was a little sad when i hugged one of his teachers this morning,

but i love how things seem to work out, all in the right timing.

we were ready for the school year to be over, and now we are ready for a fun summer, and for new beginnings.

i did what i do best, and treated myself to a coffee this morning, after dropping boyd off.

and, after school.

i made this almond chicken casserole tonight, and we loved it. it's a keeper.
it's easy and different, in a good way.
{recipe here}.

i saw this quote today, also perfect timing.

we may not be able to prepare the future for our children,
but we can at least prepare our children for the future.
franklin d. roosevelt

love,
nicolle

coffee date {with my sis}

My sister was in town yesterday, and I was able to squeeze in a few hours with her.

Most of you know that she drives an 18 wheeler for a living, all over the U.S., we miss her, and we are so happy when she is home. She was here with her co-driver Angie, and I took them to my favorite coffee shop, Avoca Coffee.
Coffee tastes so much better when you are sharing it with someone you love.
fact.

i love this place. a lot. 

I had a mocha latte.

It was so pretty, and so rich.

They each had these espresso shots.

I had to get a picture of these words that were on a piece of artwork in the coffee shop.
love. love. love.

Then we shared a cup of their regular coffee, and a couple of pieces of chocolate.
{the chocolates come from Dude, Sweet Chocolate}.
One was porcini mushroom and pepita soft butter toffee, and the other was a piece of blue cheese sea salt fudge. I'm usually up for trying anything once.
They were definitely different, but so good. Even Boyd loved them.
And he loved running around that coffee shop.
I'm sure the people that were in there studying or visiting were happy with that.
It's not my normal thing to let him run wild, but yesterday I went with it.
I promise he was still pretty good.
If you are a local, you must visit Avoca. It's the best.

Before coffee we had lunch at Yucatan Taco Stand.
It was our first time there, and it was delicious.
Everything is bigger in Texas, even the hot sauce bottles.

it was a good day.
how has your week been?

love,
nicolle

cupcake friday

We met dear friends Kathy and Mellie for cupcakes and lunch today.
{thanks for inviting us}.

toasted coconut, wedding cake, vanilla valentine.

 After lunch we went to a sweet little garden center to look around.

I love these miniature fairy gardens.

It was a beautiful day.

I took my big camera with me today, but never took it out of the car.
We had a really good time,
it's always fun to see K and M, they feel like extended family to me.
and, this mama is TIRED.
I have no one to blame, I do it to myself.
Chores and errands and discipline and responsibilities, add 5 more things to my calendar and 10 more on my to do list, too much news and an overload of technology, and I don't want to sound spoiled or ungrateful, but I'm tired.
like i always say.....
life is good.
life is hectic and exhausting and hard and messy.
life is such a precious gift from God.

  I ran across this quote the other day.

I've been sitting on it, thinking on it. 

I need to do better. 

I think this is so profound.
{and i should have remembered it this morning when i got onto Boyd for making a mess in my car with his drink, for the hundredth time. that sweet little thing has exhausted me this week}.

The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.

{peggy o'mara}

Thank you Jesus for this beautiful sunset tonight.
I stand in awe.

enjoy your weekend.

love,

nicolle

road trip with my mama

In December, my mom and I were supposed to head south to Waco to try Collin Street Bakery, but Boyd got sick and I had to cancel last minute. 

So, spur of the moment, we decided to go yesterday. 

I thrive on spur of the moment adventures.

I picked my mom up, and we drove through the country, then Hillsboro. 

I'm a sucker for small town Texas courthouses, and obviously anything that says Texas.

We got to Waco, and had a delicious lunch.

My mom and I both had their chicken salad. It was on pecan bread. Boyd had turkey and cheese, his favorite. The sandwiches were tiny, but so good and worth the drive. 

Then we each had a lemon cookie. Their online menu said they have cupcakes, but there were none today, so we had cookies instead. I sort of hated to mess up our Friday tradition, but we just went with it.

And, I had a latte.

It's such a cute bakery, and there is a large eating area.

They are world famous for their fruit cakes.
I have always thought that fruit cake got a bad rap.

 I'm glad we made the trip. 

We decided to explore a little bit, so we drove by the Brazos river and found this pretty park and suspension bridge. 

Boyd and my cute mama.

Oh my sweet child. He had to make a face, and he's carrying his empty root beer bottle from lunch. 

Boyd is always telling us that he is saving his piggy bank money for a skate board.

So he thought it was neat when we ran into these 2 guys as we were leaving the bridge. 

We stopped at the Dr. Pepper Museum before heading home.

How gorgeous is this building from 1906.

Dallas and Waco in the same week.

I think I'm all adventured out, at least for a few days.
I sometimes question if I'm doing the right thing with Boyd, during this season in our lives, while I'm able to be at home with him. I hope I give him a sense of wonder and adventure. I want him to love to try new places, make plans at the last minute sometimes, and just go out and have fun in this life. Not everywhere we go is wild and exotic, and we stick to a pretty tight budget, but there is so much to see, so much to love about where we live, so much to love about life.

Life is either a great adventure, or nothing.

{hellen keller}

love,

nicolle

lettuce wraps

I made asian chicken lettuce wraps the other night.

I rarely follow a recipe, so I just threw together what we love.

They were delicious.

I made them once before and the taste was not right.
 I'm so glad I tried them again.
I think these will be a staple for us this summer.

1.15 pounds of chicken tenders
{obviously you can use whatever amount close to a pound, this is just the weight I purchased}

1 1/2 small cans of sliced water chestnuts, drained

3 or 4 green onions, diced

1 bottle of Kikkoman Stir Fry Sauce

dash of sesame seeds

dash of soy sauce

butter lettuce

I trimmed up and cooked the chicken in a little bit of oil. Then I removed it from the skillet, and diced it up really small. I also diced up the water chestnuts really small. Throw both of these back into the skillet along with the diced green onions and the bottle of stir fry sauce, the sesame seeds and the soy sauce. Stir and cook on low, just to warm up and for the flavors to blend.

I love to buy the butter lettuce. I think it is easier to wrap than iceberg.
I also add my favorite, Sriracha sauce.
enjoy.

..............

We had a nice lunch today with Kevin's aunt. She moved here from Maryland a few months ago, and I feel like we have neglected seeing her.
We love you Aunt Terry.

..............

A few more pictures.

* i love boyd's sweet face here, peeking over my shoulder in the car.

* gorgeous sunrise as we were headed to austin.

* boyd in downtown austin. 

* iced dark mocha latte in austin.

* a stop in west as we headed home, for kolaches.

* {i got a new car}.

* boyd describing something to me as the "biggerist".

* my heart broke so much when i heard that denver moore passed away, 

co-author of same kind of different as me.
i feel incredibly sad over this, although i know heaven is rejoicing, and that is beautiful.

co-author ron hall wrote this upon denver's passing:

He changed a lot of lives. People who read our book are never able to look at homeless people the same way again. He was a rock star.

* sweet delivery from my mother in law.

..............

I used to spend a lotta time worryin that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks. Then, after I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn't ever gon' have no kind a' future. But I found out everybody's different - the same kind of different as me. We're all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain't no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless - just workin our way toward home.

~Denver Moore

tuesday

Yesterday we picked up a chocolate chocolate chip mini bundt cake.

I love this local magazine. I can get a free copy at the bundt cake store. Makes me want to get cake more often. I know that is not a good thing.


I love when the moon is out during the day. Can you see it?


And, I love this boy. He is very trying right now. He is so sweet, has such good manners, and he doesn't listen to a thing I say. He seems to listen to everyone else, except his mama. I hear this is very common, and it's frustrating. But, even on these hard days, I find myself wanting to savor every second with Boyd lately, because he will start pre-k in the fall, then kindergarten, then well, you know. Time feels like it's going faster than ever right now.



Delicious leftover sandwich.
Shredded beef with cole slaw.


Peaceful.


I'm a quote person. I saw this one in a magazine recently, and really loved it.

If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much.
{Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis}


good night.

cupcakes and stuff

Boyd and I set out this morning with a list of things to do. We are out of food. Our fridge is bare. We haven't been by our favorite cupcake place in a while. We stopped in real quick. I had german chocolate, Boyd had plain chocolate.

Boyd was all over the place, so I put my camera down, and we both just enjoyed our cupcakes.

This morning Boyd ate 2 containers of mandarin oranges. That is a big thing in our house, as he doesn't really like a lot of fruit. He announced to me and Kevin that he only eats oranges on Friday, and he doesn't eat them on Tuesday. Well, thank goodness today is Friday.
:)

Kevin is still recovering, and I'm doctoring up his leg twice a day. In sickness and in health. I wouldn't have it any other way. Even though we make each other crazy, I love him so much, and only want him to get well. We are in this for the long haul. Together.

Boyd got this sweater from a friend. I think it is so cute.


This is how I feel most days.
{Oh well yes, those are Christmas lights you still see on our bushes}.


I made the mistake of only getting through half of our errands today, and then coming home for a mental break. While we were at Sam's, Boyd found something on the floor that resembled spilled cola, and he had his hands all in it {drawing pictures} before I realized. He was also using the grocery cart to try out for the gymnastics team. Oh, and he likes to sing, bow chicka wow wow, really loud, in the store. Strangers think this is extremely funny. We only did half of our list and we need a few more things, so we are off again.

Motherhood has relaxed me in many ways. You learn to deal with crisis. I've become a juggler, I suppose. It's all a big circus, and no one who knows me believes I can manage, but sometimes I do.
~Jane Seymour