Wordless Wednesday

Well, it's a bittersweet Wordless Wednesday here in Drosche Land.  Why, you ask?  Well, As you might recall I participated in the Sunday Snapshot (seen here) on Sunday that relates to and links to our absolute favorite blog (again other than our own!).  I really enjoyed this and honestly see no reason to do 2 separate picture posts a week.  I mean honestly, things get busy here and it can often be difficult to find a new picture just once, much less twice.  So I have, after much thought, decided to stop Wordless Wednesday and continue on with the Sunday Snapshot.  It's really just a shift in the way we do things.  The same idea, only on a different day and linked to a fabulous blog.  Plus, Sundays gives me the weekend to take, find, organize, and have fun with pictures for the Sunday Snapshot, something I do not have the time to do during the middle of the week.  So, with the pictures below from Jack's birthday sleepover (there were just so many fun ones they are spilling over into 2 week's worth of phot posts!) I bid a fond farwell to Wordless Wednesday.  It was fun, but let's face it, as the length of this post shows, I am clearly not gifted at the "wordless" portion of said post.  Sunday Snapshot is far more up my alley!  Enjoy and I'll have more pictures on Sunday!

All is well, goodbye to Wordless Wednesdays, in Drosche Land.

All the cousins ready for the sleepover!

Jack cuddling with his panda named Kung Foo.  He got him from Build-A-Bear and he growls.  If that's not Jack I don't know what is!

 At the zoo Braeden surprisingly enjoyed the reptile house, I honestly would not have picked him for a fan of this place but he was excited to point out all the snakes and lizards!

Wordless Wednesday

Last Saturday we celebrated Jack's 3rd birthday.  A week early, but we wanted him to have his own day.  He always ends up sharing with something or someone, so we figured it best to give him the day he deserves.  It was a good choice too, because he had a blast.  That is of course before he got sick and ended up down and out for 3 days with strep, but he had a kickin' party!  Below are some of my favorite shots from the day, plus one I played around with a bit.  This weekend on his actual birthday we are planning a trip to the zoo!  I'm sure that will provide me with countless candidates for next week's Wordless Wednesday!  Enjoy!

 My birthday boy!

His football cake, from Costco of course!

 My boy loves him some sweets (wonder where he gets that from?)!

You can't go wrong with a Toy Story gift!

 His new Batman bedding!  By far his favorite super hero!

Wordless Wednesday

This week's Wordless Wednesday centers on Amy!  The house has been a flurry of excitement about her new Scentsy business.  Packages have been coming, full of fun surprises and materials.  Her first party is this Friday night and she has been busy getting everything organized and ready.  I have to admit, I am loving it because she is so excited and happy.  As you can see from some of the pictures below, the boys are also loving it.  They love smelling all 80, yes 80!, fragrances and deciding which is their favorite.  So, below are the pictures documenting the beginning of the new adventure about to take place, in just 2 days, in Drosche Land!

 The first delivery, containing all of the start-up materials!

 She is so excited!

 Her ingenious idea for making samples to carry sound and hand out! 

Samples, ready to go and get the word and enthusiasm out!

 Want a sample?  You know you do!

Wordless Wednesday

Ok eager fans of the goings-on in Drosche Land!  Here are the pictures of Braeden's first homework!  I am super proud of him and he was rightfully proud of himself!   When I went to pick him up today his project was displayed on the wall in the hallway and my heart swelled with happiness, pride, and love!  He is amazing, I hope he never loses his love of learning and eagerness to get to school each and every morning!  Enjoy!

Amy's brilliant idea to trace his arm & hand as his tree!

 

He enjoyed using the glue stick, who doesn't really though?!

He wrote all the names himself!  To get to the top he had to climb on the table so he could reach!

 

Amy took this and it's my favorite, see how he's looking at me!!!  Melt your heart or what!

A very proud Pre-K student!

Voila!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Wow, September already!  Can you believe it?  The year is flying by!  Crazy.

So I know you have been wondering, "Where are the pictures Dusty???"  Well, I know the picture taking has fallen a bit behind with school starting back up.  But, as always, I have once again made the personal goal/promise/wish to take more pictures of the boys.  Not just for the blog (but yeah that too!) but because I LOVE taking pictures!  So, let's see how long I can keep up with this new yet old goal!  Enough talking.  Onto the "wordless" portion of the post.

So, Braeden, my ever growing son, has gained a sudden love for board games!  He gets it from me!  About a week ago Amy and I actually gave in and let him play his first real game - Disney Sorry!  He teamed up with me and we played against Amy and Jack.  Though, truth be told, Jack was more interested in moving around the little pieces and playing with them rather than the actual game.  But, I am proud to announce that (with a little help from me) Braeden legitimately won the game!  Oh was he ever proud!  Amy and I, albeit bittersweet at this new "big boy" victory, were very happy for him.  The picture below documents this major achievement and the beginning of a lifelong love affair with board games!  Oh well, so much for wordless (not a shock coming from me though)!  Enjoy the picture!  :)

How can you not love that victory grin!

Wordless Wednesday

Well, in honor of today being the First Day of School, I thought I would post pictures of my classroom all ready to go!  Like I have posted before, I don't think I have every been this prepared or ready (we'll see how long it lasts!).  I have pictures and accounts of the boys' day ready, but will save those for their own post tomorrow.  Plus it is getting late and I have to finish up a Keynote presentation for Back to School Night tomorrow! Woo hoo!  So, enjoy, I'm pretty proud of my classroom.  Although I have to admit that after collecting supplies it did not look this clean and neat when I left!  Oh well, more organizing and arranging to be done tomorrow!  :)

 The view as you walk in!  Ahhh, all nice and tidy, ready to greet the kids!

The view from my desk!

Picking Up Steam

Well, with the busyness that is the beginning of a new school year I have obviously not had much time for pictures.  So I regret that today will not be a true Wordless Wednesday!  :(  But next week I hope to have "First Day of School" pictures reading for posting!  So that excites me and slightly makes up for the lack of pictures today.  But, I had some free time so I thought I would blog anyway.  Blogging every day is also something I am going to have to give up a bit, but that's ok.  I've learned to accept the fact that I won't always have something to say.  Ok, well stop laughing. I know I will always have something to say, verbally (since I rarely stop talking), but I won't always have something to say via blog.  

The school year, although not fully underway yet, has already begun to move along like a well-oiled machine (hence the post title).  I am breezing through organizing, planning, and setting up (WOO HOO) and am eager for the new year to begin.  Today was Registration and I had a blast.  It is for sure a hectic and crazy day, but secretly I love it.  I know weird, but LOVE IT!  I met all of my families, 17 this year (so far, you never know!) so that will be a good-sized class.  

Ok, so here though is a major nerd alert!  Last night, after being hit by another full-on wave of procrastination, decided to finally begin working on my homework for this week.  I figured I'd get half done and then finish the rest tonight.  Well I did that and finished my first half at about 10:30.  But I wasn't tired in the least.  It could have been the giddy excitement about Registration, the copious amount of caffeine I daily consume, or (more likely) a highly combustible combination of the two.  Either way I was too wired to sleep so I thought I would get started on a Keynote presentation (that's like PowerPoint for all you non-Mac users, only BETTER!) for Back to School Night.  (This is the first part of the nerd alert!)  So I'm all hopped up on excitement, caffeine, list-making, and presentation creating.  Before I know it I'm finished with the entire presentation and still not tired.  (Insert second nerd alert section)  So, I decided to finally break down and by the Keynote Remote app for my iPhone I have been wanting for a while.  Hey, even if I only use it once a year for Back to School and show my extreme awesomeness it's well worth the 99¢ right (I thought so!).  Well, doing this just added fuel to the crazed and excited flame.  I stared (literally open-mouthed in awe-struck wonder) at my presentation run with the swipe of my happy little thumb across the iPhone!  Think of the mobility during presentations!  Think of the possibilities!  Calm down (me)!

Long story short (too late?)  I finally forced myself to go to sleep at 11:30.  Oddly enough though I wasn't tired at all today.  Quite the opposite in fact.  Just ask my wonderful wife and awesome co-workers.  (Stop rolling your eyes and nodding Amy and Adam, thanks for the back-up Melanie!).  Ahhhh, the excitement that is the beginning of a fresh new school year!  It's going to be an awesome one!

All is well, still excited and the least bit tired, in Drosche Land.  

Wordless Wednesday

Ok, so last Friday Amy went out with her girl friends from work.  She had a blast.  But, that meant that we has Boys Night at home!  I didn't go all out or anything, I'll save that for when they're older.  We just had fun.  We ate pizza for dinner and then made popcorn, cookies, and we even had ice cream!  The boys were in heaven!  I thought Jack was going to explode after eating pizza, Cheetos, a bowl of popcorn, 3 (yes 3!) cookies, AND a bowl of ice cream.  Braeden skipped the popcorn (not a big fan) and only had 1 cookie.  But he snarfed his ice cream down!  That kid loves him some ice cream.  We had a blast!  Well, so much for "wordless" huh?  Oh well.  Enjoy the pictures for today from that fun night.  Just guess which one is my favorite!!!

 So I had to put my favorite one first!!!

 You'd grin like that too after cookies AND ice cream!

 How cute is he???

MY BOYS!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Well, in fitting with today's earlier post about the end of summer I decided to have one more set of summer pictures for Wordless Wednesday.  Today we went out for what might be our last splash time outside.  The boys had a blast before the dark clouds and rain rolled in.  I've posted some of the pictures to Facebook but of course I had to play around with some of my favorites in iPhoto.  I mean, who can resist a black & white picture?  They're timeless.  Or sepia?  A little fading, a little blurring, a little cropping.  It's a good thing I only play around with the simple offerings (for now!) from iPhoto and not some mega, super-powered photo-editing software.  I'd get so absorbed, who knows what would happen then!  :)  Anyway, enjoy these last summer-themed pics!

  My favorite shot of the day!

Same picture + some playing around = LOVE IT!

More playing = more favorites!

Wordless Wednesday

So, I've been quite lax lately (the last 2 weeks) in posting Wordless Wednesday pictures, but understandably so.  2 weeks ago we were in the hospital after Amy's surgery, and then last Wednesday we were in Ft. Worth at the RenWeb conference.  So things have been a bit busy.  But fret no more!  Earlier this week Amy took the boys out to play a bit in the rain since it was just a summer shower, not the typical Texas summer thunderstorm!  They loved it and I got some cute pictures.  I played around a bit with them in iPhoto and I think the results are great!  Enjoy!

 Braeden enjoyed it, which was surprising since he hates getting wet (outside of bathtime!)

 Of course Jack, our consummate mess maker, enjoyed himself too!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Well, this week's Wordless Wednesday takes a break from my usual subjects (the boys).  Instead these are pictures of a visitor we had in our back yard a while ago (these pictures were also held prisoner on the camera during The Great Battery Hunt).  Although we have firmly made up our minds to move and are quite excited about it, the pictures below detail something we will miss about living so far out.  Oh well, give a little get a little I guess.  In this case we will give a little of the friendly woodland creatures out here in Cypress and get a little, actually a lot, closer to the city!

A bunny!  I was doing some work about 2 weeks ago when I noticed Lucy going crazy at the back door.  Went I went to see what was up I saw our little friend!  I called the boys down to see it and they were thrilled!  

 Since this time he has come back to visit twice more but we haven't seen him in about a week.  Probably because I finally mowed the back yard and he didn't find it to be a comforting meadow anymore!  :)  Oh well, I keep hoping he will return!

Wordless Wednesday (THE SEARCH IS OVER!)

Woo Hoo!  The search is over - on several accounts actually!  Ok, so I was looking through the pictures I have and I suddenly remembered that when I was cleaning out our aptly named junk drawer in the kitchen the other day I came across 2 AA batteries!  It didn't hit me then, obviously or we wouldn't have had today's posts, so I put them with the rest of our batteries (mainly usless AAA and D batteries).  But I digress.  Anyway, I remembered I had found them and as luck would have it they worked!  So I quickly connected the camera to the computer and rescued the photos of our first splash adventure of the summer!  But hold your applause, there's more.  Not only have I found 2/3 of the things I have been searching for, but also I started thinking about what could I post about.  Ideas began to flow.  See there is value to the posts tagged as "Random" (i.e. "Searching") and the ones where I declare Blogger's Block!  I always say it helps to talk (or in this instance write) your problems out, it often leads to understanding and solution as is the case today!  Woo hoo!  So, here are the much anticipated (or at least I would like to belive the one or two people who read this have much anticipated them) release of the photos I have been talking about.  I will save the post topics for tomorrow, although I think I may write the ideas down.  But I digress, here are the pictures!  Enjoy!  I know we have been having a blast splashing around in the back yard!  Who needs a pool anyway?  :)

Although excited they were hesitant at first because the water was a bit cold

They soon got over that!

 They (ok me too!) loved this cool Buzz Lightyear rocket that Braeden got for his 4th birthday!  Thanks Tooie!

Amazingly enough they peacefully took turns launching it!

Jack loves to jump/dive head first into the pool!

 Splash, splash, splash!  Fun, fun fun!

Searching

"For what?" you might ask.  Well the answer is pictures.  Yes, as I am sure you could guess I still have yet to replace the batteries for the camera, thus further imprisoning fun photos.  So I have begun to scour my iPhoto and my iPhone for previously unreleased photos for today's Wordless Wednesday post.  I can't fully blame the lack of batteries solely on budgetary reasons any longer.  The truth boils down to my forgetfulness (at this Amy is either shaking her head "yes", saying "AMEN!" or both).  So, until I can get my act together and remember to either get some temporary regular batteries or a new set of rechargeable ones, I bear the punishment of photo hunting.  Truth be told though that is not always a bad thing, I do enjoy going through pictures and reminiscing so I'll look on the bright side of the bed I've made and enjoy it!  

I guess the title of this post could also be eluding to the need for something to blog about since lately I am also experiencing Blogger's Block again.  I thought for sure summer would bring a wealth of things to talk about, what with all the free time and fun things.  However, I am often finding myself at a loss of things to discuss.  Weird I know, "speechless" is not typically an adjective one would use to describe me.  But alas that's how I feel.  So, while I search for photos maybe I will also search for topics?  Who knows, maybe I'll find both.  I know you are waiting with bated breathe for both - no worries I will find them both I'm sure!  Until then though the search continues!  Hopefully I will return later with at least one, hopefully both, of the things I'm searching for!

All is well, and on the hunt, in Drosche Land.  

Wordless Wednesday - Again on A Thursday

Well, everyone has gone to school this morning and I am just sitting back and enjoying my coffee and I suddenly realized I didn't post last night!  I finished my homework early but then we got hooked (again) on watching Weeds on Netflix and I completely forgot.  That show is awesome and addictive!  So, here is this week's Wordless Wednesday.  Nope, I don't have batteries for the camera yet so the splashing pictures remain imprisoned.  Luckily though I have some more pictures I found last week when cleaning out my Hotmail email.  They are from a special day Braeden's teacher organized at the end of the school year.  It started in the morning with Donuts with Dad and then continued in the afternoon with Tea with Mom.  I was able to attend the entire thing thanks to a great friend and coworker who covered my class (thanks Lori!)  Here are the pics, it was a fun time!  Enjoy!

B

Braeden and I had a great time!

I

 I found out that Braeden enjoys (and is quite good at) puzzles!

Braeden & Mommy!

Storytime with Mommy!

Wordless Wednesday

I was cleaning out my email inbox today and came across these pictures of the boys that were taken at Trinity for their Easter celebration at school.  I thought that they were super cute, plus both of them are smiling for the camera (always a toss up for these two) Thanks Dana for sending them.  Enjoy!

 Happy Easter from Jack!

 Happy Easter from Braeden

Wordless Wednesday

As promised here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip to Quintana this past weekend!  It was the boys' first time at the beach and, as you can tell from their faces, they loved it!  We are definitely planning on returning soon!  Enjoy!

By far my favorite picture!

 I also love it in black and white!

 Running and splashing was a big hit!

 

Jack's reactions and facial expressions all day were priceless!

An awesome family trip!