Officially Facebook FREE

Not a long post.

Not even going to attempt to explain my departure from Facebook on this one, but I did want to share how awesome I'm feeling after my exodus from FB. Wooohoo! I encourage you to do the same if you are considering getting off...DO IT! I don't regret it.

I miss seeing pictures of my friends, I do. BUT...I don't miss how when I sit down in front of the computer I check email and GET OFF! I'm not tempted to do anything else. It's wonderful...especially since I've got Noah and James keeping me busy and millions of projects we've been wanting to get done. There's plenty to fill my time ...ah hem...more productively now;)

Here's a picture of my rockin husband...who's currently seeking employment as a mechanical engineer! If you know anyone whose hiring..let us know!

He's pretty brilliant....he's got his P.E license...LEED Green associates...and lots of cool experience.

He's going to be such an incredible asset to whomever he ends up working for:) 

Film Review FRIDAYS!!!

Hello peeps!
We thought we'd start a tradition of posting about films/documentaries that we've been enjoying so that you can go check them out and share in the enjoyment ;)

We have a long list of documentaries to blog about, but for now, I'll keep it short and only discuss the last 3 documentaries that we've watched.
You might be asking...why documentaries?
Well, it all started when we were living in this marvelous little village in Germany.

We were pretty limited on movies coming to us late and not being able to watch TV shows (which, as it turns out, we don't really even like or watch now anyway). So, we started researching free documentaries on Youtube and ones we could check out at the library...and thus, a love for these great films was born.

So to begin...Here's the list of the films I will give a very short review of:

Ok...go ahead...judge us. We're total nerds. That's ok. I feel like our worldview is so much bigger and we love learning about cool people and places all over this big world.

1. The ENDURANCE: a film about the legendary Antarctic adventure of Shackleton and his crew. This story is almost unbelievable...bottom line, they survive almost 20 months and Shackleton is able to save ALL the men he set out with. INCREDIBLE. There were moments during this film, which is narrated by my favorite, Liam Niesen, Jon and I would just have our jaws dropped in utter disbelief that it really happened. 
2. SPELLBOUND: this is an adorable short documentary following 8 competitors to the 1999 National Spelling Bee. I know what you are thinking...NERD alert. But really, it was quite enjoyable and fun to see these kids and how the prep for such an event. Be sure to look at the "extras" on the DVD to see where these kids are now! 
3. TRUE WHISPERERS.  I got this DVD thinking only Jon would enjoy it because it was about Indians. I know I'm so lame. Not entirely true I guess. It's about the Navajo code talkers, I was slightly interested too because I did a short Mission trip once to the Navajo reservation in Arizona when I was about 15. By then end of this documentary, we both wanted to travel to Arizona just to have the chance at shaking the hands of the remaining code talkers themselves. These men deserve to be super stars, but they sadly live very humble lives on the reservations...with little to nothing and hardly no recognition. It wasn't until Bush2 was in office that they were finally nationally recognized and given medals for their service during WWII. CRAZY. It might make you tear up...bring tissues to this one.

There ya go. Hope you thoroughly enjoy them. I really hope you will leave a comment if you do end up watching any of these. 

And...as a reminder...we'll be making this blog private in the coming months, so be sure that I have your email address! We'll have to send you an invite to view our blog. 

And it's still true...I do plan to be rid of FB by the end of March! I'm slowly gathering contact info. It's a little sad, but I know I'm making the right choice. 

And yes, the obligatory boys pictures of course!!! As a reward for reading our Film reviews ;)

And please don't judge us...Jamesy was indeed sporting undies outside...he was potty training that weekend...so the rule is that he doesn't wear pants...it does wonders. He did amazing that weekend. ....other things have come up in our lives that we've taken a break with the training. But, we have no doubts about his abilities. 

And of course...these amazing bows and arrows are brought to you by the totally amazing Jon. He made them from some old branches in the backyard. Jamesy affectionately calls them "Bone narrows!" ;) I have been tasked out to make a quiver to hold their arrows. ;) I think I'll wait till Jon goes hunting again and ask for some animal hides to make it from. These boys will really be outdoors men! LOL ;)

Have a fantastic weekend Y'all!!!

Noah is 5

Noah Thomas Houston is 5 !!!!!

This is Noah in his Jedi Knight costume from his Star Wars themed Birthday party.

For Noah's 5th Birthday we decided to go all out for a STAR WARS party.  

Here's the food spread...complete with Star Wars food theme labels like
"Princess Lays, Hahn burgers, Jaba the Hummus" stuff like that :)

3 layered Birthday cake..with a Death Star on top ;)

Noah standing by his favorite...Darth Vader

During the party Jon did an exceedingly amazing job at creating a Jedi Knight Training course for the kids (adults too ;) IT WAS AWESOME!


What a indescribable JOY Noah is to us.
Can someone tell me how we went from this 

  

To this???? 

5 years has happened so fast!

I remember while I was pregnant being so nervous about how I could possibly be a good mom...

Now, it's my joy to learn every day how to be a better Mom for him (and Jamesy too).

Children are truly a blessing from the Lord

...although, I'd like to ask God to freeze time for me because they grow up toooo fast! 

:)

I plan to interview Noah soon about all his favorites so you can be up to date with his little world! 

We absolutely loved having his Birthday with our family and friends from Texas once again. BUT, it was so bittersweet because we sure did miss sharing his special day with all our wonderful Schweinfurt friends this year. 

I think Noah missed the snow being around but having a Jedi Knight Training Course in his front yard sure did make up for the lack of snow! LOL

This is Noah waiting in line to start the course with all his friends in Jedi robes we made for them.

*And it feels great to be blogging again!*

Couldn't stay away....

Alright.
Here's the scoop.
I have this secret ambition to be completely RID of facebook by March time frame.
Why? Many many MANY reasons. I'm sure you guys could come up with some pretty good reasons to get off Facebook yourselves if you gave it  some real serious consideration. But, I'm not here to hassle you about that.

The biggest fear I had about leaving FB was that I wouldn't be able to stay in touch with many of you. So, this will be my little social outlet. A little bit more private and intentional.

So, we're back! 

Let the messages begin...;)

Closing Time....

I hate to say it....

but blogging has found it's end.

Yes friends, I'm just not that sure if anyone actually reads this lil blog much, and with the boys to keep up with, I'm not so sure blogging should be a priority.  

We're trying to simplify life here in Houston Central land.  That means goodbye to blogging.

If you are family/ close friends....don't worry, I'll send ya pictures of what we're up to whenever you want:)  and we can call...email....:) 

Leave a comment if you'd like....but I'm pretty sure this mind is made up.

As we used to say in Germany...Tchuss!

Triple Play....

 So....to get you guys up to speed....thought I'd share what we've been doing the last few weeks.
UNPACKING! ...it's quite difficult when you have two sweet lil boys running around, so yes, we still are no where near being done. However, that doesn't mean we didn't find time to complete some triathlons! :)

The first one we did to kick off the Tri season was actually at the end of April.

Before the cold swim...

out of the water

Jon did a sprint distance

(700m swim, 12mile bike 5k run)

On the bike

he makes running look EASY!

Noah enjoyed the water too!!

Mark (Jon's bro) and I did an "open" distance(100m swim, 3mile bike and 1mile run). I did some last minute convincing to get Mark to join me and he had a blast.

leaving the water...not bad for never having trained!

Nice bike ride!

We almost didn't get to do it because apparently we needed to register before the day of the race for the "open" distance. oops. Jon came through and saved the day...talked the HITS people into letting us do it for fun.

Right out of the water, I'm always so RELIEVED to be OUT!

Getting ready to mount...

Always the hardest for me

Quick 1 mile run

Pretty proud considering he didn't train! :) We had fun together!

Altogether we had lots of fun, but Jon discovered that he did not like the way the HITS series hosted the race and has resolved to never doing one from them again.

The second Tri of the season came on Mother's Day.

Pre-Race jitters....and it was cold!
It was my big day.

Still freezing...getting ready in the transition area

 I was ready...even with my Turquoise hair to match my racing suite! 

Jonny made me the best sign

All women's spring distance(300m swim, 12mile bike, 2 mile run).

Finally some sun!!!

Soooo happy my MOM came to support me too!!!

Always my fav part of the race...being DONE with the swim!

 Oh man, the bike was brutal!

Yeah, the hills were killer!!!

 I was not prepared for all the hills. It was in New Braunfels, pretty area just super hard bike.

transition to the my least fav....run!

I almost look like I know what I'm doin:)

With all the moving we did, I was not trained up as I would have liked and I paid for it.

Noah enjoyed giving high 5's!

YESSSSSS!!!! 3 Tri's finished in one year!

 But, nonetheless, I beat my time from last summer and I was proud to cross the finish line!

DONE!!!!

Best support crew a girl could have!!!

It was wonderful having her out to support ME!

Best support crew a girl could have!!!

What a great supporter!!!

The last Tri Jon did was in Austin.  The CapTexTri. He did the Olympic distance (1500m swim, 20mile bike 6mile run) He's so cool.

The boys were so proud!!!

once again, he makes running look easy!

Hardly trained for this one and was only 10 minutes slower than the last Olympic he did in Germany with lots of training. This race was awesome. It had so many different people competing, from wounded warriors, to paratriathletes....first time Tri, sprint, olympic and distances. I mentioned on facebook how moving it was that this race was on Memorial day and to watch some of the athletes be lifted out of the water bc they lost their leg or could no longer use their legs due to combat was beyond me. Insanely motivating. Cried my eyes out watching and cheering them on! :) Jon' family came just in time to watch Jon finish up his bike ride and run.

Bikin' fool! 

So, now that we have a few Tri's under our belts, we're going to take it easy for a few more weeks before training up again for more. Jon has a half Ironman in Austin on my birthday in October:) Can't wait for that one! ...and I'm still  trying to convince our family members to do a relay Tri with me sometime in August or September:)

I'm still figuring out how to make the pictures look right on here... all this new formatting messed them up!