Few More Thanksgiving Pics.

A few more pictures of things I am thankful for!!

ER and ER! Both are sleepy boys. 

The Family!

The extended family.

Little ER...isn't he precious. 

Little ER and his favorite Aunt!

Aren't those men handy. Ben and Little ER...Tom and Baby Greta. 

Two of my favorite guys. 

Ben and the babies (can you believe ER is two days younger than little Greta). I couldn't get this picture to rotate. 

Just a Few Things to Be Thankful For!

So the past few days have been spent very productively...holding babies. You know you can get out of a lot of work when you are holding babies, so I am trying to do as much of that as possible. Plus they are just too too cute!! Here are few pics. Definitely more to come. 

Maggie Moo...she's ready to go shopping! 

Little Er and me!! Isn't he the cutest little guy you have ever seen? His onesie says, "My First Thanksgiving!" 

Maggie watching Mickey Mouse. It is the only show she will watch...but when she does she is totally enthralled. Thankfully she smiled for the camera. 

Mom (Gigi) with Baby Greta. 

Oh sweet Greta Ruth. She's a tiny little thing. And of course, she loves me :). 

You Know You're a Redneck When...

Other titles for this blog could include...

Did you say menagerie? Do you take strays?

You know you live in the country when...

So I arrived home from the gym and grocery store about 8:35am this morning. My car is pretty much on autopilot as I head down Deep Water drive when suddenly my eyes are drawn to the four police cars sitting in front of my abode. Yes, that's right, FOUR police cars were sitting in front of my house. So now my mind starts spinning...is my house on fire, did someone rob me, is someone dead. Seriously, now I am really worked up. As I pull up and start to roll my window down, I realize the police officers are standing in my backyard. So now I am thinking something has happened to my mini horses. So I park the car and head to the backyard and lo and behold there are two full size horses standing in my backyard. And no my mini horses did magically transform into full size ones. There are two additional horses in my yard. 

 

The police officer sees me walking up and starts saying, "we are so sorry mam!" (how polite they are). "yours is the only yard with a fence that will hold these horses." And I am thinking...no it isn't...have you seen the Taylor's, Wilkinson's or Gilbert's yards. Their fences are way better than mine...meaning they were professionally done. Then the police officer continues in his story..."well you see mam, we have been chasing these horses down Spring Branch rd. since 5:30am. We got them into your neighborhood and they headed to your house because they wanted to get into the fence with the mini horses. We tried to shoo them away several times, but they kept coming back. So we decided that we would get them into your fenced yard until we can get a contract cowboy to come." 

A contract cowboy...did you really just say you are waiting for a rent-a-cowboy? "Ok, I said, no problem." So I gathered up our mini horses and took them to the other side of their pin to tie them up and get them settled. You know Bandit has a little horse complex, so I wanted to be careful he didn't get into a squirmish with the BIG horses. I stayed outside for a while with the mini horses to make sure they would be okay. Meanwhile back on the ranch, two Comal County Sherriffs were hanging out on the other side of the fence with the big horses. I finally headed in the house around 9:30 to get the long list of things I needed to get done done before heading out for the holidays.

 

Around 11am, the horses were still in my back yard, so I headed out to check on the status of this rent-a-cowboy. The police officer said he was about 10 minutes away. So I waited outside until the contract cowboy showed up. Well he came walking up with his rope and harness. I am thinking, oh now the pro is here, this will take no time. Yea...an hour and a half later we finally had both horses on the trailer. Let's just say it was quite a feat to get the bridles on and get them led to the trailer. They bucked and fought and rared up. So we finally got them in the trailer. When I turned around, I saw my across the street neighbors watching all of this action from their lawn chairs. All I have to say is...only on the Blevins' menagerie do you get two horses, four cops, a rent-a-cowboy, and neighbors watching from their lawn chairs. (and not to mention the three mini horses standing guard). Ben summed it up best..."we must be meant to have a menagerie, because the animials keep flocking to us"

This is the scene I walked up upon!!

Me trying to round the horses up and out of harms way. 

Sheriff Cootnz hanging out with the horses. Poor guy, he had to stay for over 4 hours babysitting these big guys. Then he got whipped around by the paint as we tried to load him in the trailer. 

They really are pretty horses. Anybody know who they belong to?

I had to call Ben to tell him about this fun event...he wasn't very happy I called him since he had only gotten a few hours of sleep and I woke him up!! 

Look at those beauties! I am glad Ben wasn't home, because we probably would have added two more to our menagerie. 

Madison and Elizabeth Marceau!!

Well last night the Riverside crew got all dolled up for Linda and Randy Marceau's son's wedding. It was a beautiful evening. Elizabeth, Madison's new bride, looked stunning as did her bridesmaids and her mother. Linda, of course, looked radiant. The wedding was held at Alamo Heights United Methodist and the reception was held at the Argyle, a private club in Alamo Heights. It was something spectacular. They had the San Antonio children's choir do the music...oh my goodness, could those little ones sing. The reception was gorgeous. The flowers and decorations were amazing. Oh and the cake...I have never seen anything like it. (I know Jenny as a picture of it, so I will post as soon as I can). I think it was like 14 tiers high with spun sugar flowers all over it. Christi Hinkebein thought it was a light fixture...she is too funny. I wish I had more pictures of the venue, but my camera ran out of batteries. Hopefully, Jenny will put some on her blog and I can steal some. Anywho, this was a fancy wedding..., if weddings start after 7pm then you know it is  a formal affair for which you should wear a full length gown. Okay, so i didn't get that memo...I got the memo that it was fancy, but not that fancy. Any apparently who, regardless of my attire, I had a great time. It was so fun to see so many of my friends all gussied up. We ate delicious food and danced the night away. Here are a few pictures of our adventures.

The Riverside Ladies!! We clean up pretty nice :). 

Yes, that's right...Jack Dean in a suit. What a beautiful couple. 

I got a minute of the mother of the groom's time to take this shot. Oh Linda, was so beautiful as always. Her dress was gorgeous! We love you Linda!!

Joanie and me. Doesn't she look beautiful. 

Michele, Courtney, and Jenny...hot mamas!!

Craigg & Michele...with no children. They had a night out on the town!!

Isn't Jenny's hair awesome! It took her an hour to do that. Of course, mine looks terrible because she made me do it myself. 

Look at Lizzy. That's right she got her haircut and highlighted. Plus she got her eyebrows waxed and had her makeup done. She was one red hot chicka. And Esther, of course, always looks beautiful. She had this full length blue dress on that was absolutely stunning. 

Getting our grove on. 

Go Sonia, Go Sonia!!

We get to see them soon.

In just a few short days (check out the timer on the side) we get to see our new nephew, ER Grant and our new niece (well really second cousin), Greta Ruth!! Plus we get to see our other nieces, Macy and Maggie Jane. I love thanksgiving!! And boy we have tons to be thankful for this year!!

ER Grant...looking wide awake. That's cause he knows Uncle Benny Boy and Aunt Brooke are coming to see him!! 

Greta Ruth!! Isn't she sweet. 

It's Shower Time

I know I have been a huge delinquent in posting to the blog. My OCD self is pretty upset about this, but life has been really crazy. I was gone all last week at a conference in Houston, so I had no time to update. So here ya go!! 

This weekend we hosted a shower for our good friend Jamie King. Jamie has been on bedrest for about 2 months now. Little Elli Graylyn is scheduled to come in late January, but she keeps trying to come early. So Jamie's doctors have ordered her to rest and relax and make sure little Elli doesn't come early. So all that being said, we brought the shower to Jamie. It was so much fun. Everything was decked out with pink and pink!! Or as Julia Roberts said, "blush and bashful." Jamie looked beautiful and was so relaxed and peaceful. As she said, "this is the greatest gift ever...I have people in my house, enjoying themselves and each other." Jamie is a huge hostess, so it was hard for her to stay planted on the couch and let the rest of us host the party. But she did great...as you will see in the pictures. Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated this special day...it was a true blessing. We can't wait to meet Elli!! 

Doesn't she look peaceful. 

Jen and I, looking like we are actually doing something. 

Jamie with her new bib (oh wait, that's for the baby). Jen Taylor made these...isn't she WAY talented. 

Jamie looking lovely and so happy about the new diaper bag. Brown and pink, so sheik. 

Jamie was so excited. 

One of the many funny faces Jamie made during the shower. Thanks Glenn and Sharon for these necessary items :)

Linda, Meg, Sonia, and Amanda. Lovely ladies. 

Lizzy even posed for a picture with the mom-to-be. 

Jamie is enthusiastic for sure! And you know the pregnant lady has to have her cherry limeade. 

Aren't they cute :)

Jamie, Cathi, Lee, and Kari (three people in this picture are pregnant...guess who)

Sweet Jenny, Lacy, and Raenette...aren't our friends beautiful!

You girls host a great shower. 

Awaiting the sweet arrival of Elli Graylyn...hey why not eat a sugar cookie while you are waiting. 

The beautiful cake...costco carrot cake (Jamie's favorite), coupled with Kim's handy work with flowers and ribbon and Jenny's crafty fixing of the big crack down the middle. 

We prayed over Jamie and Elli Graylan...what a great cloud of witnesses. 

May G-d bless this little one and her family richly!

Fall Festival

Sorry for the huge break in blogging activity. Life has been SO CRAZY these past few weeks. It has been all I can do to keep my head above water. But here are a couple of pics from the Riverside Fall Festival for your viewing pleasure. 

Jen Taylor, AKA crazy church lady and her 80s friend. My friend Jen is so darn creative!!

All the Loft girls in our decades...Esther was 50s, Jenny 60s, Teresa 70s, and me 80s!! So fun