Oh, how I love....

hand-me-downs!!

I've always had an appreciation for hand-me-downs. It started off when I was little (being the third girl in the family and all). But also when I met hubby, and his sister gave me some hand-me-downs. She still will let me rummage through on occasion after she's cleaned out her closet and oh, how it delights me. Because a) I have no sense of style. seriously. b) i mostly buy one style of shirt in three colors - white, black, and whatever color is "in" (or what I believe to be "in"). I was just giggling about it the other day doing laundry after I hung up my white, black, and purple shirt - all of the same style and brand! (Can't beat $5.99 at TJ Maxx!)

I use the excuse that the girls prohibit me from shopping, because....have you ever shopped with two kids 3 and under. Well, it ain't fun!! Even if hand-me-downs are sometimes a season (or two) behind and technically now out of style, I ain't complaining! (why do I feel it necessary to sound so hick-ish with all the ain't's?? oh yeah, because this blog is about being myself! :)

okay, so how did I get so off topic. Oh yeah, because I love hand-me-downs. (You can see I may have a touch of the A.D.D. today.) So hubby's sister has given us lots of hand-me-downs for the girls from her little girl who's now 9! There are especially a lot of Christmas dresses! Here are some of the cute things we've worn this season - all hand-me-downs!! And I'm talking from head to toe - bows, dresses, shoes, and jackets!!!

Posing in front of the tree before a birthday party.

(side note: everyone always says how much Teagan looks like me. Well ironically, I see it in this picture where she's making a silly face!!)

My lens on my lil camera was filthy because the girls love to take pictures with it, but here is Presley and her best bud at school, M! She insisted on wearing this silk dress to school on the day of her Christmas party.

Making cookies at Shelly's. Presley enjoyed each phase - making, decorating, and eating cookies! Teagan just wanted to jump on the trampoline with the boys. I made her partake for a little while. Why pretty dresses to make cookies in? Because if you don't wear them when you can, they grow out of them and the opportunity is lost forever!

The way we roll...

Well, this is a silly post to be the first post I've posted in quite a while. BUT!
We rolled Presley and Teagan's hair in rollers for the first time. And it was so cute and fun! I have fond memories of trying to sleep in those pink sponge rollers. Teagan didn't leave hers in for five minutes, but Presley slept in hers and I let her brush out her hair the next morning for school. In hindsight, not a good idea, because then she just had a slight poof to her hair and the curl pretty much came out. Which solidifies my theory that she has hubby's hair - good, thick, heavy, silky, hair!! I think Teagan has my hair.

And now, I feel the need to apologize for this lame post. I apologize!

Halloween Festivities

I think we all know I'm usually a day late and a dollar short. But I still wanted to share what a nice Halloween season we had - the festivities just didn't end! The weekend before Halloween, my friend Monica had a Halloween costume party. This was our opportunity to let Presley be a princess. And Teagan was a little kitty cat! (Just for the record, I was Pippy Longstocking and Price threw on a poncho!) Thanks, Monica for hosting and having us over! (She's like 20-something-weeks pregnant with twins, soooo nice of her to still put on such a nice show for all the kids!)

Then the Friday night before Halloween, we went to Aunt Shelly's Halloween party where ALL the kids and adults dress up. So much fun! (FYI, I couldn't get my scarecrow nose just right and it kept getting bigger and bigger...and WOW)

And don't forget the Hulk (Cash)! I didn't get a pic of Jacqueline, she was very busy with all her friends!! Trust me, she looked cute though!

Then on Saturday, we went to Aunt Addie's house for dinner and then trick or treating around the neighborhood.

The little cowboy!

One ladybug (Dovie) in the stroller with a sucker.

Dorothy and another little ladybug (Willa) in the wagon gearing up to go!

The Lion with something sweet I'm sure!

And don't forget the turtle (Kellan). (I guess you can just call the Kirby Family family friends, because I hate to say they're just Alison and Jay's friends.)

Mom and Dad stayed and watched the girls while we went to another costume party my friend, JT (actually now it's JW) was hosting.

We had a spider woman (who's missing her web (aka her hubby and their last name! Nice spin off!), the heartless and brainless pair, angel and devil, some roadsters, and a Mad Men couple! There were lots of other folks dressed up! There were umpa-loompas, the apple and mac guys, a bunch of swine flu, and many more! Thanks, JTW for a fun night!!

Perfect Plumply Dumply Pumpkin

Each year the Pointer Genovese Calhoun Family (aka Price's fam) has a pumpkin carving contest. And it gets competitive! We all had to bring our own perfect 'plumply, dumply pumpkin' (that's a book that Presley likes that we've read oh...at least 100 billion times) because there was some controversy over who would get the best pumpkin for carving out of what was available.

This year we even made it official with a trophy that says "pumpkin carving champion of the world". We all vote and this year Heath won, Poppa came in second, and I got third. Oh yeah, the little kids had fun too. They got to paint and decorate little pumpkins.


From left to right. Poppa carved a witch (evidently the same as last year), I carved Snow White, which the kids all loved, Shelly did hers in about five minutes, Price carved Mikey Mouse (he copied my Disney theme), Jacq carved a scary pumpkin eating a smaller pumpkin (all by herself) and Heath did a Joker thing with his.

Here's Honey and the little kids stripped down to their skivvies to paint. (But really my kids are "ready to paint" nine times out of ten around our house.)

And here's all the pumpkins aglow!

Thanks, Shelly for a fun night for all of us!

Fun at the fair!

A while back we went to the fair on Wednesday with all the girls and Madden. Wednesday is bring two canned goods and get in for a buck. So we left all the men folk at work and took the kiddies to get a corn dog! Plus Aunt Mac was off and it was Rockwall's fair day. We all took the train from Garland to the fair. It was so fun and adventurous, my first train experience! Chloe had a friend with her so that improved the baby to adult ratio. Not that Chloe and her friend are adults by any stretch, but they helped hold a baby while we shuffled strollers and made sure everyone was on the train, which was no easy task. That was the only mildly stressful part.

These pictures are a little backwards, as usual!

This was actually just before we left to catch the trains on the way back. The twins were asleep by this point. And the other three needed to be!

We went into this really fun free petting zoo! There were camelsm zebras, and these CUTE pink piglets among lots of other animals!

This was everyone on the train except for me! See, lots of kids! Price thought we were crazy!

It was really fun and I look forward to doing it all again next year!

Benefit Concert at Texas Love and War

If you don't have plans for this Sunday night from 4 pm to 10 pm, come to Texas Love and War in Plano, TX for a Benefit Concert honoring Ashlyn. She's a four year old who just underwent brain surgery to try to control a progressively worsening seizure disorder. I donated a few photography sessions and such and wanted to give a shout out. There's a pretty good line up for music. The Derailers are headlining, in addition to Lane Thomas and the Sidewinders, Steve Ferguson Band, and Randy Brown Band. Hope you can make it!! :) Call me if you plan to go!

The headlock

This post goes out to all MMA fans! And this is a busy MMA fan month, I know because I live with one!

Presley seems to think that when I say "get together" for a picture, this means "put Teagan in a headlock".

Here's the headlock at one of Chloe's volleyball games. Chloe made the A team, by the way!! Yea, go OE!!

Teagan squirming out of the headlock at a playdate with Jackson and Madison. (Note Presley's ensemble....)

At Great Wolf Lodge (what a fun place for kids and adults!) after we went swimming.

And before we went swimming.

And the girls with their Tapout shirts on. For whatever reason, Teagan calls it her "dinosaur shirt".

(Pre)School Girl

Well I've seen about 1,000 posts on going to school of some sort now that school is back in session. Mine might be the official last one of the year. 'Better late than never' has always been my motto, and I'm sticking to it!

Anyway, Presley was SO excited! And I was thrilled that she was so excited. I was excited, nervous, and scared for her! Her excitement only briefly waned just for second when we got close to her classroom, but Hubby distracted her with the video camera. Never one to ignore the camera, she perked back up and never looked back, literally - we were watching!

Here she is backpack, lunch box, (dog, toothpaste on her dress, untrimmed hedges) and all!

Go get 'em, Poodle!


When we picked her up that day, she wouldn't divulge any info! We wanted to hear all about it - new friends, the good, the bad, and the ugly! But we got nothing! She was so nonchalant about it, like she'd been going for years! I was proud of her! (And just a little sad for me!)

Sweet sister moment!

I took this video back in May, and I'm just now figuring out all the You Tube stuff to share it!

This was such a sweet sister moment.

Fort Worth Zoo

We went to the Fort Worth Zoo a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. Hot. But fun! A quick piece of advise - don't get caught without water or cash at the zoo. The last leg of the journey we were all so thirsty and they only had cash vending machines. Water never tasted so good! Another tidbit of info, while I was taking Presley to the restroom, I asked Price to put some sunscreen on Teagan. When I came out, it looked like he dunked her into a big pool of sunscreen, she was so greased up!



Anywho, here we are on the carousel. Now I remember why we ran out of cash. They nickel and dime you there! But all in the name of fun...





And here we are waiting for the train.






This orangutan entertained us for quite some time. It was fond of my babies! Monkeys are soooo interesting to watch.

Daddy and Presley watching some other monkeys monkeying around!

It was fun and we'll likely go back next year during the cooler weather!! :)

Over the top!

We went to see the circus this year with the girls. It was a lot of fun. The girls did great - a little restless in between acts while the clowns were entertaining the crowd - but overall really good. Teagan talked about it for days!

Just as took this picture, the sparkles were set off. Made for an awesome picture!

This was Presley with her first bite of cotton candy. She LOVED it!

Here are the girls right when we got inside. All the hustle and bustle excited them!

That popcorn container that Teagan put on her head was, at one brief moment during the show, full of popcorn . And there was nary a popped kernel on the ground. We guzzled that thing! (Teagan even shared some with the little girl in front of us - hello, choking hazard!!)

Bedtime fun!

One of the most special times of day is when we all go to sleep. We all pile into bed, read books, play, and try to unwind. But usually the girls wind up before they finally wind down. This particular night we had fun trying on different hair colors. It was pretty funny and makes for some great pictures!

A blonde Teagan.


A blonde Mama (wouldn't Hubby just LOVE that!).


A blonde Daddy. (He kinda looks like his mama here.)

And a dark brown Presley! (I think it was immediately after this picture that I went and chopped off my hair! I needed some length taken off STAT!)

Fresh Flowers

Is it just me or do fresh flowers just make you happy!? I really don't buy flowers unless I'm hosting something at my house. But oh how I enjoy them once the festivities are over! These have just gotten prettier and prettier! And they motivate me to keep my dining room table cleaned off, which is the place that catches EVERYTHING, especially clean and folded laundry. Putting away clean laundry is my nemesis! It is my most dreaded domestic duty! And Hubby always gives me a hard time about "our second dresser". AND once I was visiting with my sister's neighbor (who both live in my neighborhood - or we live in theirs?) was saying how she wants to come see my house sometimes and that she drives by and always looks in the windows and loves our big piles of laundry. I was like....

So, it's official! I'll spend the 10 bucks every couple of weeks or longer and keep my table clean!

Hmmmmmm, I just thought about it further. Yes, my table has been clean all week. However, I haven't done laundry all week. So maybe the flowers inhibit doing the laundry. Either way, I like it!! (But I'm paying for it today!)

Naughty or Nice? Boudoir Special

Date: October 3, 2008

This is an ALL inclusive price!! Here's what you get:

• 1 hour session (2-3 wardrobe changes) in a luxury suite at a Dallas hotel (email me and I'll tell you which one)


• 20 page 5x7 custom album (complete with custom cover) featuring 20 - 35 images chosen from your online gallery


• refreshments (champagne and fruit)

Please email me to book your session and find out more details! taylorpointer@gmail.com

***********************

Edited to add: If you can't do October 3rd, but would still like to do it, email me and let me know so we can possibly schedule another date! Also, chat it up with your friends and book back to back time slots!

Chicken Salad Recipe

Like always, I find something I like and make it into the ground! My latest offense, North Shore Chicken Salad. I first tasted this mixture of deliciousness when I was working at Children's. One of the dietitians brought it to a pot luck and holy moley, I was in LOVE! Another dietitian said really loud during the lunch, I'll never forget, "I love the way this feels in my mouth!" To which all the other dietitians laughed and replied, "That's called mouthfeel!" So bottom line, it has great mouthfeel, which is a dietitian tag word, so you might not totally appreciate that story, but I thought it was so funny!! It also has great color, so its presentation is beautiful!OK, here's the original recipe online.

http://www.chefonthegoinc.com/recipes/north_shore_chick_salad.htm

But here's how I make it, mostly the same, but with just a couple modifications. And I always make a big batch, so you could totally half this and be set! But it's a little bit of work, so I like to get my money's worth, so to speak.

6 chicken breasts, boiled and cubed
2 boxes of long grain and wild rice, cooked
2 bell peppers, red and yellow
4 green onions, chopped
1 bag of shelled edamame* (or two bags of edamame that you have to shell yourself)
*You could substitute sugar snap peas, cut in half. That's what the original recipe called for.

Dressing**, mix all in a blender:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2-3 garlic cloves
couple squirts of dijon mustard
LOTS of salt and pepper
**I usually don't use all of the dressing, there might be a little left over, but 1/3 cup each doesn't seem like quite enough. So just use enough to wet it all. (You'll be adding a few more things before serving, so keep that in mind, it will soak up a little more dressing. You can use any left over on chopped tomatoes and cucumbers as a side on another day.

It's good to let this all sit in the fridge and let the favors mix together, but if time is of the essence no big deal!

Before serving, add:
2 avocados, cubed (if you quarter, then peel the skin off, it's easier to cube)
3/4 - 1 cup roasted pecans, chopped (bake for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees)

I think that's about it. By the time it's all done, it takes about a good hour! This is my rule of thumb in the kitchen because I hate exact measurements, when in doubt, more is better - i.e. more pecans and more edamame, NOT salt. I always under salt because I'm scared to over do it, which can obviously ruin a good recipe. Plus, people can add that at the table. I know Hubby always does, and I NEVER take offense. (Read NEVER with sarcasm!)

Y'all let me know how it turns out!

The Pointer Project

A lot of time was given towards picking a name for this ol' intimate blog of mine. I mean, at least an 30 minutes or so. After reading a list to Price, he liked this one the most. And because I HATE making decisions, I went with his fav. I liked it too, because it stood alone, unlike the others - Pointer Press, Pointer Publication, Pointer Dirt.

Things that I think of when it comes to 'projects':

1. fun, new, exciting (at least for about 30 minutes or so)
2. unfinished
3. we are truly a 'work in progress"
4. our family is ever changing and growing, if not in numbers, in spirit (but hopefully numbers too :)

So it seems that the name is fitting! And I'm looking forward to sharing more of me and the family with you!

Baby Nay

Photo courtesy of Baby Nay.

A couple months ago, Presley and Teagan did a modeling shoot for the Baby Nay clothing line for the Baby Nay show room at the Dallas Trade Center. (Price's family is friends with some of the gals that work in the showroom.) I personally was so excited about it! Presley is the biggest ham ever when cameras are involved. And you can't take a picture of anything or anyone without taking one of her too! She really knows how to work the camera. And I knew she was going to do great! Images of her paying for her own college flashed in my head. Not that this was a paying gig, but still...





They said there was no pressure for Teagan, if she did it that would be great, but if not, no biggie. They know my Weegie! Well, Pres did great, Teagan finally warmed up about an hour before we had to leave, so I wasn't sure how the pictures turned out.





We never heard from them (despite my desperate attempts to find out where they were to be uploaded). Then I get a call from Jen, the organizer of it all, and she said that the Baby Nay rep picked a picture of Presley and the 5 year old to be on the advertisement in, by, or around the elevator. FUN!!! So we were going to load up all who wanted to go and see it and get a picture next to the ad.





Well Price, being the ingenious "ugoogalizer" that he is, googled Baby Nay and found ALL the pictures. On their website. Online. He held a special place in my heart yesterday for this discovery. Presley paying for her own college is back on!! And Teagan too.





http://nayetal.com/10images/flashgallery/babynay_ss10/index.html





You can see that I obviously wasn't a very good stage mom because I wasn't fighting to get Presley a bow from the limited supply of sample bows they had. And you know Presley is rarely without bow. So it saddens me that some pics she is bowless because I lack the stage mom aggressiveness. There's always next time!! Hopefully!

Why the new blog?

In an effort to speak my mind more freely (lucky you!), I've been wanting to start a more intimate family blog. A me blog. A blog about my life that I don't necessarily want to share with everybody. Because sometimes a girl has to be unprofessional, damn it! That's right, folks, now that I don't have so many readers looking to me for professionalism, I might swear here and there because...my vocabulary is limited? And my humor is nothing without the occasional expletive.

So in the words of the great woman who made it all possible, "shit, fire, hell, damn". Thanks, Mom! It DOES comes in handy every once in a while!