New floors!!!

The Carlson family began its home-owning experience back in 2003. We were so excited to get to be able to build our house (with the help of Pioneer Homes). One of the steps in that process was going to a design center and getting to pick out all the carpet, tile, counter tops, etc ... If only we had known then what we know now - lol.



We tried to choose wisely.



Emphasis on tried.



We, on purpose, chose the lowest grade 5 year carpet. Not so much a bad idea except in 2009 our 5 year carpet was now 6 years old. So after 6 years, a dog, and 3 children it was time to get new carpet. And, heck, if we are gonna get new carpet then we might as well go ahead and get rid of the nasty tile all over the entry-way and kitchen, right? (k, so the tile itself wasn't nasty, but our grout was horrible). So after lots of shopping around and decision making, we pulled the trigger on hard-woods downstairs and also replaced the carpet everywhere else.



No one told us getting all this done was going to feel like moving out of our house and moving back in, all in three days time - lol. Well, the dust has finally settled, mostly everything is back in its right spot, and we feel like we have a brand new house (and hopefully one that's worth more now that it was 6 years ago). Here's some before and after pics. You can click on them to get bigger versions of them:

Still going

Well, after roughly 17 weeks, I hit my goal weight! I started at 249 pounds on July 2. On 10/26, I weighed in at 189 which was 1 lb under my goal weight!!!!! I could totally be one of those poster boys for weight loss.

"Hi, I'm Todd Blankenship. I lost 60 pounds in just 17 weeks. And you can do it too!!! Just look at my before and after pictures .... "

"I feel like a new man!"

I would have to use a fake name so no one would know who I was. My fake name is Todd Blankenship.

So, since I hit my goal weight ahead of time, I reset my goal to 175. As of today I am at 186, so I'm only 11 pounds from my new goal. woohoo! Please pray that I can maintain this new weight/eating lifestyle once I am officially off the diet.

Next up on the blog catchup ..... more before and after pictures. Have a great weekend!

Following in Mommy's shoes

While Julia's eyes and personality are exactly like Daddy's, that's where the likenesses stop. She is girly girl through and through. Her career aspirations have ranged from Daddy's wife (?) to ballet teacher, but after our newest instrumental addition to the family, she now aspires to be a violin teacher .... following in Mommy's shoes!

We are very excited to see Julia grow musically. Julia's enthusiasm for learning the violin is so cute. The first day we had the violin, Julia got it out and played it like twenty times! She has already started lessons with Kelly and she knows all the parts of the violin and bow.

Stay tuned for more quick updates .... there are some very cool things for us to blog about.

How a 5 Year Old Can Impress You

So, Julia turned 5 yesterday. I can remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. I remember Kelly waking me up in a rush early that morning ... then waiting for her to take a shower, do her hair, put on her makeup (God, I love my wife!!!). I remember seeing Julia's head crown and watching the delivering doctor give her a mohawk in between pushes. I remember hearing that first cry and wanting to shout, out loud, how excited I was and how good God is for this little miracle.

Flash forward 5 years.

God is still good.

Julia is still a miracle to me.

So Julia's 5th birthday was a day with many unexpected things, and I was going to chronicle the craziness of a full house in this posting, but as the day finally wound down, I unpacked the day in my head. Instead of capturing a crazy, spontaneous, at times hectic day, I decided to capture how a 5 year old miracle can impress you (blow your socks off, even).

First, on a day of expecting great presents and activities for herself, in this case a round of black light miniature golf, and then getting disappointed because the place was closed when we got there - Julia impressed me because she did not throw a fit, or cry, or whine, or complain. She was content that she was with her family travelling around town in the mini van. Impressive.

Second, we spontaneously gave Jules the option to get her ears pierced (this is something she has been wanting and patiently awaited for the day for us to let her do it). We explained to her the quick implications of pain and the long implications of care and maintenance, and she readily and happily accepted the proposal. She took the pain like a champ (no tears, no whining, just a little shocked), and now our pretty little princess has earrings!!!

- Impressive.

Third, on a day that was supposed to be 'her' day, Jake slammed his fingers in the door ... again ... but this time it was pretty bad. On 'her' day, as Mommy and Daddy are frantically cooking in the kitchen and entertaining a 4 month old, Julia comes downstairs with a piece of paper and asks me,

"Can you help me write a prayer for Jake so his fingers can feel better?"

My heart melts. I start wondering if there is something magical and mystical about a child turning 5 and them finally getting it. Probably not, but it is rewarding as a parent to see those kinds of fruits and to realize that IT IS SINKING IN! I shake myself out of awe and amazement and help her spell out the bigger words

Most Impressive.

So, I am beaming as a parent the day-after. I'm sure I'll be yelling at her again tonight to get her chores done, but I am revelling in this moment for as long as I can.

And God is still good.

Here's a collage of pics from yesterday:



And here's Julia, our miracle (one of many) from God, telling everyone goodnight.



Until next time ... the Crazy Carlson life goes on and on ....

Annual Enrollment Madness

So those of you who know me and where I work at and what I do know what Annual Enrollment is. I would love to explain, but I am so tired of it that it might make me puke in mouth (again). I'll just put it this way:

This post is on 10/14 (1 hour before Julia's 5th b-day) .... my last post was on 9/12. That is AE in a nutshell

This post is at approximately 11:00 pm. I wish I could tell you that I was up doing something productive for my family or the house or something cool like that. But that would be a lie ... it was just good ole AE.

So here's what we missed in the last month or so (in random order):

- house got painted (and new flooring all over is on the way)
- Kelly's b-day (Man, I love my wife)
- The kids at the Fort Bend County Fair
- More talk of me losing weight (I weighed in at 193.5 today - that's 55.5 lbs down)
- Sarah, my sister, is starting to actually look pregnant!
- Me in a Human Traficking Awareness soccer tournament
- Jansen doing cute baby stuff
- Homeschool is in full swing
- Kelly's 13 year old dog, a dear friend, leaving us :(
- the 1o Pepper Rub - oh momma!
- Jansen getting dedicated at church
- and so much more ...

Some of the above might actually get a post in the days to come (since I've got some cute pics). But for now ... I have recalced and must go to sleep

until next time ...

Just call me Handyman Dave

I did it!! I actually did it! Everyone needs to mark 9/10 down in their calendar. Not because it was the day that America 'thought' it was safe, but because that is the day that I installed our new dishwaher. BY MYSELF (just picture me doing the happy dance right now)!!!

It took me about 3 hours. And let's just say that half of that time was me trying to get the thing centered and leveled. But at about 11:58 pm on 9/10, I felt confident that it was done.

Enter Kelly, the real judge of the work, at around 12:01 am.

With her approval of the way it all looked, we turned it on, and it ran!! And it drained!! And there were no leaks anywhere (that we know of)!!!! But seeing as how it is now 12:10 in the morning, there is no way a tired mother of 3 is going to load the thing up. And no way am I gonna do it - I was exhausted from all the grueling work of actually installing it (install men everywhere are cracking up because its prob actually an easy install) - SO the real test had yet to be run.

The real test was later that morning. Kelly loaded the dishwasher with reckless abandon. She started it and let it run a whole cycle. To our astonishment, still no leaks, and it actually cleaned all the dishes!!! This is a concept we have been deprived of for at least 2 years, so we were pretty stoked.

Good news - we have a dishwasher that works - and appears to work well
Bad news - By being successful in this task, I might have involuntarily signed myself up for more to-do's

Life's a .... lake?

... it is on Labor Day weekend! For the past few years, we go to the lakehouse every Labor Day weekend. The last two years have been exceptionally fun because Poppie has a new pontoon boat. And nothin' beats going out to Pine Island, throwing out the anchor and just swimming around with everyone. The kids love it and the best thing to beat the heat in Texas is to get wet. So we had the traditional fish fry to go along with it, of course. Except we are starting to get a bit more sophisticated and there is more grilled fish on the table nowadays.

Speaking of grilled fish .... so I have, for the last 9 weeks, been on a weight loss program. As of today I have lost 40 pounds!!!! In 10 weeks or so, I will be done with this weight loss program and I am going to post a before and after picture, so keep on the look out for that. :)

But I digress. Everyone was wiped when we got home from the lakehouse, so when we got home on Monday night, we just crashed and that was just fine by me.


this picture has nothing to do with this post .. just love cute pics of the kids :)

Galveston and back - quick weekend trip

Well, we just had a great family vacation. Actually, kindof like a mini-vacation. But it was our first overnight trip with Jansen and it was awesome!!! We always get great weather and great beach time whenver we go to Galveston and this trip was no different.

First, we drove in to Galveston and headed straight for Moody Gardens. It was awesome because school had started and there was hardly anyone there. Woot! No lines and we could just take our time looking at the attractions. The first thing we did at Moody was the Aquarium. We saw tons of cool fish, penguins, sharks and sea plants, and the kids had to get their Shark Passports stamped everytime they saw a shark





After the aquarium, we got a bite to eat at the cafe and went to watch a 3D IMAX movie, "Wild Ocean", which was pretty cool.

Then we went and checked in to our hotel - it was right across the road from the beach!!! We spent some time at the beach and then ate dinner at Rainforest Cafe - a family favorite!






The next day was all beach. The weather was great and the water was calm and beautiful! Everyone had a great time there.






Once we were done there, we went and got burgers at another family favorite, The Spot. Nothing like eating burgers across from the gulf. After we stuffed our bellies with burgers, fries and ice cream, we headed back home to Spring. Its always tough for us to leave the beach. Maybe one day we can just live there :0

The crazy life of the Carlson's will be posted here for the family and friends to see. Thats right, the Carlson's have hit the blogosphere look out ... it just might change your life