And now we're outnumbered . . .

Wordless Wednesday - Band Banquet

2011-06-29T18:07:00.000-06:00

Pre-K Graduation

2011-06-27T18:09:00.004-06:00

Has it really been an entire school year? Has it really been almost 5 years since she came into this world?
The pre-K graduation at Laney's school included a short play - "Chicken Little". Each child had a costume and memorized their lines. Elena was a bee who warned the animals that Foxy Loxy's short cut was a trap. Then they demonstrated what they have learned this year - the pledge, alphabet, days of the week, yoga, Spanish, and songs from chapel and music.

Elena marching down the aisle to be given her "diploma". They got blank rolled papers. We got certificates later.

With her teacher: Ms. Amber

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-22T17:52:00.000-06:00

Her geranium - she planted it, tended it and it bloomed. Then the heat got it.

Gymnastics + Prom =

2011-06-19T17:59:00.000-06:00

One exciting Saturday.

We started with Laney's gymnastics demo. She takes gymnastics at school and after a school year worth of lessons, they performed one Saturday morning and showed us how they salute and tumble and jump
Her somersalt

Then we came home and began the prom preparations. I sprung for a professional mani/pedi. Then my mom helped Kathryn do her hair. Her date picked her up at 4:30 to get pictures taken by his mom, meet the limo and then off to a night of dinner, dancing and bowling! What can I say, the girl likes to bowl.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-15T17:37:00.002-06:00

He helped Daddy fix the table

We heart Moms!

2011-06-12T17:55:00.000-06:00

We spent Mother's Day weekend with my grandmother and my parents. Grandmama had such a good time watching the kids play and holding Alex (when he would allow it).

Hoppin' to

2011-06-10T17:42:00.001-06:00

This year's Easter was particulary special - Elena was taking communion, Alex figured out the egg hunt (and the candy inside), and we had friends join us at church and for Easter lunch.
The kids with Mama Janie at church

Kathryn flowers the cross

Alex is looking for eggs - and better yet chocolate!

Elena hunts eggs. For our first hunt at the new house, we divided the back yard into 3 zones: Easy (Alex), Medium (Elena), and Hard (Kathryn).

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-08T18:11:00.005-06:00

Go Western Day 2011

First Communion

2011-06-05T17:58:00.000-06:00

To say Laney is precocious is an understatement at times. Early in the spring she approached our priest, Father D about taking communion. He told her she could take the classes that were starting soon. He held to that even after they announced that the class was for age 6 and up. She made it through the class - learned what intinction is and the importance of the eucharist. And on Palm Sunday during the longest service in history (ok that was an overstatement, but it was puritan length) she took her first communion.

Momma Janie & Daddy Ronn gave her a new wall cross.

With Bishop Andy and Father D.

18 Months

2011-06-04T18:41:00.004-06:00

Our little guy turned 18 months old today. He celebrated with his first trip to the pool of the season and by playing along with the Wii. (He holds a nunchuk and pretends he is playing)

In other news, Kathryn took the SAT today and now that it is over, she is officially on summer break.

And tomorrow makes year number twelve of wedded bliss. We've never done much to celebrate. In tomorrow's case we're planning a steak dinner at home for us (hot dogs for the shorties) and hopefully we won't get any macaroni & cheese thrown at us.

Hello again strangers

2011-06-02T19:36:00.002-06:00

It's been weird checking my blog roll and seeing pictures of my kids all bundled up. It's not cold here anymore! It's hot and dry. We never got that ice I posted about and we have only had rain once since then. April was in the 80's. May was in the 90's. Today hit 100. This does not bode well for July and August.

A few updates:

Today was the last day of school. The end of Junior year for Kathryn and the end of Pre-k for Elena. Not much will change for Elena come Monday. Same classroom, same teacher, just in Summer mode. Kathryn has a busy summer including a mission trip, counseling at church camp, our family vacation, band leadership camp and a month of band camp. Alex will just keep trucking along as per usual.

Kathryn made Drill Instructor for the flute section of the marching band next year. She also received an award for most improved in her band level.

Elena won an award for Best Handwriting. She performed in her first gymnastics demo a few weeks ago. She's really excited about starting kindergarten in August.

Alex of course has made the most changes since February. He's walking very well. He talks, not a lot, but he can say "Dada", "Mama", "Kitty", "Sissy" (those two sound about the same), "ball", "book", "Bobo" (his blanket bear) and "thank you" (pronounced "dankdu"). He's a climber - stairs, chairs, slides . . . He turns 18 months old on Saturday. Wow.

I am also posting some photo updates soon!

Baby It's Cold Outside

2011-02-09T21:12:00.007-06:00

23 Degrees to be exact. Now I'll admit, if you live in the Rockies or up North or Alaska, this is nothing! But people I live on the Gulf Coast. The song by Branded is not untrue:

"I’ve heard of winter carnivals in Aspen.
It looks just like a winter wonderland.
But remember while you’re freezin’ throughout this Christmas season
We’ll be down here with Christmas cheer and flip-flops in the sand."

And coming home to several hours of black out also not fun. We do admit we are much better off this year than we would have been in the old house. We have a gas stove, gas water heater and a gas log fire place. The old house was all electric with a cruddy wood burning fire place and tile floors. Our heater doesn't work with out electricity though! So it was down right chilly during our canned chili dinner. Kat did a little homework Laura Ingalls-Wilder style tonight - well . . . if Laura had had a fluorescent camping lantern.

The good news is no precipitation is predicted, so no icy roads tomorrow. School may be delayed and my office doesn't open until 10.

I haven't posted pictures in a while, so some pictures of different cold day (nowhere near the current extreme). Elena on her Christmas bike wearing her new helmet & pads:
Alex going for a ride in the wagon:

Old man winter is a bit confused

2011-02-01T17:33:00.003-06:00

We had 70 + degree temps on the weekend and yesterday. It was 60+ at 6 AM and then came the Norther. It was 40 degree when I went to work at 7 AM and 33 degrees when I pulled out of my office parking garage at 4:30. Wow. That's cold for this joint and the HIGH for tomorrow is expected to barely get above freezing. Snow is possible on Friday! I am pathetic, I sooooo want a snow day. Hanging out around the house without the possibility of being able to run an errand sounds great. Sounds like Christmas! Which is actually true, since that was the last Saturday we had in which we didn't do laundry or go shopping or play taxi driver . . .

He's Walking!!!

2011-01-16T21:18:00.003-06:00

And at some point I may post a video. He's been gradually adding steps from 2 at a time, to 6 at a time, to being able to go to 5 to 6 feet at a time. Eventually he will lean too far forward or realize he can get there faster on all fours. Rob says he's sneaky now - you can't hear him walk on our floors the way you could hear his hands slap the slate when he crawls.

Watch him grow

2010-11-10T18:06:00.003-06:00

9 Months old - no teeth, bootie scooting but not crawling, 20 lbs 1 oz, 28 3/4 in. tall
10 Months Old - 2 teeth, crawling, standing against something (if we put him there)

11 Months old - 4 teeth, crawling at high speed, pulling up on anything that stands still long enough, 22 lb, 14 oz

Home in time for the national news

2010-11-08T21:40:00.003-06:00

I started my new job today. After orientation I spent most of my day reading, learning the policies behind my new position. I used to be a legal assistant specializing in bringing employees into the US to work for corporations. I now work for one of those corporations, assisting in bring those employees in the Americas (start at Canada and go all the way down). I will handle not only liaising with the immigration attorneys (my old firm, how cool is that?), but also the tax accountants, relocation companies, and working directly with the employees to manage their expectations of their transfers.

The commute is a dream after the hour+ I spent getting to downtown and the 1 1/2 I spent getting home. It took me 45 minutes to get home today - that included a trip to Kroger to pick up some missing groceries!

Homework buddies

2010-11-06T18:33:00.002-06:00

This was just too cute for words when it happened back in September. Kathryn had a ton of homework and decided to do it in the dining room. Laney had "homework" - a tracing sheet to help her draw curves for letters. And of course, she had to go do it at the dining table with Sissy!

Homecoming

2010-11-03T17:28:00.001-06:00

Ah, Homecoming. An excuse to spend money on ribbons and trinkets and jingle in the hallway at school.

Kat had (in order of the picture): a garter for her best bud (yep, girls are wearing them now), a mum made by me, and a double mum from her date. We nicknamed the last one "Mega Mum".

The garter Kat made for her date.Here's her homecoming dress - yep, that's the old house - it was also her prom dress. I forgot to take pictures without her date for the blog.

Halloween

2010-11-01T20:04:00.003-06:00

We spent Halloween afternoon at the pumpkin patch run by a local horseback club (they specialize in horse therapy, it's super cool)

Laney got a pony ride and Alex got his picture take on the pony

My punkins with the pumpkins

Here's Kat's costume - she spent the afternoon working a church Trunk or Treat with a friend

Laney, Alex and my friend Enis' dog, Peter all dressed & ready to Trick or Treat

Dear Chris,

2010-10-28T20:46:00.003-06:00

And anyone else who is still paying attention. I am alive. We're all doing well.

I have pictures of Alex turning 9 months & 10 months old and updates on his progress.

I have pictures of Kat & Elena doing homework together.

I have pictures of homecoming mums, a trip to the zoo & halloween costumes (Alex = Monkey, Elena = Belle, Kat = Kairi from Kingdom Hearts)

I also have a 10 month old, a 4 year old, a 16 year old and a lot of excuses for not turning on my lap top at night.

And for one more day I have my current job.

Yup, after 7 years, I gave notice 2 weeks ago. I will start my new job in week. I am excited. I am nervous. I am sad. I love my co-workers. I love my job. But I have been offered a position 14 miles closer to my house that is sort of a promotion (I am changing fields to a certain degree) with a raise and good benefits.

And hopefully I will post some of those above mentioned photos during my week off.

Heather

First day of school

2010-09-03T07:24:00.001-06:00

The junior
The pre-k'er

Our girls

The school asked the pre-k kids to have a backpack large enough to keep their nap stuff in it. We got her a new one and it's nearly as big as she is! It was particularly full on the first day since she had all of her supplies in it too. She gets to leave those at school day to day.

So far after nearly 2 weeks pre-K & junior year are going well

Wordless Wednesday - 5 birthdays

2010-09-01T07:12:00.004-06:00

One of these things is a lot like the other

2010-08-28T16:06:00.001-06:00

My boys - already dressing a like. They decided to rock the casual Hawaiian shirt look for church last Sunday. ( I love that Rob also decided they needed to pose the same)
And this picture is just cute

Daddy Ron hair?

2010-08-26T18:52:00.003-06:00

When Alex was born my mother examined his crown and wondered if he might just have hair like my father - Daddy Ron hair. My dad has this notorious lock of hair that will not lay down without a lot of encouragement.

Alex woke up like this a few weeks ago.
It was the first time I had to use a brush on the boy.

And we just wondered - is it Daddy Ron hair?

If I can get ahold of one, I will post a comparison photo.

House pics

2010-08-25T18:42:00.001-06:00

At long last, some photos of our new place:
The kitchen

The living room:

The dining room:

These are the rooms we have "done". We still don't have much on the walls. Eventually I will post pics of the kids rooms & the upstairs game room which are also mostly done. The master bedroom is nowhere near done, it'll probably be the last thing done with the exception of being able to park in our garage again (for the very first time).

Last day of Turtles & Ready for band season

2010-08-23T17:58:00.002-06:00

Thursday was Elena's last day in 3 year old class - the Turtles. Here she is with her fantastic teacher, Ms. Linda. Since I am running behind, first day of school pics are coming soon.

Friday was the annual preview performance for the marching band. Alex was ready with his new outfit
He wasn't overwhelmingly impressed with the band - but Laney had a great time watching her "band".

8 month old pictures

2010-08-22T20:33:00.002-06:00

Or how to play catch up

Here are Alex's Toby pictures from August 4. We took them in what has commonly become known as the "man cave" around our house - the play tent. Alex has learned to love this place, especially the shape sorter "mail box".

He was about 18 lbs at the beginning of the month (he's 19 now). He's still eating like a trooper, but we discovered that he won't eat any baby food with more than 2 ingredients. He prefers his food simple. He does not crawl - but he can roll all over the place. He also has yet to have a tooth break through even though he's had plenty of teething symptons. He'd also had his first ear infection by his 8 month birthday. Now he's had two more. He loves to play with blocks, eat books and bang anything together as long as it results in a loud noise. Hard to believe it's only two weeks to his 9 month birthday.

Weekend update

2010-08-01T19:24:00.002-06:00

Mom is the mountains and occasionally checking the web so I thought I'd try to be more consistent with the blogging.

We've had a semi-productive weekend. We moved the kitchen table (a rectangle) into the dining room and moved the dining room table (a circle in its smallest form) into the kitchen. In order to do this, I unpacked the last few kitchen boxes and moved a lot of boxes around.

We also finished the DVD organization. Probably a good thing not very many movies have come out lately that we like enough to buy. Same with TV series.

I cleared the mantle of random hardware and put the 8 x 10 pictures of the kids up. In the process I loaded the most recent pics into the frames. Turns out I never sent any of Laney's 3 year old pictures out - I still have the grandparent 5 x7s and full sheets of wallets meant for family and friends. Oops.

Laney's room is officially unpacked. I am almost afraid to say that in case there is one sneaky box hiding somewhere. We went through the hand me downs - washed some, put some in drawer ready for cooler weather, hung up the dresses and put the rest away in a plastic tub. Her room is done, with the exception of wall art. I have a poster & a painting to hang and I bought her some new Princesses for her walls. That'll just have to wait until most of the boxes are gone.

The initial round of school supplies is purchased. I don't have a list yet for Laney, that will most likely be issued in her first week. I bought Kat the basics - pens, pencils, folders. We'll still have to buy the random essential items required by her teachers. Most likely at least one item will require a trip to a specialty store.

Alex is learning to clap. One of the ladies in the church nursery mentioned it to me (the same one who convinced him to hold his own bottle). He doesn't get both hands together every time, but he is definitely working on it.

Laney swam without her life jacket today. She was kicking around the pool with just the noodle. I am ready to try to get her float belt like they used in swimming lessons last year.

Band camp starts tomorrow.

My boss & my coworker are back from vacation (they didn't go together, just at the same time). Hallelujah. It was a little nuts last week.

I think that covers it.

I think it may be time for an intervention . . .

2010-07-29T21:50:00.004-06:00

Tonight's project was moving these DVDs
Into these boxes.

I think it was around 180 discs, but several movies were 2-disc sets. Bonus phrase - we alphabetize and this will make it easier to add new movies.

Still to come - filing the kids movies in the upstairs game room:

And finding some place to put the series (we have several already in binders):

And this doesn't count VHS - which we still watch. Help us.

Lake Whitney

2010-07-22T19:29:00.001-06:00

Ah the best laid plans - the original idea was a three day weekend at the beach in Lala Land for Rob, the kids and me. But Lala had midterms, so we changed to location to Lake Whitney to stay with my parents. Then one of Rob's clients scheduled a major software install for the weekend we were due to leave so that left me & the kids. I braved the 4 hour drive and off we went. It was worth it.

Friday afternoon was rainy. Laney was desperate to go for a walk so my parents took her and her umbrella for a walk (while I got a short nap)
Saturday we headed to the pool - how cute are these two!

Laney did not like the pool at first. After quite some time we finally got her out in the deeper part of the pool paddling around and playing with the splash balls. Alex, on the other hand, took to the water immediately. He thought it was fantastic and splashed more than he ever has before.

Saturday evening my parents took Laney out in the red boat aka the canoe. Laney has been curious about the canoe sent it spent several days in our backyard about a year ago.

Alex seeing his sister off

Mama Janie & Laney in the canoe

Off they go!

The kiddos in Mama Janie & Daddy Ron's hide-a-bed Sunday morning.

We went back to the pool on Sunday before we left for home. Laney actually took off on her own a few times. The noodle keeps her life jacket from flipping her backwards (which it is designed r.to do for emergencies) and helps her navigate in the water.

Daddy Ron & Alex

The pool got to be a little much for my little mister and he crashed in a chaise lounge.

My little swimmer

The following Sunday we took Daddy to the pool in our neighborhoood so he could see the Elena swim and Alex splash.

Independent Kids

2010-07-20T18:15:00.002-06:00

All dressed up for Independence day at school
Dancing to her fridge DJ

Ready to go

What happens if you hold a bike parade and nobody shows? Ok, not nobody - but only 2 members of the HOA, one pre-schooler and her mom? You get a parade route tailor-made for the pre-schooler, a $15 gift card for best decorated bike and a happy Laney!

Laney really didn't care that she was the only one - she had a blast. She still talks about it when we drive by the parking lot where we met. And hey, I got meet a member of the HOA board and pick his brain about our new neighborhood.

July 4th was the nations birthday and Alex's 7 month birthday. So without further ado - Toby pictures . . .

I chose to shoot them in his crib. As of July 5th, he'd only been sleeping in it (heck, it had only been set up) for two weeks. In addition to his very own room, 7 months has brought a big boy car seat in Mommy's car, way more solid foods, size 3 diapers and lots of toys. He is also ready to take off, as soon as he can get his knees under him and his belly off the ground.

Kat's Birthday

2010-07-18T21:07:00.004-06:00

I am desperately behind on blogging - I am going to try to catch up this week. First some pictures of Kathryn's early 16th birthday party. We had it the Friday night before she left for three weeks with her mom. We'll have a bigger shindig in August with her friends.

Kathryn - complete with Laney's tiara
Getting photobombed by little brother

16 candles!

Alex was very disappointed that he didn't get to lick any frosting off a candle!

Kat was super-psyched to turn 16 - desptie the fact that there was no car or even driver's license involved. Hopefully everything will fall into place for her to take driver's ed after marching season is over.

It's about time

2010-06-15T21:20:00.002-06:00

It only took 9 months & 22 days - women have been pregnant that long!

Our house is sold! Our new house is purchased! We move on Thursday! I am exclamation point happy!

I will post pictures of the new place when things calm enough to do so.

Alex's baptism

2010-06-12T19:55:00.000-06:00

Photos from Alex's baptism on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

The family

Alex with the grandparents - Daddy Ron, Mama Janie, Nana Jackie & Granddaddy

With his godparents - Uncle Ronny, Aunt Lauren (Lala) and Neil (the guest of honor is sound asleep)

Styling in Neil's hat pre-service

The kids with Father Desmond after the service - he has now baptized all three of them

6 months old

2010-06-09T20:59:00.002-06:00

Alex turned 6 months old on Friday. He also took his first trip to Mama Janie & Daddy Ron's house, so we took his Toby pictures there.

At 6 months, Alex is 15 lbs 14.5 oz and 27 1/4 in tall. He loves to eat - he's up to five 8 oz bottles a day, plus a half jar of veggies, half jar of fruit & a couple of tbsp of cereal! He gets excited when he sees a jar of food & upset if he hears the bottle get shaken up but he doesn't get it soon enough.

He can sit on his own - although he still falls over every now and then. He can roll from back to belly (when he feels like it). He loves to jabber and blow raspberries - unfortunately he recently learned the joys of doing so with a mouth full of food. This was also the first time he expressed an interest in Toby during the picture taking, he's learning to like more and more toys.

Wouldn't you know . . .

2010-05-24T20:31:00.002-06:00

It would take things going to you-know-where in a hand basket to get me to put up 2 posts in 2 days.

I believe the term for folks like us is "displaced". I think that's what they called people after the hurricanes.

I had a case of the "Mondays". We had trouble getting out of our friend's house and I had to drop the dog at our house so I was 20 minutes late to work. I had been there about a half hour when Kat called from the school nurse. I left work to pick her up. On the way to the school I drove by the house to see if the power was on. No go. Take Kat to the doctor, get her the gooood drugs and run back by the house. Still no power. We impose on my friend again and go to her house to plug in the laptop and veg to some BBC America and get the dog some AC. At 3:00 we head back over to the house dog in tow- surely the power's on by now. No go. So I call the power broker.

First, I get told they have no record of an order to turn power back on. Then after I attempt to tear the guy a new one, he puts me on hold and discovers that the actual power company had been out but our meter's broken so they can't turn the power on. I call the actual power provider (our local electricity system is MESSED up!) and sure enough the box our meter is sitting in is broken (not the meter itself - that would be their responsibility) and we have to have it fixed before we can get power back.

I cry for a little while. Call an electrician who hops to and comes over. He is super nice & apologizes constantly while telling me the repair is gonna cost $2500 and take 2 to 3 days. We take the dog to be boarded at the vet's and go back to the friends house and start to try to find a hotel. We're staying with her one more night, but we already stink like fish and it's time to go. We're headed to a hotel room - discount arranged by my MIL - tomorrow for the remainder.

Still no word on when we're going to close on this house.

Living in the land of frustration

2010-05-22T19:29:00.002-06:00

This moving thing continues to not go as planned (starting with being moved in before Alex was born!). This last week has been an exercise in frustration and a reminder of our blessings.

We haven't moved yet. When we signed the contract on our new house we thought we'd be closed on Friday, May 21 & moved in on May 22. This was assuming we would close by May 15 on our current house. Our mortgage on the new house is ready to go, pending the money from the current house. The current house on the other hand - the underwriters requested 5 more business days. And they don't work Fridays. I've called them some creative names at this point. We're hoping we will move next weekend (sometime around baptizing the boy on Sunday). But our contracts are extended to June 2, so no freaking guarantees.

To top it off, a week ago when I thought we were moving, I started to TRY to move our utilities online. The phone/internet/satellite website was annoying so I decided to move it via phone, just like I ordered it. I started to move our electric scheduling to start the power at the new house on Friday and end the power at the current house Monday. Before I could finish the transfer the website told me it was unable to complete my transaction. I decided to call later. When it became clear I was unable to move I just let it go . . .

Until Kat came home to no power Friday afternoon. We thought it was outage (there had been storms) but then it went on too long. I got through the company and they told me I ordered a cut off for Friday and just as I was explaining (embarassingly loudly) that this was not the case & they better bloody well fix it, I got disconnected. I called back & got disconnected again. I called a 3rd time, got a human who told me "Our systems are down. Call back in 30 minutes". Rob called 30 minutes later, explained the situation to another Helpful Hanna and also got told I ordered this. He explained what happened last week, that there was no way in H*&! that I ordered a cut off for Friday (even if we were moving) and got told that yes I did, that's what the computer said. They apparently can't reactivate power after 3 PM on a Friday. He did eventually convince them to schedule the hookup for Monday. (5 month old babies do not constitute emergencies apparently) We will be billed for reactivation, but they will refund us later. Gee thanks.

On to life's blessings. Having survived Hurricane Ike we know what multiple days without power is like and it's not something I want to experience with an infant. We considered driving to my parents 4 hours north. But before packing up the car, I called one of my friends from church. Her daughter is with the grandparents so she has the house to herself. She took Elena, Alex, Rob & I, along with Rory & our laundry in until Monday morning. Kat's with her mom until Sunday and with a friend Sunday night to make getting to school easier. A very sweet girl at the kennel agreed to stay open past closing to guarantee the cats would get checked in on Friday. She's even checked them into a deluxe apartment for the price of a regular. After the J-As at the electric company who referred the lack of AC in 90+ degree heat (with humidity!) for 3 days with an infant & pre-schooler as an "inconvenience" it's good to have friends and people who are nice to cats.

5 months old

2010-05-14T17:29:00.001-06:00

On May 4, my little man turned 5 months old. I took his Toby pictures in the morning, knowing there was no way they'd get taken that night.

One of his new favorite places to hang out is the Bum*bo chair. I put him on the bathroom counter in the morning (within arms reach at all times!) while I brush my teeth and put on make-up. We have a pretty good time most mornings but when I got the camera out, he'd had enough - it's time to eat Mommy!
Here's the little guy after his bottle & in a much better mood.

So, what's 5 months brought us? Size 6 months clothes (Carters) size 3-6 month in every other brand. He sleeps pretty well- he falls asleep most nights between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleeps until sometime between 5 and 6 AM. But he also likes to sing to the ceiling at 4 AM some mornings.

He was eating 6 oz five times a day but I think we're switching to 7 now. He's also eating solid foods like a trooper - he really likes carrots and sweet peas.

He enjoys his soft toys, he has a lion that makes crinkly noises that he plays with in the morning and blanket bear that goes everywhere with him when he's in the car seat. He also likes to play in his exersaucer at home and day care. He got to start riding in the buggy at school too.

He smiles a ton - even with a pacifier in his mouth or asleep. He giggles a lot too - unless I am trying to get him on video!

He loves his sisters! And they love him. Rob & I both picked up kids from day care yesterday so we could both use the HOV lane and Laney was so upset to not have her brother in the car!

Updates

2010-05-12T20:13:00.002-06:00

We're busy - such is life with a 15 year old, a 3 1/2 year old and a 5 month old, plus two full time jobs and two houses. Our house finally sold. We were due to close on Friday, but it may be delayed a few days. We had to put siding on to make the bank happy and the re-inspection process delayed us a bit. All goes well, we move into the new place on May 22! We're surrounded by boxes, packed boxes, unpacked boxes, flat fold boxes.

To top it off the boxes arrived at work today as well. Friday at 3:30 my computer gets shut down and I officially no longer work at my current address. As of Monday morning I work in our downtown office. I get to change commutes twice in 2 weeks!

We've had some fun & some milestones over the past few weeks, so I plan to put together some more posts tonight. I'll delay the release a little to stretch out the fun.

In the meantime, here are some Alex pics. I get such a kick out his little buddah-belly that I had to take some pictures yesterday before he got dressed.

Look what he found! Toes are his new favorite play thing.

Easter

2010-04-05T19:42:00.002-06:00

Easter morning started out with checking out the baskets - from The Bunny & Aunt Katy & family
After church we took this years azalea photos - hopefully our last with these particular azaleas. (they're one of the few things I will miss about this house)

Then it was time to hunt the eggs left by the Easter Platypus (it's more feasible than an egg laying rabbit. :P)

Alex promptly opened this egg and eyed the chocolate like he wanted to try

We decorated eggs on Sunday afternoon - we don't hide boiled eggs - it would be really bad to forget one.

Hope you had a Happy Easter Weekend!

I Think We'll Keep 'Em

2010-03-09T16:32:00.002-06:00

Since we did not do portraits at Christmas, we went last weekend. Here are the best ones of th kids, the new family portrait is on my side bar.

Last Hurrah

2010-02-25T16:52:00.004-06:00

Today was my last day of maternity leave. Done. Over. Finito. Sigh . . .

So what did we do? I took my munchkins to the zoo. Luckily the weather cooperated. It was cool, but not cold and sunny. The animals cooperated for the most part and were out to be seen. And the field trip kids, while numerous, were well behaved.

Here's Alex & Laney are ready to see some animals.
Laney & one of juvenile the giraffes.

As usual, Laney got to take a ride on the carousel. Today she picked a tiger.

The obligatory I took it myself photo. Alex spent a few minutes in the front carrier but mostly he was in the stroller - I think he might already be too tall for the carrier! He was bumping my chin today.

I actually managed to get a family shot thanks to a nice lady on the carousel.

It was a good morning. The grind stone awaits.

Visiting Grandmama

2010-02-22T20:30:00.002-06:00

Valentines weekend we drove a few hours to visit my Grandmother ("Grandmama" to Elena) and introduce her to her newest great-grandson.

We got the complete tour of Grandma's assisted living center (laundry room and all!). She had a great time showing the kids off to her friends and the staff. And Elena got to ride in style.

I post this for it's cute value. I tried Elena's Valentines outfit on Alex, after all he managed to wear some of her Christmas outfits. Not so much with this one. It was about 3 inches too long.

Statistics

2010-02-05T15:31:00.005-06:00

Alex is now 2 months & 1 day old. We went for his 2 month well baby check up yesterday. He’s 24.25 inches tall and 11 lbs 7 oz. For those keeping score, he's grown 5.25 inches and gained 3 lbs 7 oz since birth.

The other statistics make me sad. I have one full week left before I return to work part time. I have a total of 1 Monday & 1 Wednesday left, 2 Fridays, and 3 Tuesdays & Thursdays left of maternity leave. Sigh. That's 3 more Story times and only 2 more Mothers of Young Children bible studies.

Turning away from feeling sorry for myself, some Laney pics. Here she is finally getting to make a pinecone bird feeder the way that Special Agent Oso taught her. We've had these pine cones since October, I think.

The finished product:

And on Saturday Elena got to do a couple of things she's been waiting for - first, I let her feed Alex a bottle. I nurse primarily, but he gets the occasional formula bottle for convenience. Also in this picture is her Build-A-Bear wearing her new Cinderella costume. Elena had purchased the outfit that day with her Christmas gift card.

We also caught up with Kayla, Elena's godmother, at last. Elena got her birthday and Christmas gifts from Kayla and we gave Kayla's son, Andrew his Christmas gift.

Kayla meets Alex.

And a Kathryn update, she brought home Honor Roll certificates for the second & third six weeks, which makes the entire first semester that she made honor roll. Right now much of her energy is focused on the Solo & Ensemble competition in 2 weeks. We'll see if she makes ones for the fifth year in a row.

6 Weeks Old

2010-01-20T21:01:00.004-06:00

Alex turned 6 weeks old last Friday. Here are a couple of his Toby pictures:

Today I took him for professional portraits with the good folks at JCPenny. Of course, he decided last night that sleeping was something other people should do - not him or me. So by the time we got to take pictures he was sound asleep. I'm counting myself lucky because the other option with that little sleep was screaming his head off. These are some of the poses we purchased:

I loved this creation they put together, but it was a little too expensive for my taste.

The boy did open his eyes for a couple of shots - this one cracks me up - he looks like he's making faces - nyah nyah nyah nyah.

Somebody order winter?

2010-01-05T21:56:00.004-06:00

We could break another winter record in this neck of the woods. December was colder than normal, but January has been pretty cold for us Gulf Coasters. We're due for our coldest tempatures in 10 years and single digit wind chills by Friday. We're also looking at our longest sustained freeze in decades.

Today at Preschool story time we read books about winter and the craft was making icicles out of aluminum foil and glitter. When we got home the girls made paper snow flakes to decorate our kitchen window.
On another note - can you believe it has already been a month? I've been taking milestone pictures of Alex with Toby Bear - here is his one month picture. I forgot to take the picture until my mom called last night at 9 PM so I had to take it while he was asleep. (Toby got moved back to his spot on the dresser after the picture was taken.)

Have a Happy Twelth Day of Christmas tomorrow!

A little bit of Christmas

2009-12-28T16:47:00.003-06:00

We've had a busy few weeks since Alex has been home. The first week was spent mostly getting in to the groove of having another person in the house. The following week we really started to prep for Christmas.

Laney is going to school two days a week while I am home on leave. One of the days she was home last week we did some baking. Here she is helping make gingerbread for her Aunt LaLa.
Over the weekend, Rob, Elena & my parents went and got our tree. We decorated it on Sunday.

Here's my little man in one of his multitudenous Christmas outfits. It says "I've been super good all year." Not hard when you've only been here two + weeks.

My girls

Rob, Kat & Elena ready for Christmas Eve services.

Alex made his debut at church Thursday evening, so I got to hear Kat play in the Christmas band . . .

And see Elena sing with the Children's choir.

Christmas morning was fantastic. Although it started later than expcted. Laney had been so excited for so long we expected to have to stop her from opening presents before her sister got up. Instead she crawled in bed with us for a bit and failed to notice that there were new presents under the tree until we pointed them out.

Kat was ver pleased with her haul this year.

Elena kept wanting to stop opening presents to play with each toy. At least we know she liked them!

My brother & his wife came over later in the morning for the day. Here they are with the new nephew.

Enjoy the remaining 9 days of Christmas!

Alex is Here

2009-12-09T21:13:00.004-06:00

Today was supposed to be Alexander's birthday; however, he had plans of his own. My water broke last Thursday night a little after 9 PM. Alex had arrived by 12:30 Friday morning.

He picked a record breaking day to arrive. Friday, December 4, 2009 is now on record as the earliest snow fall here.

Getting Ready for Baby

2009-11-22T20:55:00.002-06:00

Baby Alex will be here in 15 days (or less). December 8 is my absolute last day. I will either be induced or have a c-section depending on how my ultrasound after Thanksgiving goes. In addition to the usual prep work of washing baby clothes, packing the hospital bag, and locating the baby gear in the attic we've done a few fun things too.

Last Sunday, Laney went to the sibling class at the hospital where I will deliver. They talked about what happens when Mommy has a baby, keeping clean before touching the baby and got a mini-tour of the L&D ward. I didn't get to see her in class - but this is how she looked when she came out - they dressed like Doctors (and also avoided passing flu germs in the ward).

Then we continued a tradition I started 3 years ago with Elena . I took Kathryn to Build-A-Bear for her birthday back in 2006 and she made herself a Hello Kitty and she made a bear for Elena too. That bear is now well traveled and great friend of Elena's.

On Monday I took the girls to Build-A-Bear. The girls each made their own bears (a Panda for Kat & a pink bear for Elena) and they made a bear for Alex.

Here they are warming up the hearts & making wishes for the bear.

Elena giving her new bear a "bath".

The newest stuffed members of our family - Toby, Cindy & Loki-San.

Halloween Pictures

2009-11-09T19:33:00.003-06:00

There are a lot pictures in this post as I am playing catch up. These cover three weeks worth of Halloween festivities.

Two weeks before Halloween, my friend Byrony & I took our girls to a pumpkin patch at the local halter club. The girls got to go on pony rides & enjoy a petting zoo.
Then we picked out pumpkins. Both girls became obsessed with the tiny white ones with orange stripes, so I ended up buying one of those in addition to a regular jack-o-latern sized one.

The following week Kat was invited to a Halloween party. She went as Neil Gaiman's Death from his Sandman comic series. She hasn't read much of the series, but she thinks the character looks cool (I agree).

On to Halloween night - here's Laney & the aforementioned white pumpkin and my electric jack-o-latern. Unfortunately, the other pumpkins I got during our trip to the pumpkin patch rotted before we could carve them.

Me & Laney. Looking at it, I find it hard to believe I am 33 weeks pregnant in this picture.

Laney & Daddy

Our little butterfly - all ready to trick-or-treat. She was so excited. She would not say "trick-or-treat" at a single house, but she always said "thank you".

Greetings from Plague House

2009-11-03T16:31:00.003-06:00

Our most recent news is that Laney is currently recovering from what is suspected to be the "piggy cold" (that's Kathryn for "Swine Flu"). The doctor's office is hypothesizing, they don't send out for the CDC confirmation as the treatment for both flus is the same. Luckily, we caught it early enough that she qualified for TamiFlu. The pedetrician was also able to give me a prescription to put Kat on a preventative dose of the same stuff & my doctor prescribed me the same. And to think I finally got my vaccine on Friday!

Laney has been consistently running a 102 fever since Sunday afternoon, but she woke up from her nap today fever free & in a good mood. This was evidenced by the fact that my living room floor spent most of the afternoon coated in Barbies & their accessories. The good mood mostly continued, but the fever is back.

As to the rest of us, no one has run fever. Kat & I have coughs and headaches & I am feeling more run down than usual (which is a trick).

On the home front, literally, we have an offer on the house. We're still in the option period and the inspection is tomorrow (holy cow!). We still need to find a new house to live in and fast. We're supposed to close on this one on November 30 & be out by December 1. I really need to pack.

What's a preggo Mommy to do?

2009-10-17T14:53:00.004-06:00

Just a rant -

I am concerned about the H1N1 vaccine - I don't feel that it has been tested long enough, but after talking to three doctors, doing some online research & a lot of praying, I finally resolved that I would get the vaccine and try to get it for Laney as well. We're in the highest risk categories. This was our personal decision, everyone needs to make there own.

I talked to my OB on Tuesday (before I made the decision) and she told me I needed to decide quickly, she wasn't getting many doses. So Friday, when I had my nerve up I called & told them I was interested. They told me they still didn't have the vaccine & didn't know when or how much was coming. Had I tried my GP? They put a note in my chart & I may or may not get notified when the vaccine comes in. I have another appointment a week from Tuesday, maybe they'll have an answer by then.

Called my GP (such as it is, I haven't been there in over a year). They think they'll get some, at some point. Don't know when, don't know how much. No waiting list or anything.

Sigh, I knew the pediatrician had the vaccine - it was in the paper. And Laney falls into one of the only 2 groups they are giving it to - children between the ages of 6 months & 3 years 364 days old. She'll be in the other group come December - those living in a household with a child under 6 months. BUT after 40 minutes on hold, I find out the pede only has the nasal spray. Asthmatics can't get use the nasal spray, they have to have the injection. And when are they getting the injection? - they don't know when or how much.

Seriously. This is nuts.

The last 27 days

2009-09-28T19:32:00.003-06:00

I just caught the day of my last post - 27 days, wow. Not sure if I've ever gone that long. What have we been up to?

It's football season. Kat's marched in 4 football games. She's also been to two Homecoming dances - her own & one with a friend from another school. She came home from band very excited tonight because they now know their entire marching show. They have their first marching contest this Saturday. I sit here multi-tasking and updating my calendar to keep track of where our busy sophmore is due to be each day.

Elena is still doing well. She recently started attending Tumble Tykes - which a gymnastics class that meets on a bus at her school. She was so excited to get to join her classmates. Her little class is keeping them busy - they take Spanish daily, and have yoga, music & chapel once a week.

I'm making it. I try to remember that it could be so much worse. I am uncomfortable. I am carrying this baby very low, so I have more swelling and pain that would be normal at this stage. I am bushed by the time 4 PM rolls around each day - a bonus is that overtime is now a big no-no. But I am still able to work and I still have a job (we had layoffs a few weeks ago).

Rob is super supportive husband, roomba pro - that little gadget is getting some use with the house on the market, and band dad extraordinaire. And he's studying for a certification.

The house has been on the market almost 5 weeks. We dropped the price about 2 weeks ago because we had only had a few showings. We had 5 showings in the last 9 days - 2 this afternoon! It's been crazy. Hopefully, the craziness will result in something. I am ready to start looking at real houses - not just online.

Cute pre-schooler story on the house showing thing - Laney & I ended up in the house during one of the showings tonight. The idea was to rush in, apologize for interrupting, let the dog out, fix her dinner and put her back in the crate and leave them to it. By the time I had the dog food in the dish - they were done (I hope I didn't rush them, but they were in the back yard when we came in, so I don't think so). As the agent was leaving, she said, "You have a lovely home." Now I am not taking that to mean anything, she was being polite. But Laney looks me after they leave and says, "They liked our house. We can get a new one tomorrow." Ah, to be 3 and optimistic and have no concept of time.

I would love for Laney to be right. I am tired of living what I have come to term as "life on hold". A good chunk of our stuff is in a storage unit. More of it is in sealed boxes in the attic and in a closet upstairs. I had to buy a new glue gun to make Kathryn's homecoming mum. A friend asked for a scan of something and I had to admit I had no idea where the book was. I also have this basic policy against bringing anything non-consumable into the house right now - so the girls have gotten used to hearing, "When we get the new house" or "after the move". Half of Laney's birthday presents had to get packed up and put away before she could even enjoy them. I haven't done much prepping for the new baby either. I am looking forward to setting up the nursery again & I need to see what's in those boxes to see what else we need/want for this little guy.

So wish us luck - if you're the praying type - pray for a sale & a purchase that work out with the kind of timing we need. And I'll try not to stay gone quite so long this time.

First Day of School Pictures

2009-09-01T20:14:00.003-06:00

The Sophmore - all girled up for her first day of school. Don't worry, she was back in jeans & t-shirt the next day.
The Turtle (what her school call the 3 year olds) looking like a Partridge Family refugee. I didn't realize how 60s-esque this outfit was when I bought it, but it's still pretty cute. Rob asked her if she could say "Ban the bomb".

Update

2009-08-19T16:46:00.002-06:00

We've been busy to say the least. The house is almost ready to put on the market. The hall is painted. Kathryn's room is painted a nice boring off-white (it was pink, she was 6 when she picked the color). The kitchen cabinets are repainted.

We've cleaned, we've packed, we've thrown out a ridiculous amount of stuff! It's amazing how much trash you can accumlate in 9 years. I think our garbage men may hate us by now. We also opened up a storage unit last week. That's where our dining room table & my sewing table & cutting table are.

This weekend we'll take some more stuff to the unit & do a bit more painting - try to redo the bathroom cabinets.

We meet with the real estate agent on Tuesday to take the pictures & sign the papers. And no, we haven't looked at any houses yet. Hopefully that'll start soon as well.

On to non-house related stuff . . .

Kathryn's been in band camp for the last week & a half. This is the late afternoon camp - they march from 4 to 8:30 every day learning their routines for football season. School starts on Monday. She'll be a SOPHMORE! Holy cow. I am looking forward to having the whole family back on the dinner table when band camp is over.

Elena is (I am almost afraid to say this) potty trained. She's been accident free for a while, I still expect her to have one now and then, but she's doing great. She's graduated from the thick training panties to Disney Princess panties, she's very excited. She's also sleeping in underwear. But that is not her big obsession right now. Right now she is obsessed with her Mickey Mouse Birthday Party. She's been talking about it since the trip home from Colorado and the closer it gets the more excited she gets. I am just hoping all goes well with it, considering that the house will be on the market, Kat is going to San Antonio the day before to march at the Alamodome, and life is just a little nuts right now.

Young Alexander appears to be doing well. He enjoys kicking his mom. He also stretches like his sister. He's big enough his mom can't wear real pants anymore, but I can still get into a few of my pre-maternity baby doll type tops. I have another appointment on the 31st.

So that's life at our house in a nutshell.

It's a boy

2009-08-03T21:04:00.002-06:00

We had a routine ultrasound today and all signs point toward boy! Everything is developing normally and we're a little over half way through.

I've nicknamed the little bug "Thumper" becaus he is so much more kicky than Laney. I had trouble telling when Laney started moving. (turned out she preferred to stretch instead of kick) Not this time! Thumper makes his presence known. At 20 weeks 6 days, we can actually feel his movement on the outside at times. At this rate, the next 19 weeks are gonna be fun.

What We've Been Up To

2009-08-02T20:40:00.006-06:00

Our July at a glance . . .

We got home from our vacation and had one week left with Kat before she went off to spend a month with her mom. We had the little birthday celebration for her before she left.

We had a quiet 4th of July with the usual suspects. We celebrated Christina's birthday with hamburgers, blueberry cheesecake, and explosions.

We also started cleaning up the house for sales. We painted the hallway. We're almost done, I still need to do the base boards & doors.

The next weekend we went to my brother's house and spent a relaxing weekend at the beach. We needed that. Things have been nutty at work for both Rob and I, so a couple of days of sun, sand & family was extremely theraputic.

Laney started swimming lessons the following week.

We also went and saw the new Harry Potter movie that weekend. Well, I saw the whole movie, Rob missed half of it due to a power outage at the church where Laney was being babysat. He saw the rest the following weekend when Kat came back from her mom's.

She came home a few days early in order to attend a friend's Quincera. She got to wear her new freshwater pearl set she got from my Grandma for her 15th birthday.

We started meeting with one realtor to get ready to put the house on the market. We weren't getting the kind of communication we were happy with and he was insisting that our house required some very expensive repairs, i.e. siding to the tune of $8K. We thought we might not be able to move if that was the only way our house would sell.

But August has seen things looking up. We were referred to a new realtor by some good friends. We met with her yesterday and she was relatively optimistic. Clean up the house, pack the personal items away, repaint a few places and off we go. So we started packing in earnest last night and continued today. We're going to try to get as much done in the next two weeks as possible, so that maybe we can be on the market close to my birthday. I'd like to be in our new house by Thanksgiving.

Wish us luck, keep us in your prayers, etc.

Back from the beach

2009-07-12T20:38:00.003-06:00

We're back from spending the weekend in Lala Land (aka, my brother's house). I hope to post pictures of the trip soon, along with the rest of the Colorado vacation, Father's day, 4th of July . . . and at some point, we'll start sanding the old paint off the base boards and get them re-painted so I can declare the hall fully done. Sigh . . .

Happy birthday, Kat!

2009-07-02T18:27:00.001-06:00

We've come a long way in the last 12 years. Here you are on the first birthday I spent with you & your dad in the skates I bought you for your birthday.

And now your 15. Wow! You're a beautiful young lady and I love you very much.

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

Some pics from the early birthday we had for Kathryn:

Never too old to blow out candles:

Her new slinky:

Cave of the Winds & Garden of the Gods

2009-07-01T18:53:00.001-06:00

We spent Tuesday of our vacation in the funky little town of Manitou Springs. We did some shopping, played at the local park and then headed up the hill (way up the hill) to the cave of the winds. Manitou Springs is the town on the otherside of the bridge in this picture taken from the Cave of the Winds overlook.
The entrance to the cave - it's 54 degrees at all times in there. A bit different from the caves we have visited in Texas that average in the 80's with high humidity.

A cool cave picture. We took so many.

This is Laney walking through the lowest, narrowest passage in the cave.

Kat gets friendly with the bear at the entrance.

On Wednesday some friends from college drove down and joined us for a trip through the Garden of the Gods. This city park is a monument of natural sandstone formations.

We didn't hike as much as we'd have liked - Laney had some altitude side effects that slowed us down.

A totem pole:

You can't climb most of the rocks without equipment & permission, but there are a few that are open to the public. Like this one:

Above the hole the girls are sitting in is a path that led to where Rob is in this picture:

Here we are as a group, with one bushed toddler:

Capulin & Mueller

2009-06-29T16:19:00.005-06:00

Wow, I've haven't blogged in almost 3 weeks. Holy cow. We were on vacation from 6/12 to 6/21 and when we got back I took a minor computer hiatus. I am planning to do a few vacation related posts over the next week or so.

We took three days to make the 17 hour trip. We had an overnight stop at my parent's, then an overnight stop in Capulin, NM. Across the highway from the campground where we stayed is the National Monument, Capulin Mountain, a dead volcano.

Here's Kat checking out the view from the rim of the volcano. Rob with Laney in hiking backpack. We got some mileage out of this thing.

This was a funny moment - Laney stopped to look out and said, "Look, it's the world!"

For our first day in Colorado, we chose to go to Mueller State Park to do some hiking. We had originally planned to camp there with my parents, but they had some complications and were unable to come with us.

Me & Kat

Rob taught Laney how to blow dandelions

My tree huggers

The girls & me at the visitor center sign

The camping area had a fun playground were we spent the remainder of the afternoon.

Saturday fun

2009-06-10T21:26:00.000-06:00

Just a few pics from Laney's Saturday morning. We went to the pool for Parent-Toddler 1 on 1.
Her new Nemo life jacket

Afterwards we took a "quick" (read: 1 hour) trip to the mall. Here's Laney on one of those rides, completely happy & completely unaware that if I put a dollar in it would play music & spin around.

Visiting grandparents

2009-06-07T20:22:00.004-06:00

We spent the last weekend of May at my parents house. One of the main reasons we went was so that Rob & Kat could attend Project A-Kon (an anime convention). Here they are ready to go:

While they were at the con, my parents & I took Elena to the park. It was the same park I used to play in as a kid, but it doesn't look much like the one I went to.

We fed the ducks:

Here's one of the few remnants of the old park - the train:

On Sunday when we were getting ready for church the girls played on the piano

And this just makes me laugh. This is a 2 year old, 2/3 of the way through a 5 hour car trip and 1/2 through a bag of Cheetohs.

We're doing a much longer version of this starting Friday when we head off to Colorado Springs for the week.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2009-06-05T21:36:00.002-06:00

Ten years! Wowzers. Never doubted we'd make it, but still wow. No pics, we got married before the digital age & my pics are pasted into a scrapbook that doesn't lend itself to scanning. Sorry.

But my laptop has a new power supply, so hopefully I'll get some new posts up with pics of the kids, which is why you're here anyway.

I am blessed.

2009-05-27T20:20:00.002-06:00

I deleted the previous post for reasons of my own. I was moaning and groaning about being exhausted and because of that angry lately. I got two of the sweetest comments from Tara & Katy. I love my sisters-in-law.

On another side, I had a much better day today. I didn't feel as tired at work (no extra caffeine boost needed) and I kept my temper under control. We had a good evening at home too.

Through it all, I am trying to remember, I am blessed.

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-05-10T20:38:00.004-06:00

We spent Mother's Day weekend at my grandmother's house. My parent's were there helping my Grandma out - taking her to appointments, cleaning up the land, etc. Before we left town my sweet hubby and one of my kiddos (Elena) took me to IHOP for breakfast.

We got there early enough for a barbeque lunch on Saturday and spent the day with family. My brother & his wife & their dogs came in later in the day. Laney had a blast running around my grandma's back "yard" (can you call it a yard when it's measure in acres?) with the dogs and playing with her bubble toy.

This morning we went to my Grandma's church. She got to show off her grandkids and great-grandkid to her friends and church and show us the new church building. It was a relatively quiet weekend and we had a very nice time.

And now, because it's been a while since I posted pictures, here are several of the pictures we had done of the girls for Mother's Day gifts.

Happy Mother's Day to all of my mother readers!

Stranded

2009-04-28T20:30:00.002-06:00

We had some intense rain here yesterday. Rob told me he saw somewhere that we got close to 11 inches over night. The street in front of our house flooded again, water rose up the drive way and into the yard. The only other time I saw that was the storm we got after Ike.

Needless to say, when I saw that this morning, I called in late to work. Both girls school was canceled. I actually tried to leave for work at about 10:00 and it turns out that all my routes to the freeway were blocked by high water.

Kathryn is out of school one more day, for fear that the reservoir will flood again (more rain is possible). Here's hoping the major roads open up so that we can get to work in the morning.

Our little night owl

2009-04-22T19:16:00.002-06:00

What are we gonna do with her?

Elena has a regular bed time at 8 PM. Usually, no problemo. Last night, Rob put her to bed. I walked by her room 45 minutes later and I could hear her jabbering. I went in, tucked her back in, and thought she went to sleep. A couple of hours pass and I hear . .

"Mama! Mama! Mama!"

I go into her room expecting to find a bleary eyed, half asleep kiddo like I usually find when she wakes up in the night. Instead I find her bright eyed, bushy tailed and . . . wearing her shoes.

She had also added 4 blankets and about 8 wash cloths to her bed. And two books. Great googily moogily!

It wasn't funny then (when I was feeling sorry for her poor teachers) but it's freaking hillarious now.

Easter Pics

2009-04-19T15:38:00.004-06:00

Mama Janie & Elena flower the cross

Kathryn in her Easter dress

The family after church

The girls

We had a lovely Easter morning rain storm, so the Easter bunny hid the eggs inside. Here's Laney showing off eggs she found.

Going through the loot.

A Good Friday at the Zoo

2009-04-15T20:16:00.002-06:00

We spent our Good Friday at the zoo. On the ride over we realized it was the first time all four of had been together. We also took my parents along for the ride.

Here's one of my favorite animals - this is Smaug the Komodo Dragon. I love his Tolkeinesque name. He's kind of cool looking too.
And the flamingos - I was terrified of these when I was little.

On to the fam - here's the girlies with the elephants.

Laney & Daddy Ron checking out the zebras & other hooved animals.

My 14 year old twins

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil, what are you people doing?

Proof of the fam at the zoo - even if Laney didn't want to sit for one more picture

Laney talked about going to the zoo for weeks before we went. Most important thing - riding the carousel. Here's my mom & Kat (behind the half naked kid)

And here's me & Laney on the elephant.

A little conversation from daycare:

Teacher: Where did you go this weekend Laney?

Laney: To the zoo

Teacher: What did you see?

Laney: The carousel. I rode a elephant

. . . Several minutes pass and we're walking out of the classroom . . .

Laney: Oh, and we saw Lion-Seals

Another one for the "Urmmmm...." file

2009-03-29T20:10:00.002-06:00

I'm going to preface this with the fact that Kathryn was fully warned that if she made these hats, I would take pictures and I would post them on the blog. She made 'em anyway.

It all started when we heard a jet fly over. We live near a tiny little municiple airport and we hear Cessnas and small helicopters, even the occasional World War II Vintage aircraft, but never jets. We're discussing this over dinner and our teenager turns into a conspiracy theorist. And then decides she needs a tin foil hat. When I pointed out the lack of tin foil she went for the aluminum foil. I steered her off my non-stick and she went for the heavy duty. And she made this.

She also thoughtfully made one for her sister. After all we can't let "them" know how Elena feels about Mickey Mouse & macaroni and cheese.

Have I mentioned how much I love my kids?

Have a great week.

Dirt Therapy

2009-03-22T18:45:00.003-06:00

I've been joking around lately about being on the "30 day plan to a crazier you". Problem is, it's taking less than 30 days. Work is nuts. It's a busy time of year, we're still experiencing growing pains from the merger & everyone's stress level is high.

Home is also a little bonkers. Laney is TWO! She's read the toddler manuel and is making sure she does it ALL. She's cute & adorable and learning so much. I love her. And she knows her own mind, she's taken to repeating everything she says 5 times, she's a pain at the dinner table lately. I still love her, but I'm tired.

And we had another wheezing incident this week, so that makes it the "A" word - Asthma. At some point during all the free time I have at work, I need to get her scheduled to see the specialist. On the plus side, I have been putting off getting Kat scheduled for one of her normal follow ups, so I'm going to try to get them scheduled together.

Speaking of Kat, she was amazing this week. She got to spend the first part of her Spring Break in Orlando with the band. She got home Tuesday. Laney started getting sick Tuesday night. I took Laney with me to work Wednesday morning and was planning on taking her back with me after her Dr's appointment. Then I realized that she really needed to be home, but I really needed to be at work. Kat bailed me out. She ended up baby sitting four hours on Wednesday and another four hours on Thursday. Saved my bacon, the Lord provided, etc.

So anyways, it's been 4 paragraphs & I am finally getting to the title. Two weeks ago, we had a big chore day & I spent most of my time cleaning out the rose bed and feeding the azaleas. It felt good to play in the dirt. Laney loved it too. I even went out and bought her a plastic spade and the little rake thing so we could do it again. Then it rained last week. And I worked yesterday. Argh.

Today on the way home from church, we stopped at the nursery, bought two 12 packs of impatiens and two rose bushes. After nap, Laney and I planted the impatiens. Kat & her mom showed up while we were planting with a pack of flower seeds in hand, so we planted those too. After we were done with that, I set Laney up to watch "The Fox and the Hound" and went out and planted the new roses. All better now. At least until tomorrow morning. Is it April 1st yet?

Fit for a princess

2009-03-15T19:16:00.004-06:00

We finished Elena's big girl room this weekend. Kathryn is in Florida with the band, so we took advantage and temporarily moved Laney into her room so that we could paint on Friday & Saturday. Once that was done, we put up the new curtains and the new princess wall stickers.

I dug into the photo archives for the shots I took when we finished the nursery, which had a Classic Winnie the Pooh theme, for a comparison.

We kept the family tree above the shelves, Laney loves looking up on the wall & seeing her grandparents, great-grandparents & aunts & uncles. (The pictures are all pre-cousins)
We also kept her "ABCs" as she calls them and the cross that Granddaddy gave her at her baptism.

The poster was Kathryn's. She took it down a few months ago and saved it for her sister.

Thanks for taking the tour.

Pictures from a birthday party

2009-03-01T21:33:00.004-06:00

Old McLaney had a farm, EIEIO

And on this farm there was a swing
And a choo-choo

And a petting zoo including a wallaby

And a llama

And "rorseys" to ride . . .

Partly cloudy with a chance of lions

2009-03-01T21:15:00.004-06:00

First things first, Happy Birthday Uncle Mike!

I took Laney to the zoo on Saturday. Apparently cold & cloudy makes for a great zoo day. The crowds were down & the animals were up. The pacing tiger:
The lazy lions - but, hey!, their heads are up. They're usually sound asleep.
Laney checking out some birds.

A self-portrait at the tiger enclosures.

We rode the carousel, one of the advantages to the zoo membership is half price carousel tickets.

Checking out the giraffes - including the new one-month old:

The meerkats were in the mood to pose:

Laney's favorite animal was the "seal lion" which translates to "sea lion" in grown up speak. It took three trips to their pool to see them. They were very playful, but by that point I had put the camera away for the day.

Happy Mardi Gras!

2009-02-24T20:13:00.002-06:00

Or Shrove Tuesday. Did you enjoy your pancakes, we did! We went to the annual pancake dinner hosted by the Men's Group at our church tonight. It were yummy!

Soooo. . . Lent starts tomorrow. I have decided to take on some disciplines, rather than giving anything up. Our church is doing a church-wide study, so Rob, Kat & I will be reading those together. And I am currently downloading a copy of the new testament. If I listen to it for 28 minutes a day, I can finish it in 40 days. Which is how long Lent is, less Sundays. That works out well.

So what are you giving up? Or taking on? If you're doing anything at all, it is after all a personal choice.

Paradigm shift

2009-02-17T20:49:00.003-06:00

I was having a bit of a pity party this weekend. I had plans. They didn't happen. Nothing too spectacular, but they were MY plans. Kat was out of school on Friday so I took the day off. We were going to send Elena off to day care and then Kat & I were going to the mall for shopping, lunch & seeing a movie.

Yeah, right. Elena started breathing too heavy on Wednesday night. Didn't get any better with on Thursday with OTC medicine so our Friday turned into a day at the doctor's office. Whoot! Elena's better with treatment, although I have to say it is a bit creepy to see your 2 year old with a nebulizer mask strapped to her face. The doctor is also relatively optimistic that this will be a one time thing. Oh, and I discovered a new game that will entertain a two year old who has been in the doctor's office for 2 hours - it involves the doctor's rolling stool and pushing off the wall with your feet.

We spent the weekend inside, not doing much of anything. Telling Laney she couldn't go outside to play. Watching Muppets & Mickey Mouse. Not napping for some reason! I'm not sure what I wanted to do on Saturday, but that wasn't it.

I've started reading a couple of new blogs recently. One is Kelly's Korner - she recently brought her daughter home after a long stay in NICU. One of the things I love is that despite what she has been through & is going through, she's still praying for others. From her blog I made it over to Dirty Knees the other night. My paradigm shifted. I am extremely thankful for my relatively healthy 2 year old who is quickly on the road to recovery. I think I had a pretty good weekend after all.

Just for fun

2009-02-05T20:11:00.003-06:00

First, this is what we have come to call Laney's "Hermione Hair". It's the result of wearing braids all day. It makes us giggle.
Here's Laney making my aunt's dog, Emma's day.

Here's Laney with Great Grandma.

Miss him already

2009-02-02T20:21:00.003-06:00

My Granddaddy passed away on Sunday, January 25. One of many reasons that I haven't blogged this week. It was one of those weeks where any little thing could remind me of him -
pancake syrup (he loved it on ice cream), a trip to the hardware store (one of my favorite places to go with him when I was little) . . . Pardon me as I wax nostalgic.
My high school graduation

In Corpus Christi

Meeting Laney for the first time (she's 6 weeks old)
Laney's first ThanksgivingHere's Laney's first A&M v. UT game

This is the most recent picture I have - it's from Ronny's wedding.

Kathryn called him "Great" and he was. I called him "Granddaddy" (which means so did Laney). And we miss him . . .

Part 2 - Ta Da!

2009-01-25T20:01:00.003-06:00

I'll let Laney say it - she covers it pretty well.

The Saga of the Big Girl Bed Pt 1

2009-01-18T20:54:00.004-06:00

Back in October I was shopping at Sam's Club and I found this: I thought it was an ideal replacement for the Pack & Play when we travel. We tried it out at Thanksgiving at my brother's and again when we went camping and last week when we went out of town. I am very pleased.

Fast forward to this week, when we decied to finally take the plung and buy a bed for Elena. (Yup she's still in her crib) I took her to Babies R Us yesterday, we picked out a new "big girl bed" and a set of a Princess toddler sheets. She was very excited.

So excited that when we got home & had lunch, she wanted to take her nap in her new big girl bed. Couple of problems with that, the bed is still in the box & her crib is still in her room. I finally convinced her that she could sleep in her other big girl bed - the Tinkerbell nap lounger. Guess where my big girl has slept for both naps this weekend? She also made it in the lounger over night and is asleep in it now. I don't expect her to sleep in her crib again.

We're going to try to get the crib taken down this week and get the new bed up by the weekend. Once that's done, I'll post some new pictures. I'm planning to switch her room out from the current Classic Winnie the Pooh theme, to the Disney Princesses. Yup, my girl's a girlie girl. Although, if I could find Spiderman sheets to fit her new bed, she'd probably love it.

Bad News for Consignment Shoppers

2009-01-09T20:39:00.002-06:00

This is from one of our smaller local papers (The Cypress Sun):

New law will have far-reaching impact on consumers

Updated: 01.09.09
Consumers, retailers and resale shops alike will be affected by new federal regulations going into effect Feb. 10, 2009, that prohibit the reselling of clothing and toys for children 12 and under unless they are tested for lead and a plastic additive called phthalates.

Recent media reports have focused on these new regulations, reporting that testing can cost anywhere from $35,000 - $50,000. The broad scope of the complicated law and its interpretation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) could effectively make it illegal for parents to resell their children’s clothing and gear at a garage sale, on eBay, Craigslist, or through consignment stores or annual children’s consignment sales. If donated to a nonprofit like Goodwill, Salvation Army, or Northwest Assistance Ministries (NAM), those organizations cannot legally resell it as of February 10. Hand-me-down clothing for kids ages 12 and under will be considered a banned hazardous product and therefore illegal to resell.

Fines are stiff for this violation, ranging from $100,000, to potential jail time with possible felony charges.

On Tuesday, the CPSC tentatively exempted the following: items with lead parts that a child cannot access; clothing, toys and other goods made of natural materials such as cotton, silk, wool and wood; and electronics that are impossible to make without lead. That means that clothes made from polyester or other non-cotton materials and toys made from plastic must be tested or discarded. It also means that only clothes without embellishments, such as zippers, snaps, buttons, and tags, are exempted from the policy.

Resale shops like NAM’s throughout the country are hoping for a reprieve on these strict regulations, so that they can continue to provide low-cost children’s items to the community.

Carole Little, NAM President and CEO, said, “NAM cares for the well being of our clients, and we plan to be in full compliance with any regulations that are set. It appears unlikely that a solution for shops such as ours will be found before the law goes into effect on February 10. At best, there may only be a temporary pause on the sale of many items while we prepare for compliance.”

For further information or updates, please check the Consumer Safety Product Commission's Web site at www.cpsc.gov.
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Holiday Videos

2009-01-06T16:35:00.001-06:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A LONG overdue Christmas post + New Year's

2009-01-02T19:51:00.007-06:00

A little word play there. . . ha! We started Christmas on Christmas Eve with presents to & from Kathryn. Here she is surrounded.
We had Christmas dinner - complete with Christmas crackers. Here's Laney with her paper hat & the stamp from inside her cracker.

Rob & Kathryn, just being themselves

After dinner & presents, we went to Christmas Eve services at church. Kathryn played in the Christmas youth band.

A bittersweet moment, it was our last Christmas Eve service at this building. Our new building is due to be available next summer.

Christmas morning - here's Rob adding to my collection of pictures of things he has worn on his head. Someday I'll do a blog post of just those pictures.

Laney checking out how well her new tutu from Mommy & Daddy spins.

We had another little Christmas meal on Christmas day, in addition to more presents. We saved Laney's presents from her all her aunts & uncles until Friday, when Ronny & Lauren came over.

Here's Ronny with his Christmas present from us - the Big Bobber cooler. I thought it was funny, he & Lauren were actually pretty excited about it.

Laney playing her new saxophone from Aunt Katy & Uncle Derrick & the kiddos.

Aunt LaLa "babysitting" with Laney, the two Cabbage Patch dolls (one from Santa, one from Uncle Mike, Aunt Tara & Evan) and the other dolly from Aunt Tara & co.

Here she is with the Christmas tree & her new Little People Castle from Aunt Katy & fam. Thanks for all the gifts, Katy & Tara & families!

On to Tuesday, which was Rob's birthday. Laney's mildly confused about this whole birthday thing. She can't keep up, we've had a few in the family recently, plus baby Jesus. She also wanted to help Daddy open his presents, just in case one was really for her.

New Year's Eve - time for the semi-annual Hamburgers, Birthday Cake & Firework Festival. Happy Birthday, Rob!

Here's the gang - Stina, Rob, Becky (back for a couple of weeks from Japan) and Neil.

We had a great New Years, playing our new games, watching way too much of the new satellite, & we discovered a tasty new cabbage dish to go with our black eyed peas for luck & prosperity.

I wish you all a ver happy new year!

Our Manger Scene

2008-12-25T10:13:00.000-06:00

"So they hurried off and found Mary, Joseph, the baby, and Reindeer Dog."
Have a very Merry Christmas!

Santa's Song Dance

2008-12-23T18:30:00.001-06:00

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Dad got a new toy for Christmas - he can turn his old LP's in CD's. While doing this he heard this song by the Oakridge Boys. Sunday night he played it for Laney just to see what see would do. This video is the result.

Kick Christmas Week off Right

2008-12-21T21:32:00.005-06:00

We got Christmas started this weekend. My parents came in on Friday for the week. Laney's Christmas pagent was Friday night. Laney was in the Advent pagent at her school on Friday as part of the angel band. (Sorry to picture is grainy it was taken by my video camera while I was taking video)On Saturday morning we went and picked out our Christmas tree. I got to say, it's a little odd to pick out a tree in near 80 degree weather.

Look at trees with Mama Janie.

In the evening, Rob & I got dressed up and went to his company Christmas party.

Tonight we decorated our tree. The girls were playing around while we got the lights strung.

Laney's teachers gave her felt ornaments for Christmas. She got to hang them on the tree herself this year.

Here we are with the finished tree.

Mama Janie & Daddy Ron with the grand-daughters and a couple of fuzz balls.

Making Christmas Cookies

2008-12-13T17:00:00.000-06:00

Friday night before we left to go camping Laney refused to sleep. So I spoiled her and let her stay up for an extra hour & help make gingerbread cookies. She tried rolling the dough, but she's not quite strong enough.
Helping place cookie cutters

My cookie making girls

Camping in the Cold

2008-12-09T22:02:00.004-06:00

We took Laney on her first camping trip this weekend. Several families from our church met at a nearby lake for a weekend in the great outdoors. A cold weekend. The high on Saturday was in the low 60's and we hit freezing overnight. Super fun! Actually it was. We knew the cold was coming, so we had hats & mittens & fuzzy wuzzy jammies packed. Laney did pretty good, she had a rough time of it at night, between not knowing where she was, the cold & a weird bed.

We lived up the camping life - camp fires, s'mores, hiking & hot dogs.

Here's the view from our tent on Saturday night
Saturday afternoon

The deer in the park were very tame, so we saw a lot of them. Laney asked where they were when we took walks and they weren't there.

Here's Rob & Elena toward the end of our Sunday afternoon mini-hike.

Elena & Kathryn after one of many trips down the slide at the campground playground.

Tag I'm it

2008-12-02T20:29:00.004-06:00

How's this for a cruddy photo. After Tara's set up, geez!My fourth folder in my most commonly used photo file is 11-21-2008 and this is the fourth photo. Rob was trying to take a picture of Laney and me at her Thanksgiving lunch at day care, but someone spoke to me just when it was taken. I am not sure what Laney is pointing to.
I like this one better. This one came from the fourth folder in a lesser used photo file, the one where I keep the portrait proofs. This is one of Laney's 6 week old portraits. I'm tagging Angela at Party of Five and Caron at Blessed With Riches.

A Visit to Lala Land

2008-11-30T21:34:00.008-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving with the newly weds, my brother, Ronny & his wife, Lauren (or Aunt Lala to Laney). Kathryn christened their house Lala Land because that's where Aunt Lala lives. We got to Ronny & Lauren's house in time to finalize the Thanksgiving feast. Here they are posing for a picture before we took the turkey back to the kitchen to cut it with the electric knife.
Our little family posed before dinner.

After loading up on a Thanksgiving foods, we went to the beach for a walk. Here's Kat messing with a jelly fish. Ok, to some it's gross, to us it was kind of cool to get that close to one & just get to check it out. Laney loves her Aunt Lala. They spent a ton of time together. At the beach:

Watching the Aggies get stomped on by the evil Longhorns:You may not be able to see it, but Laney has an orange bow on one pony tail & a maroon one on the other. My mother made her "House Divided" hair wear, since Daddy Ron was a Longhorn and Ronny & Lauren were Aggies.

Desert time - Good moms let you let the beaters, great moms turn off the mixer first. My mom is a great mom when it comes to homemade whipped cream.

Friday morning we decided not to shop until we dropped and instead went to the park. We did some sliding & climbing, and Laney got in some swing time with Mama Janie.

In the afternoon, it was time for more tradition - turkey tamales! What a great way to use the leftovers. Laney gave spreading the maza a try, but wasn't really too keen on it.

Daddy Ron & Mama Janie getting their maza on.

Lauren's brother, Adam making his first tamales with Lauren and Kathryn.

My cheesy brother and industrious husband.

The tamales turned out yummy and we had a fabulous couple of days with the family. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving too.

Turkey Bowl

2008-11-26T19:00:00.000-06:00

Our church had a youth vs. adults flag football game called the Turkey Bowl on Sunday. Rob & Kathryn signed up as players, Laney & I went as spectators. Elena also gave cheerleading a try.
Laney & I hanging out in the gazebo while Daddy & Sissy play.

After Rob left the game to give someone else a chance for the fun, he & Laney had a game of tackle.

We ended up the evening at Fuddruckers. Here's my cutie patootie girlies.

We're out of town for Thanksgiving. May your holiday be safe, blessed & yummy!

Ren Fest '08

2008-11-24T20:23:00.004-06:00

We made what has become our annual trip to the Texas Renaissance Festival this weekend. In addition to our little family of four, we took Kat's friend Paige & our good friend, Christina. Kat & Paige spent most of the day without the uncool grown-ups, so we didn't see much of her.

Here's Laney on the carousel. She kept telling us all day, "I rode the bunny"
We went to the dance lesson at 1:00. Here's Rob dancing Half Hannigan.

We finally caught up with Neil (our friend who works at the festival) late in the day. This is Christina, Rob & Neil.

Laney wouldn't stay with Neil, but at least this year she didn't cry at the sight of him. She was still very cautious of the people in costume, especially the barbarians, but they did not scare her as bad as last year.

Is this Rob's new princess hat?

No, it's Elena's.

Getting in a little swing time with Kat & Paige as we leave for the day.

Take a look at this!

2008-11-19T15:58:00.001-06:00

Kat brought home an honor roll certificate for 1st six weeks!

Christmas Portraits

2008-11-13T19:53:00.003-06:00

We went and took our Christmas portraits last weekend. It was a zoo who knew so many people take Christmas pictures more than month & a half early?!? The shoot was smooth and they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. We actually had a hard time picking which ones to buy.

Tricks & Treats

2008-11-01T13:32:00.004-06:00

Or how to get a 2 year old to wear her Halloween costume.

I have to tell you, getting Laney into her costume has been touch & go. I decided that she would go as a princess after thinking about the various characters she likes - Elmo would have been too hot, Minnie Mouse would have required store bought ears, you get the idea. And I asked, many times, Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. She picked Sleeping Beauty repeatedly. I bought blue fabric, because the girl wore the blue dress for most of the movie, and if Laney suddenly changed her mind I could tell her it was Cinderella.

As I mentioned in the previous post, she refused to put it on at Zoo Boo. The next day I really wanted to take her picture in at a pumpkin patch. Our church didn't have ours this year, but the bridle club down the street did. So armed with a baggie of candy corn for bribery, off Elena, my mom & I went to the pumpkin patch. She refused to take of her shirt, but did eventually allow me to pull the dress on over her clothes. After I gave her the candy corn.
Checking out the minature horses at the bridle club:
With my mom (note the jeans sticking out of Laney's skirt):

Cut to Thursday. Kat was invited to Trick or Treat with a friend & I wanted pics of the girls together, so we took them a day early. Getting the costume on this time involved me wearing it first (I am so glad no was around to take MY picture!) And the promise of playing outside. And possibly a cookie.

Onwards to Friday morning. Elena was asked to wear her costume to school. They were going to Trick or Treat at the other classes at 9:15 & then change clothes. I convinced her in to the dress with yet another bribe, the joy of wearing church shoes to school. She tried to take the costume off before we left the house, but I got back on. She made it about 10 minutes at school before she was tugging it off again. Hoo-boy! Her teacher was changing her clothes when I left. There was a note on her take home sheet that she did put it back on, over her clothes again.

Friday night was the easiest. The ultimatum. No costume = No trick or treat = No candy. Problem solved. Costume on. Trick or treat accomplished. Here she is enjoying a hard fought bag of M&Ms.

Hope you had a less frustrating Halloween!

Zoo Boo!

2008-10-30T13:24:00.000-06:00

We spent Saturday at the zoo. It was quite a crowd, in addition to me, Rob & Elena, we had Mama Janie & Daddy Ron, two other little girls from church + Mom/Aunt. The little girls are 6 months & 3 months older than Elena.

Here they are lined up to watch the story time - Minnie Mouse, a Butterfly with her wings off & Laney who refused to wear her costume. They all discover the concept of "Trick or Treat" at the zoo. At several locations throughout the zoo there were places where zoo workers were handing out candy. The girls thought that was awesome!

Laney & Mama Janie in the ground hog viewing tube.

Here's Rob & Elena in front of the giraffe enclosure.

Laney didn't make it much longer. She specifically requested to see the bears - which she saw and then promptly crashed. We went ahead and took her to the little pumpkin patch they had at the back and got her a mini-pumpkin, because we'd told her she could have one.

Catching up - The Charity Showcase

2008-10-27T21:17:00.002-06:00

I meant to post this last week. The day after the Halloween Party, Kat's band had the Charity Showcase. This was a second annual event - last year the bands in the district raised money to buy a band in another district instruments, this year they raised money for the Red Cross Hurricane Ike fund.

Here's Kat's cluster at the start of the show:
Daddy & Laney in the stands

We caught Kathryn in the stands for a few minutes, she got to spend 13 hours of her Saturday at the stadium between the showcase & the football game that followed.
The following Tuesday was UIL Marching - they got all ones!!! This was the 6th year in a row. They qualified for Area, which was this last Saturday, but unfortunately Kat had a poorly scheduled stomach bug, so she missed it. This coming Saturday is the final game of the season.

Sick Day + Party = Today

2008-10-17T19:25:00.005-06:00

I had a second sick day home with a sicky. She looks like she has bronchitis, doesn't she?
She's been better today, the fever was gone after breakfast. We took these in one of her more energetic moods. We had been watching Sesame Street and they were playing "Let's Pretend" and she wanted to be a lion. This is her lion mask that she made at day care a couple of weeks ago.
On to the party. Tonight is Kathryn's Halloween Party - we currently have a backyard full of teenagers. Rob is considering as going as Dark Helmet for Halloween.

And some pics of the decor - the entry to the party:
The witch on the play set
Our dummy swinging from the trees
And our hostess in her super cute costume:

Walking for the Cure

2008-10-05T19:38:00.002-06:00

Laney, my work friend, Enis & I walked in the 5K of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure (Breast Cancer foundation) on Saturday.

Here's Laney as we're staging for the walk
We did well, it took us a total of 2 hours, including at least an hour "staging" which means trying to get through a relatively small entry baloon arch along with 10s of thousands of other folks. Laney actually walked most of the staging route, which I would guess was probably 6 or more city blocks and then she walked (practically had to run to keep pace) another 1/8 of a mile or so later on the route. Heres' me, Enis & Laney 3.1 miles later. Me & the Doodle when we finally found our car - we forgot the cardinal rule of parking garages, always remember where you park!