Happy Earth Day

Spring Break photos

So here's some photos from Spring break about a month ago. We had an awesome trip to the Ozarks - long drive but since the kids are older it really isn't as bad anymore. Some friends of ours hooked us up with the link to the cabins. They'd never been there, and now I hope we don't have to fight them next Spring Break for a reservation because we returned with glowing recommendations and want to go back!

Here's our fun little cabin. Actually I should say big cabin. It had 3 bedrooms - one was a loft upstairs, one was a regular room on the main floor and one was a separate room downstairs on the bluff. The downstairs one could only be accessed by the deck stairs outside, and while it had its own TV it didn't have a bathroom, so it's one we wouldn't be able to use until kids are older. The deck you can see on the back extended all around the cabin; it had a little jog in the middle offering some spaces of semi-privacy, and on the left side of the cabin had a patio with a table that would have been nice for eating breakfast or lunch on.


Our view from one of the decks.


The rock hill behind (in front of?) the cabin. Since the cabin was on the bluff, there was a pretty big drop off about twenty feet from the end of the very bottom deck (outside that solitary bedroom below). The kids were good about staying within the boundaries we set, but the dog got pretty close once or twice. And there weren't any really huge flat areas to run around on, but the kids had a great time climbing around on these rocks, especially once Alex got secure enough that he wasn't getting stuck halfway.



The living room of our cabin. As you can see, we weren't exactly roughing it. To the right of this picture was the TV with satellite reception and a dvd player. And the fireplace was gas, so to light it each night all we had to do was flip that switch on the wall to "on" and away it roared.


There was still snow on the ground the day we got there from the storm that had just passed through. Of course the kids were overjoyed about it. This picture is a little deceptive; this was at the side of the road so it looks deeper than it actually was. But my kids were just happy to have finally seen some snow this year.


Grace and her snow gun.



Alex and his hiking stick.



There were lots of hikes within a 30 minute drive from the cabins. Here's my kids doing their favorite nature activity - throwing rocks into a body of water.



Kids inside a big cave. This picture doesn't do the enormity of it justice. It was huge.



Our little artist sketching her scenic view.

Now for the yellow ones

Daytime TV

Once Grace got past the nursing-all-day stage I really quit watching daytime TV as a stay-at-home mom (except for kids TV, of course). Today I flipped on the noon news because every once in a while I like to watch it, and I couldn't believe one of the ads I saw. Between Brian Loncar attorney ads (the TOUGH Texas Hammer!) and Devry-type ads, I saw an ad for Texas Car Title & Payday Loans. Yes, if you own your car you too can get some instant cash, and still drive your car (provided you pay that loan back on time). It just doesn't seem legal to me. And since it is apparently legal, it seems like just a REALLY bad idea. But I guess there are people out there desperate (or stupid) enough to give that company enough business to run daytime TV ads.

My how things change

I was transferring some pics from Jim's computer (where the library of all our photos resides) to my laptop when I came across these two pictures:


From a visit of Kathy and her kids back in January 2001, making Emma four and Max almost two. And after looking at how cute the kids were, I suddenly noticed the actual room in the background behind Max. So THAT is what our house used to look like before we had kids! Ah, to remember the days when the TV room wasn't packed with toys. So long ago...

Also here's two shots of my irises, which are blooming profusely in the back yard. The white and yellow bearded irises have joined the purple Dutch ones. I used to have a ton of purple bearded ones (everyones favorite) that had grown next to the house for who knows how long. I had to move them six or seven years ago when we had the foundation worked on, but I don't think they survived the transplant. Unfortunately I think they ended up in a spot that the soil washed out of, exposing the rhizomes (yes, I could have said "bulbs" but then figured someone would have corrected me). So if anyone has some purple ones they are dividing and want to share, please keep me in mind!

I'm not cheap

I'm torn on this one. I needed to find some party gifts for game winners at Grace's upcoming birthday party. And being a single-income household, I needed to find cheap options. So I headed over to one of the many local dollar stores. If you've never been to one, at least in this one it was true that EVERYTHING cost a dollar. I found what I needed - kites and a jump rope, all for a dollar apiece. So six dollars and fifty cents or so later I came out with more than enough gifts.

But the entire time I'm walking through the store my skin was crawling, and all I could think in my head was "recall, recall, recall." From what I can tell, a LOT of recalled kid's products tend to come from dollar stores. How else can this stuff be so darn cheap, unless it's made in some overseas factory with little to no oversight, with god knows what level of lead in the paint? I keep telling myself that at least at 6-years old these kids won't be sticking any of this stuff in their mouth. Maybe it will all break the first time they try to use it and I'll be in the clear.

Ick - I think I just can't bring myself to do that one again. I guess I'll make myself pay more in the future and get it at Target (and probably still get stuck with a recall notice).

How does a kindergartener do a jump-a-thon...

...when she doesn't know how to jump rope yet? Like this:



Grace's school had their Jump for the Heart event a couple weeks ago. The scene in the gym that day was barely-controlled chaos. And was virtually impossible to get a decent picture with all the activity, but I got a few to share. Thank you to everyone who donated money - she had a wonderful time!Waiting patiently to receive her individual rope after doing the team jumping.


Grace in action.


Alex was NOT pleased about being there, and by the end of the hour was quite ready to go home.

Kate, Grace and Pablo. Kate is one of her best friends, and Pablo is the special-needs child that get mainstreamed into her class for a few hours each day. All the kids love him.


Having the after-jump apple snack with friend Elizabeth.

Finally!

I was starting to wonder why my irises were the only ones in town not blooming.


Many more to come...

Happy Bunny Day!

Grace decided a couple weeks ago that March 20 is Bunny Day. Nothing to do with Easter; she just decided that bunnies need their own special day. So she's been counting the days until Bunny Day arrived. Lucky for me that Bunny Day fell so close to Easter this year, because I was able to get a bunny-shaped cookie cutter. So Grace had bunny-shaped toast this morning and bunny-shaped quesadillas for lunch. Special in her lunch was some bunny-shaped marshmallows. She had already decided that we needed to have carrots with dinner. And I was going to get creative and make a bunny cake or cookies for dessert tonight, but ended up running by the grocery store and just picking up some cupcakes with a plastic bunny ring stuck on top of them.

So even though nobody else realized it to truly celebrate, I can wish you all a Happy Bunny Day - next time March 20 rolls around you should all be ready.

Six Flags!

Last weekend we made our second Texas Cousin Visit to Six Flags trek. We hit the park on opening day, which we discovered a couple years ago is THE day to go - the weather is not beastly hot, and the crowds are not there yet. If you can put up with workers going a little slower than usual (some are still learning the ropes), you are blessed with being able to ride some rides more than once without having to go back through line.

This was Alex's first visit to the park and, other than a couple of the really small rides at the State Fair last year, his first time to really ride amusement park rides. Both my kids LOVED it, and can't wait to go again next year. Part of the joy may have come from being with the cousins, though poor Emma got stricken with the flu that morning and had to stay back at the house with Gramma and Grandad.


We walk in and our greeted by Looney Toons characters, which my kids have pretty much no idea who they are (except we have a Tweety pez dispenser so they are slightly aware if him). Alex wasn't too sure in this photo about being next to a big costumed guy.



All of us minus the two dads on one of our first rides (love the joy on both my kids' faces). We all enjoyed the kiddy rides, except Max hit the point where he was actually too big for a couple of them and had to just watch.



Alex waiting in line with Jim to go on his first-ever roller coaster ride. He had a slight look of fear on the first big downhill, then a look of excitement on his face for the rest of it.



Grace with her favorite riding buddy.



The view from our ferris wheel gondola.



I had to put this picture in, just to show my sister squeezed into this ride that was clearly not made for adult behinds. It's the one ride I told Jim ahead of time that I refused to ride, because I remembered how uncomfortable it was. Oh, and the kid on the end next to Grace was just some random kid that rode with our group.



The Mini Mine Train ended up being Alex's favorite ride of the day. A prime example of getting to have multiple rides without having to go through the line again. It was the only "big" coaster he was tall enough to ride on, so I think he will have a blast once he reaches 42" and has access to a whole new set of roller coasters out there.



Alex and his favorite riding buddy.



And for those of you old-timers from Six Flags, the spinning tamales are still a part of the train ride (as are the politically-incorrect Mexicans across the tracks, and the Indian encampment farther down).

What a racket

I took Grace to see the Junie B. Jones play at Casa Manana last weekend with some friends of ours. Fun to see, especially since the story was based on one of the books we have here and have read. And fun to go to Casa Manana, which I probably haven't been to in over 20 years.

But frustrating, because like just about every other person in America I purchased the tickets through Ticketmaster. Oh, I suppose I could have tried to call the box office directly, or had the parents trek over to the theater, but I simply clicked the "buy tickets online" button on the website. I didn't realize until after I'd received the tickets in the mail (and my friend was writing a check for hers) that listed on the receipt was the face value for the 5 tickets being $55. However, the total bill with fees and all ended up coming to ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. It is absolutely insane that I paid double for tickets simply because I purchased through Ticketmaster. And that was with just general mail delivery.

Jim said he's run into the same thing lately when buying tickets for some live music shows he's attended with some of his friends. I've always been bugged by Ticketmaster fees, but now I'm going to go out of my way to try to purchase directly from venues. It will be a pain in my ass, but it needs to be done.

Rock on

I love my iPod. I don't know how anyone can get along without one.

Jim and I were playing around with his iPhone a couple months ago, sampling Led Zepplin songs because they finally released them for download on iTunes. As we heard more and more songs we loved, we realized we should just buy the missing albums we didn't have in our library (because, "Hey, we're grownups and we can do that if we want to"). So Led Zepplin I, II, IV and Physical Graffiti were added to our household. We already had Led Zep III and Houses of the Holy, and really no other LZ album matters other than those.

So I'm in the car today on the way to pick up kids from school, listening to a couple songs from Physical Graffiti, and it suddenly struck me how great it actually was to be grown up. I was listening to a wonderful album that I have always wanted. But back in high school (when I listened to so much Led Zep with my good friend Jana) and in college, I could never bring myself to buy the album because it was a DOUBLE album. That cost could never be justified, and I envied friends of mine who had it. But now it's mine, and I'm a 40-year old woman rocking out on the way to pick my kids up from school. Kind of pathetic, but I don't really care.

I am thankful every day...

...for my dear, sweet husband. Lately it has been every time I run my disposal or open the dishwasher after running a cycle. The fact that he thought to look online to solve the non-draining dishwasher problem (and find the simple solution) rather than me having to get a service guy out here makes me smile.

Little girls

Had three extra kindergarten girls here this afternoon. At least the first 15 minutes here was taken up by the girls upstairs all chanting at the top of their voices "(Someone) and (Someone) sitting in a tree; k-i-s-s-i-n-g..."

For the record, tree-sitters are Grace and Aaron, Kate and Wesley, Audrey and Jared and Elizabeth and Matthew.

Sneaky

Grace is growing up. I finished reading to her tonight, kissed her good night and turned out the light. After brushing my teeth and going to bed, Alex started calling me. When I got up to take him to the bathroom, I could see through the crack in Grace's door that she had pulled out the Itty Bitty Book Light she got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandad and was getting in one more chapter of Junie B. Jones. Sneaky girl.

Word(s) of the day

Star bell.

As described by Grace:
"Mom, I have a new word for Lucy. Star bell. It means cute cute cute cute cute. So you can say it without saying all the cutes. Star bell."

Oh joy

All four of us have strep throat.

I had to make some calls-of-shame to people we socialized with recently. And I still need to send the message out to Grace's class that she was apparently sicker than I thought she was when I sent her to school this week.

On a much happier note - happy belated birthday to Emma, the oldest cousin and only other girl cousin on my side of the family! I really do have your card downstairs waiting to be mailed!!

What a cool school

The picture sucks because it was taken from my phone, but we got to attend Family Supper Night at Grace's school and were treated to a mini-concert from Dallas' own Polyphonic Spree (a stripped-down version because the full band of 20+ people wouldn't be able to fit on an elementary school stage). The lead singer/creator of the band has three kids that go to our school. They did a great job of talking about all the different instruments they had up on stage (trumpet, flute, keyboard, cello, drums, etc.), sang 2 or 3 of their songs, and even sang a supposed improv song based on an animal thrown out from the crowd (pretty ponies eating grass).

Grace surprised me by going down by herself to sit with the other kids in front of the stage. Alex and I were about 8 rows back. I was even more impressed when I found out she wasn't sitting with anyone she knew because she wanted to sit right in front of the stage and all her friends were further back. I loved that my kids got an up close and personal look at a real live music show. I told Grace afterward that people pay money to see bands like that play, which is true because even though it was short and for kids, it was a professionally played show.

One of the local restaurants provided build-you-own taco dinner, and there were "math games" outside each of the classrooms. Poor Jim seems to have been hit by a big bad virus, so he wasn't able to make it. But the rest of us had a great time.

My sweet little ride

After waiting an hour and a half at the dealership, I was informed the repair to my car would take another 4 hours. Unfortunately that didn't jive with having to pick kids up from school on time (nor with the fact that my poor dog had already been in the kennel for 2 hours by then). So after a little back and forth they found this cute little thing for me to use for a few hours. The kids will be surprised when I pick them up (though Alex will probably complain because his Planet Heroes toys are still in my car). But, alas, I return it this afternoon.

Update: Apparently there is ANOTHER thing wrong with my car (thankfully covered by warranty), so I get to keep my little bug overnight. Grace wanted to know if we can buy it, or at least keep it until the end of January. I think Alex wants a bigger back seat so his sister doesn't touch his stuff.

Happy Birthday...

to my dear Sister-in-Law!

Go buy some purses from her - you won't be sorry.

I love you!!!