Band Competition

VERY early this morning we left school with Sara's all day band for competition. It was good we went first because we got to do the carnival rides next door all by ourselves before the other hundreds of kids came. This is a makeup time for the bands due to the Swine Flu so it is both band and choir. Luckily we went on charter buses on the hour drive. I did the paddle boat with Sara at the end and enjoyed being with her. The rest of the time she sucked me dry on buying tickets for the rides and food....

They took top band! This is not Sara's trophy, but we got one big one for the school.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

The girls made me cards and , along with Daddy, got me some beautiful flowers.

CHURCH CONFIRMATION

Sara, along with 80 others, got confirmed with our church this evening. About 20 of the kids also got baptised. Sara wants to do this by herself in the very near future.

Ruth took the photo as Jeff and I, along with Pastor Mike and two of Sara's mentors, did the laying on of hands as she was confirmed to the church.

Afterwards, there was a reception and Sara liked the cookies the best.

Unexpected visitor

This weekend we has torrential rains and thunder, etc. We noticed that the little white schnauzer that lives behind us was still outside, so we called our neighbors and they were not only not home, but out of state for the weekend and had left Annie outside by herself. I asked and they said OK and so Annie spent the rest of the weekend with us. After the initial fear, Annie calmed down. Annie is always poking her nose under the fence for a chin scratch, so she knows us. I did keep the cat away from Annie though.

Cooper and Annie played well together and I fixed up Cooper's second kennel so Annie could sleep inside overnight, and good thing because we had another HUGE storm over night.

This second picture is the water pouring into our yard from the neighbor's, flooding the yard because there was much more rain than the french drains could take away

SARA'S CONFIRMATION TO THE CHURCH

This evening Sara left for her confirmation weekend. Luckily it did not get cancelled due to the swine flu. They will return Sat night and the confirmation ceremony will be Sunday evening. At this time, Sara will officially join the church, and Jeff and I will finally get around to it to. We have been attending this church for about 3 years....

One of Sara's mentors wrote her the sweetest letter of complement. I guess sometimes it takes a comment from someone else to make you recognize your child in a whole new light---very proud.

In the meantime, Ruth and I are enjoying time together. Jeff is on an emergency overnight job and will be home sometime, probably tomorrow morning.

soccer team

This is the girl's soccer team, the Cyclones. They are not great, but do have fun. We have two sets of twins on the team. This is the second season with this team, and probably the last. The girls are being scouted for an advanced team with one of their old coaches.

TOO SOON FOR BOYFRIENDS!

Sara came home and told me that, remember the boy who asked me out to the movies, now he asked if he could hug me! How are these kids growing up at such a young age?

I do believe that Sara has a boy who likes her, and I tell her it is OK to have a boy as a friend, but as a boyfriend, not now. She still says yuck to boys, so I am feeling good for now. Of course, Ruth had to tease her relentlessly, just like a sister should.

MISC

Well, I once again lost the battle in my gardening endeavors, this time with a tree/bush trimmer....so, when there is a little branch stuck on the cutting blade, do NOT run your fingers along them to take it off.....one finger typing takes much longer. Thank goodness this time I did not have to go to the hosp for stitches.

Ruth and I got our first pairs of real glasses. We figured that Ruth had a problem when she could not see the clock across the room. I decided I needed something besides reading glasses when those huge signs on the fwy were getting hard to see. Mine are a copper color and Ruth's are black with green inside.....very cute.

Sara had her first Chinese class and loved it. Three boys in her class she knows from school. Sara is the most advanced, follow by our friend's daughter who came home from China a month ago. Though she is more recent, she was in 2nd grade and Sara was in 6th when she came. When the question was doing flash cards for the class, Sara and Y kept shouting the answers, so I asked them to give the rest of the class a chance since they were becoming frustrated.....it worked out well, and the teacher teaches from her home 1/2 miles from us :)


Lots of rain and we are NOT complaining, but this had cancelled our Friday night soccer 2 hr practice and the games on Sat. Makeups will begin next Sunday since 3 games have already been rained out and we must do makeups.

EASTER

We are now well stocked with chocolate. The family get together was wonderful as usual. My mom cooked an A+ meal with the help of some of my sisters and nieces. Being not such a great cook, I get clean up duty afterwards....wash wash wash.



We went to the school where my sister teaches and saw the garden they they now have. My sister Chris applied for a grant, the largest the school district ever gave out, and won it. Each grade level, K-5 & Special Ed, have a garden bed and they kid plant, water, weed, and eat what comes out of the garden. They have magnifying glasses to see the bugs, or butterfly cocoons. Now the kids actually see and work on the cycle of seed to either flower or food.





We played croquet in the back yard.....I lost. This is my niece Megan, she came in second.













We did the Easter egg hunt, now with more money than chocolate. This time we did NOT let my girls have a head start because last year they were toooooo good and got tooooo much more than everyone else. You may notice that the window behind the kids is still covered with plywood...courtesy of Hurricane Ike last summer.




The girls also helped my dad in his vegetable garden. He always has one and we help him eat the wonderful vegetables he grown.





Our dog Cooper came along and enjoyed sleeping on Jeff's pillow in the car---spoiled dog!





Sara has a huge bunny pillow and Easter is her birthday, so Sara had a birthday party for Hannah, even having an ice cream sandwich birthday cake for her.

getting ready for Easter

We have the Easter baskets down and ready....and little furry bunnies all over the house. AT THE SAME TIME, we tell the girls about the real meaning of Easter, which does not involve the bunnies, baskets, or egge, though we are not sure what bunnies and eggs have to do with each other. We will be leaving for my parents house for the big family get together and egg hunt, yes, though all but ours is out of college, we still love this tradition.

SISTERS

Sara decided to "help" do her hair in a fashion style. NOW, understand that Ruth's fashion style is to barley spend one second with the brush and out the door she goes. Sara's fashion style is to do something intricate.....so Ruth got Sara's style thrust upon her and IMMIDIATELY upon snapping this photo, it was out of her hair!

FASHION DIVA

Today Sara was in her usual fashionable style so I decided to snap some pics.

BAND COMPETITION

Today was Sara's band competition. She competed with an ensemble consisting of flutes, bassoon and oboes. They got a 1-top placement.

Next was her solo competition. She has been practicing this to the point that I find myself humming the tune. She got a 1-top placement again.

Sara began with a private flute teacher about 1 1/2 months ago and I think this helped. Ms. Kidd stayed during the competition and commented that Sara played beautifully. This is a district wide competition and was judged, I believe, by the upper grade band directors of the district.

They will get their medals this coming week at school.

HAPPY 11TH B-DAY RUTH

Today our little girl Ruth turns 11. She is almot as tall as I am and we do share shoes! She had blossomed into a beautiful young lady with a wonderful sense of humor, but still shy around others. She is smart and easy going and we love her so much. Her favorite color is blue and she is now into frogs.

I still recall the first time we saw her when she was only 10 days old. She was so very small!

soccer camp-Spring Break

This week is spring break and I decided that for once, I was NOT going to listen to a full week of "I'm board....let's go shopping and spend some money..pleeeeease", so I enrolled the girls in a week long soccer camp. 1-they might get worn out 2-they might learn something 3- they will NOT be bored.

WELL, the camp was a success. All of my above objectives were achieved!

This is Steve, he held the soccer camp. He is from Brazil and kept making the kids laugh by breaking into Portuguese and totally confusing them. . . he did this on purpose.

I NEED MY QUIET SPACE TOO

Recently, I was noting that everywhere in the house I go, the girls seem to follow me. I try reading in the family room~ there they are, TALKING. I go to the living room, they turn up there, TALKING.

I tell them that the only quiet room in the house is the bathroom, with the door closed and the tub would make a relaxing place to read......BUT....Ruth takes this to heart and is immediately in my tub, chilling with pillows, etc.~reading quietly. NOW......where can I put Sara :)

more remodeling

I finally finished redoing the game room upstairs. I now have my office in the room, by the window which is very nice. The horse motif is gone and I have gone more neutral. We do have a few movie themed item and I will look for a few more.

Note the paint job. This is what you do instead of buying a new gallon to finish the dark color, you use up other similar colors....I love the effect.

NOTE: my favorite sign at my work desk...

CHESS CHAMP

Sara had her second chess tournament yesterday and she came in first! She brought home another large trophy which will be going to school with her on Wednesday to show the teachers, friends, and her chess club. After the tournament, she played a Grand Master which was at the tournament. Of course Sara lost all 4 games with him, but she had a great time and did give him a run for his money.

SOCCER PRACTICES

Last night we went to an open soccer practice where any of the players can come out and scrimmage with their age group for a few hours with a professional coach overlooking them all and giving them tips. Coach Steve told me that Sara is VERY good and he would like to scout her for a competitive select team. I forgot my coat and FROZE in the cool evening temps and 30+ mph winds....I had to come home to a very HOT shower to thaw.

Ruth did not go because she had another migraine....she really hates these and has been having them for over a year. The pediatrician does not know why, but I am sure it is hormone related since she is going into puberty and this is when I had mine.

Their first game is tomorrow and neither of them will make it-Sara to an all day chess tournament and Ruth to her best friend's birthday party....

Happy 50th little sister

Today my LITTLE sister turns 50, interesting since I am still 30ish :) I still think of her as the little girl as we play riding our bikes and climbing trees........where does the time go?

Spring is BLOWING in

A sure sign of spring, the small buds on the trees, the 30+mph winds, and the haircuts, beginning with the dog Cooper.

Today Ruth and I also sport a shorter do. Sara is growing hers out to donate in the fall, and Jeff, holding on to the last of the black as the gray marches in (I know how to fix this and I will tomorrow for me LOL )

Not doing much else right now. My Camellia bush suddenly burst into bloom overnight!

NEW VAN

We have been watching the auto situation, with the bailouts, etc. and decided it was a good idea to trade in our 00 Honda Odyssey. We traded in for an 05 Honda Odyssey touring van....loaded with so much that I still can not figure out some of them, unfortunately for the girls this included the headphones for the DVD player...really need to figure this out before we go on a trip...I can not drive and listen to a movie. We are enjoying the moon roof, but are sure it will stay closed during the hot summer. The girls also like the windows in the back that roll down,,,,,so do I. It is a light slate green, to me it looks like a very light sky blue.

The smartest things that we did were-I had the van we were trading in spotless-inside, out and under the hood.
NEXT-we left the girls at home....much easier to negotiate when not being constantly interrupted (bugged) by the kids.

WE'RE MOVING

Not exactly what you think though. Over the last 4 days, we moved Sara's stuff out of her room into the game room-now no where to game. I painter her room from lime green/purple/pink to a MUCH more neutral taupe. Then we moved Jeff's office and his "important" junk into that room. Them, once empty, we moved Sara's stuff into her new room, then I had to paint only one wall-a very pale pink with a few polka dots.

THE REASON FOR ALL OF THIS: if you have a girl, you will TOTALLY understand!!!!

CLOSET SPACE! Need I say more?

SO, what was Jeff's office-messy-is now Sara's princess room. What was Sara's purple/green room with wavs is now the office...still in the process of being presentable.

RUTH also got stripes added to her green and blue room.

Engagement Party & Super Bowl

Saturday afternoon we drove to Houston for my niece Jennifer and her fiance Marc's engagement party. My sister was hoping that we would be there early to help with the set up, but we got there just in time for the party....sorry Kathy. It was a beautiful party and my sister Kathy, along with the help of my mom and other sister Chris who lives there. One brother-in-law did the sound system. Luckily, when it was time for the party to end, everyone pitched in with the clean up. Then we drove back home early Sunday because Ruth had a birthday party and of course....SUPER BOWL. Jeff and I wanted the Cardinals, and the girls wanted the Steelers, so there was great cheering and boo ing going on in the house. So our team lost, so quickly off to bed for the girls!~

ICE-again!

The city and all surrounding cities were shut down due to ice....again. It would be so much nicer if it was snow.....a little bit of snow, right Erin? We mostly just stayed in so no one would slip and break anything. Sara ventured out, but Ruth stayed in because she was not feeling so great.

Happy New Year

We went to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Sara decked out to the nines. The dragon dance celebration was cancelled due to COLD weather....good thing because we were NOT going out in that cold.

TEXAS ice

Well, the kids are back to school-YEA!!!-and now the weather changes drastically. On Saturday it was 84, and today, well, we had an ice storm. Luckily Jeff was able to work from home, and the kids were at school before it got bad, and it ended just before they got home. I was sure that their heavy bus had better traction then my van. Besides, the ground was still so warm from a few days ago, the the ice was mostly on thing besides the ground. Our neighbor lost a large branch from one of their trees. I was outside propping up my bushes....burr!

2009

When Ruth was small and she wanted to stay up to watch the new year come in, I was very smart and we watched the new year come in on the other side of the world, then she was in bed by 9. BUT, now that they are older and gratefully smarter, mom is now obliged to actually stay up until midnight. We enjoyed our bubbly sprite upon the strike of midnight.

We played one of our favorite games, UNO attack until midnight.