This Week

Some highlights from the past week:

• After a mix of wet snow and rain on Friday, temps skyrocketed and it's been in the 80s the last few days.  Sending the boys to school in shorts and spending hours outside in January feels great!
• I made it outside for a run for the first time in nearly 2 months, maybe more, and my workout buddies didn't leave me in the dust, in fact I bested two of them on a couple of sprints.
• One of my Spanish classes was only 3 minutes long today.  Oddly, it was probably the best class of the day, and yes, in 3 minutes they really did learn something.
• My ESL student who was simply grunting at me 4 months ago because he didn't speak a word of English is now telling me jokes and reading books - in English.  
• I finally made my cherry almond bread.  Amazing and worth the wait.
• Got the best birthday list from Alex - he would like a chainsaw.  That's awesome little buddy, even though there is zero chance of you actually getting a chainsaw for your birthday.  
• I get a beautiful view of the big dipper right between two bare tree branches every morning when I get the paper. And there is a planet, probably Venus, brightly shining just off to the west.
• My half-birthday was Saturday.  Just less than six months now until a new decade.

New Mattress

It's been a very long time in coming, but finally I have a new mattress.  Lots of researching, lots of thinking, and I finally settled on a mattress from Tuft and Needle. Pretty cool company, and thus far the mattress lives up to the hype. It's a foam mattress, so it was shipped all rolled up and quite compressed.  The boys had a blast with the big box, it was everything from a spaceship to a tent to a fort, even a slide (both for them and their toys).

Spring Break

Well, it's not quite Spring Break yet, but it certainly feels like it.  The cold weather took a break and we took advantage of the warmth and sunshine of the last few days.  This is typical Austin winter weather, but this warm spell seems to be lingering much longer than usual.  

At any rate, we went hiking on Saturday.  Just a little local trail - Turkey Creek Trail, very near Mike's office actually.  The boys and I had been there before, although they were very small at the time and did not remember it.  The trail was beautiful, an easy 3 mile walk that crisscrosses a creek several times.  That was probably the most fun part for the boys, and quite the game to play trying to keep shoes and feet dry.  Even though the air temperature was near 70, the creek water was cool.   Here are a few pictures of the day...

 

We also managed a little bike riding this weekend with Ben and, I took both the boys out for a short ride today as well.  Everyone has been enjoying as much time outside as possible.  While the warm weather and sunshine will stay for another day or so, winter is on its way back.  I am trying to forget that it is only mid-January and there is far more cold weather ahead before we get to the real spring break.  

According to Alex...

"Birds fly away so they don't get eaten by creditors."

I LOVE my boys, they make every day so much fun!

I started this post in 2010 and just never got around to finishing it, in fact the only thing I ever wrote was the above two lines.  For lack of anything else to post, I decided to go ahead and finish it now.  Surely, at the time I had so many other little "Alex-isms" to post, probably a bunch from Ben as well.  They both say and do such funny things all the time.  Here's a picture of Alex from about a month ago...

He came downstairs dressed like this and announced that he was ready for work.  I asked him what his job was and he said he was a scientist - as if that was the most obvious thing in the world and mom was definitely a little dense.  Anyway, a short time later the above ensemble was completed with a fuzzy plaid bathrobe.  

Alex is always off creating and drawing and imaging.  One short month and the kid will be 9, quite a long way from the days of bird eating creditors, but still my little boy.

Back to Normal

Mike went back to work, the kids went back to school, Mom returned to VA and I went back to all of my usual activities this week.    I was dreading it all, but in the end it was all just fine.  I'm not overly enthused that I still have 4 months of Spanish to teach, but even that will work itself out.

In other news it is ridiculously cold and we might see a stray snowflake or two over the next few days.  I didn't organize my priorities right so we are in this incredibly cold house with a beautiful wood burning fireplace and no firewood.  Oops.

I lost my wedding ring yesterday.  Gave me quite a start to look down at the start of my Spanish lesson and realize it wasn't there, to further realize that I had no idea when I last had it.  I searched the school and the house and the walk in between, over and over.  Made me very sad all day not to have it. I crawled into bed (which had been searched several times) and low and behold there it was smack in the middle, in between all the sheets and blankets.  That was my very happy moment for the day.

And that is the exciting update of the day.

Happiness

These guys, my world, my life, my happiness...

 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from TX!  It seems that for many people 2014 was anything less than stellar.  Happily, I can say that is not true for us.  The calendar change always makes me look back and think about the year, good things and bad.  There have been so many rough years for us lately I was pleasantly surprised to realize that 2014 was not one of them. For the first time in 4 years we had a GOOD year, a very happy year, from start to finish.  I wasn't sad to see the year change, instead hopeful that 2015 will be a continuation of the good.  

So my quick look back at 2014 and we have so many things to remember... ice storms from January through March that got us several days off school and introduced us to sideways icicles, several trips to the zoo in Waco, our annual outing for pictures in the bluebonnets, a long weekend at the beach in May, an amazing trip to Oregon over the summer, the boys learned how to ride their bikes on two wheels and swim, a new car, nearly continuous dogsitting from March through November, strawberry picking in the spring and peach picking in the summer, giving up Nyla but gaining Arthur and Sherman the hermit crab, visits from family in September and December, I discovered edx & coursera (several courses under my belt, more to come), birthdays and pumpkin picking and rainbows and art contests, and surely so much more that I have forgotten. 

And so I leave you with this thought...  

"May your coming year be filled with magic & dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to makes some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself". - Neil Gaiman