Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Meet Winnie
You knew it wouldn't be long before we got another pup. Winnie is probably about 1 1/2 years old. She's a boxer/black mouth cur mix. And, she came fully loaded: completely house broken, crate trained, and knowing a few basic commands. She doesn't jump (much), and she's so very very sweet. Yeah, pretty much the most perfect dog ever. We adopted Winnie through a rescue league, which, out here anyway, means we had to jump through plenty of hoops. But it was worth it. She's a great new family member.
Ben's Special Day
Ben was chosen to be a greeter at a leadership conference downtown last week. It was a pretty special honor, just 4 second graders and 3 first graders were picked to participate. Long story short, the conference was for educators to learn about the "Leader In Me" program. Our school is currently undergoing certification in the program right now so a few Cypress kiddos were there to show off their skills. Ben was the perfect choice for this. Mr. Personality always has a smile for everyone.
I rode the commuter train with Ben and the other kiddos downtown bright and early Thursday morning. He did his job and we rode the train back up our way and headed off to school. It made for a long day for Ben, but a happy one. He was thrilled. Perhaps the most exciting part (aside from the train) was that the people running the conference made each of the kids their own name badges and gave them lanyards and a couple of other little trinkets to remember the day. He proudly wears his badge every chance he gets! Here are a few pics from the day...
I rode the commuter train with Ben and the other kiddos downtown bright and early Thursday morning. He did his job and we rode the train back up our way and headed off to school. It made for a long day for Ben, but a happy one. He was thrilled. Perhaps the most exciting part (aside from the train) was that the people running the conference made each of the kids their own name badges and gave them lanyards and a couple of other little trinkets to remember the day. He proudly wears his badge every chance he gets! Here are a few pics from the day...
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Caverns of Sonora
Got to take a little road trip a couple of weeks ago. It feels like forever since we've done that. Ben is doing a project for school on the Caverns of Sonora and it just so happens that this magical place is right in the heart of Texas. So, to help boost our sad hearts after losing Tucker and CoCo we decided to spend a weekend having a little adventure. We headed out early on a Saturday morning and drove out to San Angelo. We spent the afternoon touring Fort Concho and enjoying the sights of San Angelo. Found a great burger place for lunch, spent some time along their little riverwalk area, wandered through an art museum for a bit and ended our afternoon designing t-shirts and playing in a park.
Sunday we drove down to Sonora and toured the caverns, grabbed some lunch and headed home. The cave was absolutely spectacular, thus far easily the most beautiful cave I have been through. The formations are stunning. Calcite is the mineral responsible for most of the formations. Everything is glassy and beautiful, crystals everywhere. There is one part of the cave where you are actually walking through a geode. Very beautiful. You can visit the website for more details about the cave, but I'll put up a few pictures for you.
Sunday we drove down to Sonora and toured the caverns, grabbed some lunch and headed home. The cave was absolutely spectacular, thus far easily the most beautiful cave I have been through. The formations are stunning. Calcite is the mineral responsible for most of the formations. Everything is glassy and beautiful, crystals everywhere. There is one part of the cave where you are actually walking through a geode. Very beautiful. You can visit the website for more details about the cave, but I'll put up a few pictures for you.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Hello!
So many posts have gone through my head, I just plain haven't felt like posting anything here lately. I intended to, then life happened, and well, I didn't. So. Merry Christmas a little late. Happy New Year a little late. Happy 8th birthday to Ben. Might as well be pre-emptive at this point and wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day and a very happy early 10th birthday to Alex, because I'm not sure when I'll sit down and update the blog again.
To recap, fill in, catch up, all that jazz...
Had a lovely Christmas here in TX. It was very warm. Grandma Rita was here, and we all had a fabulous time. I think the kids were very happy. This seems to be the year that they discovered that mom & dad are really Santa. The best part is, they don't really care, and are very happy to keep on playing along. Makes it a little more fun actually.
Kids are doing well in school and piano. Work is going well for Mike. I seem to be busy, but who knows what I'm ever actually doing! It's about time for another big house project, but that's a post for another day.
The weather has mostly been warm. The drawback to a mostly warm winter is the mostly part. Because on days when that mostly goes away, the sort of cold feels REALLY cold. Like today. Yesterday was up to 76 and sunny. Kids wore shorts & tees to school. Today topped out at about 52, warm for all those east coast people sitting under 3 feet of snow, but feeling terribly icy cold to us longtime Texans. Instead of shorts, we are bundled up, even wearing coats today. But, it will be warm again, and soon.
Along with the good comes some sadness too. Everybody knows by now, but I'll post again anyway. We lost both Tucker and CoCo recently, just 10 days apart as a matter of fact. CoCo's loss was very unexpected - her epilepsy sent her into a series of violent seizures that we couldn't stop. It was a horrid way for her to go, but she wasn't alone. Most importantly I like to think we gave her a good home and loved her madly. Losing Tucker was just as devastating if a little more expected. He was very old, and that hit him hard in December. We did not expect for him to make it to Christmas, and he hung on for another month. He went peacefully, with all of us with him. He's got CoCo to take care of now and we'll meet again someday. He gave us 16 wonderful years. Arthur is the only 4 legged friend left for now. He's a bit lonely, but is hanging in there. Overall, the house is far too quiet and I miss the chaos of a trio of dogs. In the words of Winnie the Pooh "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
I've got the urge to travel and no plans to do so. Time to plan some trips. We may head out to western Texas this weekend to see some caves. Thanks to Ben's school project for clueing us into a little adventure. If we go, well, maybe there's a blog post in there. In the meantime... here's a final thought.
To recap, fill in, catch up, all that jazz...
Had a lovely Christmas here in TX. It was very warm. Grandma Rita was here, and we all had a fabulous time. I think the kids were very happy. This seems to be the year that they discovered that mom & dad are really Santa. The best part is, they don't really care, and are very happy to keep on playing along. Makes it a little more fun actually.
Kids are doing well in school and piano. Work is going well for Mike. I seem to be busy, but who knows what I'm ever actually doing! It's about time for another big house project, but that's a post for another day.
The weather has mostly been warm. The drawback to a mostly warm winter is the mostly part. Because on days when that mostly goes away, the sort of cold feels REALLY cold. Like today. Yesterday was up to 76 and sunny. Kids wore shorts & tees to school. Today topped out at about 52, warm for all those east coast people sitting under 3 feet of snow, but feeling terribly icy cold to us longtime Texans. Instead of shorts, we are bundled up, even wearing coats today. But, it will be warm again, and soon.
Along with the good comes some sadness too. Everybody knows by now, but I'll post again anyway. We lost both Tucker and CoCo recently, just 10 days apart as a matter of fact. CoCo's loss was very unexpected - her epilepsy sent her into a series of violent seizures that we couldn't stop. It was a horrid way for her to go, but she wasn't alone. Most importantly I like to think we gave her a good home and loved her madly. Losing Tucker was just as devastating if a little more expected. He was very old, and that hit him hard in December. We did not expect for him to make it to Christmas, and he hung on for another month. He went peacefully, with all of us with him. He's got CoCo to take care of now and we'll meet again someday. He gave us 16 wonderful years. Arthur is the only 4 legged friend left for now. He's a bit lonely, but is hanging in there. Overall, the house is far too quiet and I miss the chaos of a trio of dogs. In the words of Winnie the Pooh "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
I've got the urge to travel and no plans to do so. Time to plan some trips. We may head out to western Texas this weekend to see some caves. Thanks to Ben's school project for clueing us into a little adventure. If we go, well, maybe there's a blog post in there. In the meantime... here's a final thought.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Happy Thanksgiving!
As Mike so eloquently stated, we did the "big eat" here again this year. It was a surprisingly low-key day. Not sure how it happened but there was no major rush and hubbub to get things done. It just all happened easily, smoothly, happily. Turkey was fab, as were all the sides and desserts. I neglected to take but two pictures. One of my fabulous drunken pecan pie and one of a headless lego turkey napkin holder - be jealous of that, very jealous. Hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was just as lovely as ours.
Bookshelves!
Finally finished my bookshelf project last weekend. However, I can't seem to write a decent post these days about much of anything. So, maybe, just maybe it's sufficient this time to let the pictures do the talking.
Before...
Before...
After...
Friday, November 13, 2015
Time flies...
This blog has definitely suffered the effects of school. Just can't seem to keep up with it. Halloween was fun, the boys were adorable (when are they not...). Alex dressed up as Mike and Ben went as Calvin.
Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Michael came over and helped us carve pumpkins and we all had a great evening together.
My bookshelf project is almost done. I am so excited about it. I think it's gone very well and I am anxious to finish up the last few steps.
The weather has finally changed to fall-like most days. Lots of rainy weekends.
I had Thanksgiving lunch with the boys at school today, kind of crazy to think that we are officially in "the holidays". I swear school just started yesterday.
Other than that... I had a nasty case of severe tonsilitis in October, quickly followed by a badly sprained ankle and then happily a couple of weeks of good health. Now I'm in the midst of either severe allergies or more likely bronchitis. Allergies go away after a few days, or at least get to a place where it's easy to control. This, well, anyway... it's finally starting to get better. Fortunately, nothing is or has been contagious, so it's just me suffering through this crud. I have 16 kids that I read with at school a couple of times a week. As much fun as it is I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break and Christmas break.
The boys are great. Alex is flourishing in school, having a blast. He has the most amazing teacher who is really bringing out a love of learning in Alex this year. Ben is doing great too. He would much rather help everyone else do their work than do his own, but with a little prodding it all gets done. Ben's got a great teacher too and he loves school and playing with all his buddies.
Mike is busy busy busy at work, but fortunately not traveling too much. He gets some time to work on models and help the boys with their models. His office is moving to a new location in December. It's closer to home and hopefully that means he will have a much more pleasant commute to/from work. I am happy he'll be closer.
And that... is us.
Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Michael came over and helped us carve pumpkins and we all had a great evening together.
My bookshelf project is almost done. I am so excited about it. I think it's gone very well and I am anxious to finish up the last few steps.
The weather has finally changed to fall-like most days. Lots of rainy weekends.
I had Thanksgiving lunch with the boys at school today, kind of crazy to think that we are officially in "the holidays". I swear school just started yesterday.
Other than that... I had a nasty case of severe tonsilitis in October, quickly followed by a badly sprained ankle and then happily a couple of weeks of good health. Now I'm in the midst of either severe allergies or more likely bronchitis. Allergies go away after a few days, or at least get to a place where it's easy to control. This, well, anyway... it's finally starting to get better. Fortunately, nothing is or has been contagious, so it's just me suffering through this crud. I have 16 kids that I read with at school a couple of times a week. As much fun as it is I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break and Christmas break.
The boys are great. Alex is flourishing in school, having a blast. He has the most amazing teacher who is really bringing out a love of learning in Alex this year. Ben is doing great too. He would much rather help everyone else do their work than do his own, but with a little prodding it all gets done. Ben's got a great teacher too and he loves school and playing with all his buddies.
Mike is busy busy busy at work, but fortunately not traveling too much. He gets some time to work on models and help the boys with their models. His office is moving to a new location in December. It's closer to home and hopefully that means he will have a much more pleasant commute to/from work. I am happy he'll be closer.
And that... is us.
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