The Atmakur's

Valentine's Cards

2012-02-09T19:51:00.000-06:00

Worked on the girls' valentines today. I feel bad that I do most of it, but I console myself with the fact that they turned out really cute. I didn't come up with the idea, and I'm not sure where I saw it but someone is a genius. We made them a couple years back too.

Dallas Zoo

2012-02-04T13:44:00.002-06:00

A couple of Sundays ago we skipped church and headed for the zoo. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We had lots of fun. Hopefully we'll make it one more time before our membership expires.

2012-01-24T15:54:00.000-06:00

Grandma Greta helped Katie with her science fair project this year. They extracted her DNA which is pretty impressive and if Grandma could have helped her to the finish, she might have won, but unfortunately, I had to take over and the science went downhill from there.

Betty Bunny

2012-01-15T20:22:00.002-06:00

Lizzy saw the bunny lovey I made and wanted me to make me one so I found another cute bunny pattern and just finished it for her. It is so adorable. I just love her little tail and panties!

Lizzy loves her! Of course, now that commits me to making one for Katie. We'll see how long that takes since I'm starting back to school now.

Knitting

2012-01-06T20:19:00.000-06:00

I got a knitting bug a couple of weeks ago and started a baby blanket for a friend and I actually finished it! Yay for big needles and a simple pattern!

Neiman Marcus Windows

2012-01-03T14:51:00.000-06:00

Since the tubes were closed when we went during the evening, on Friday, we went back to go inside the windows with some friends. We took the light rail downtown which the kids always enjoy. They especially enjoyed the ride back which was standing room only, turning down every seat offered in favor of standing.

Unfortunately it was hard to get a good picture with all the glare.

After they crawled though the windows about 10 times, we headed inside. Nieman marcus is a scary place to take kids! But luckily no one broke anything. I'm sure they were glad to see us leave.

Christmas 2011 Part Four - Riding the Trolley

2012-01-03T14:30:00.000-06:00

The day after Christmas, we decided to go downtown and ride the trolley.

First, we stopped at Village Burger Bar for some hamburgers and lemonade.

The trolley is lots of fun for the kids and free except for tips!

When we came to the end of the line, we hopped off and walked 6 blocks down to Main St.

They had a pretty tree which changes colors or snows if you send it text messages. Of course, my phone battery was dead.

Next, we played in the park for a bit on these really cool spinning toys that I haven't seen before. They were lots of fun and even Theo and I rode them.

We walked a block down to Nieman Marcus and took a look inside their famous windows.

They had really cool tubes for the kids to crawl through, but they were closed.

Then after a long (why is the walk back always longer?), cold walk back to the trolley we headed home.

Christmas 2011 Part Three - Exchanging gifts

2011-12-31T16:36:00.001-06:00

When I was growing up, we opened gifts on Christmas eve. I loved opening gifts by the twinkle of the christmas tree, but that made Christmas the worst day of the year. So in our family, we keep the tradition of opening presents in the evening but moved it to Christmas night so that the 26th is the worst day of the year as it should be.

So, after dinner, we exchanged gifts. We started with Theo reading the Christmas story to the girls from Luke. Then we read about the three wisemen and opened our wisemen gifts - myrr was chapstick, frankinscense was scented lotion, and gold was chocolate coins.

Then we each took turns opening gifts and singing carols.

Christmas 2011 Part Three - Christmas Dinner

2011-12-31T16:22:00.001-06:00

After returning from church, we had a late dinner with ham and all the fixin's.

Christmas 2011 Part Two

2011-12-31T15:40:00.002-06:00

After opening Santa's gifts, we got dressed up and went to church. While we were all dressed up nice, we took some family photos.

Christmas 2011 Part One - Santa gifts

2011-12-28T19:56:00.001-06:00

Christmas 2011 began with the opening of Santa gifts. Santa doesn't normally bring $100 gifts, but I think he heard about the wonderful thing the girls did and rewarded them. Someone in our family won the American girl raffle our Mops group was doing. The girls decided to take my suggestion of giving the doll to a little girl who wasn't going to get anything for Christmas. A tough thing to do when they didn't know they were receiving dolls for Christmas.

Lizzy got a "just like me" doll. It is her first AG doll and she named her Hayley.

Katie already had a just like me doll from her 5th birthday, so she got the girl of the year, Kanani that she has been begging for all year.

2011 Christmas Decorations

2011-12-20T17:56:00.000-06:00

Painting

2011-12-19T16:10:00.000-06:00

The girls spent 4 hours today painting ceramics I found on clearance at Michael's. What a great way to spend a rainy day.

Rollerskating

2011-12-19T16:03:00.001-06:00

Last night, we went to a carol sing at what may become our new church. After, they rented out the skating rink and we all had some fun skating.
I love how the minute the video starts, Katie fell down. Lizzy was crazy legs the whole night and spent more time on the ground than upright. (by the way, she asked "what in the WORLD are you doing?" not what it sounded like). I was lucky enough not to fall down which is good because I don't bounce as well as the kids do.

Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-19T15:55:00.002-06:00

Last week we held our annual gingerbread house decorating party. Since the kids weren't home to enjoy making the houses with me this year, I decided to take the lazy way and buy pre-made ones. They didn't smell as good, but they looked prettier. Everyone had lots of sticky fun!

Crazy Hair Day

2011-12-13T08:22:00.001-06:00

As a reward for bringing in cans to feed the hungry, the kids all got to have a crazy hair day today (at least I sure hope it's today and not tomorrow)

Live Nativity Scene

2011-12-12T21:56:00.000-06:00

Friday evening, we went to the live nativity scene at the Lutheran church. We really love this one, and haven't missed since the first year we moved here. The girls love seeing the shops of Bethlehem and seeing the nativity story acting out.

Pictures with Santa

2011-12-12T21:25:00.000-06:00

Silliness

2011-12-06T20:37:00.001-06:00

The girls were being silly tonight and Lizzy grabbed Katie's butt. I told her "we don't grab people's butts". She responded "maybe at school we don't but at home, maybe we do."

Then we were reading our Little House book and it talked about how the white man was killing the indians. Katie suddenly goes. "oh my gosh! I'm indian, your the white man... aaak!!! Save me!"

Grandma's Dinner Party

2011-12-06T11:42:00.001-06:00

On Sunday evening, Grandma and Grandpa had a dinner party with a couple of their friends. First we set the table.

Then we did Grandpa's hair.

And finally, enjoyed some yummy food.

Katie was our event photographer and she got some fantastic shots. Especially this one of Lizzy which I'm sure we forever treasure.

Lizzy's 6th Birthday Party

2011-12-05T11:36:00.001-06:00

November 30th was Lizzy's 6th birthday! We celebrated Saturday with her friends. They painted, ate pizza and had butterfly cupcakes.

Lizzy with two of her new friends from school.

After the rest of her friends left, these goofy girls stayed behind for a sleepover. We went to the drive-thru nativity scene at a local church and got in just before it got flooded out. After, we went inside for Jesus' birthday party. They won prizes, got their faces painted and had lots of fun. Then we snuggled on the couch and watched a girly movie.

Christmas Lights

2011-12-01T21:04:00.001-06:00

On the way home from Thanksgiving, near the border of Texas we saw a pretty Christmas light show.

Lizzy's Family Birthday Party

2011-12-01T20:57:00.001-06:00

While we were in Kansas,we celebrated Lizzy's 6th birthday. Katie was the event photographer and she got some great pictures. Lizzy got her choice of food (mushroom pizza) and cupcakes. She got a new radio player for her room.

Science Help

2011-12-01T20:28:00.001-06:00

Katie asked Grandma Greta for some help with her science fair. They extracted actually extracted DNA. (Good helper choice - I'm sure if she asked me we'd have done something involving growing potatoes.)

Katie's notes.

Gathering Lizzy's cells.

Banana DNA bubbles under the microscope. From what I understand (since I was reading a novel instead of paying attention) you can't see the DNA itself with her microscope, but it is inside these bubbles.

Now she just has to copy her notes, and make her poster board and she's ready for the science fair!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T20:11:00.001-06:00

For Thanksgiving we went to Grandpa Steve and Grandma Greta's house. We had a wonderful meal. They helped the girls make a cute fruit turkey centerpiece. We got some great pictures of the pretty table and the wonderful soup, and then, instead of getting pictures of the turkey and the family, we chowed down and didn't get any. But we had a great time and enjoyed amazing food!

Bank Robber

2011-11-20T12:40:00.001-06:00

Last Wednesday, at work, a guy came in and robbed me. Here's the picture from the video. Not much to go on, but hopefully they catch him. It was very scary, but thankfully, everyone was safe and he didn't even get that much money.

Twilight

2011-11-18T08:27:00.000-06:00

Last night, a couple of friends and I went to see the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn. First we met at Romano's for dinner, and then headed over to the theatre to claim our seats and enjoyed chit-chatting through the three hour wait. The movie was fun. Yes, we were the pathetic group of 30 somethings surrounded by teenagers. The girl in front of us was working on math homework! We finally made it home around 3am, the latest I've been out in awhile. It was so much fun, and I hope to do it again next year!

Rainbow

2011-11-15T22:00:00.000-06:00

After a refreshing rain this afternoon, we saw a pretty rainbow while the girls were splashing in the puddles.

New Carpet

2011-11-11T09:40:00.000-06:00

We've been thinking about getting new carpet for 3 years now, and this week we finally took the plunge. We got a patterned brown carpet which will hopefully wear well. At least, that's what the sales guy said, we'll see. We had thought about doing wood upstairs, but decided it would be too noisy and besides I tend to fall down the stairs on a regular basis so I wanted something softer to land on.

Here's the before. The stairs and hall had berber which wore really well since it is almost 12 years old. It doesn't look too bad in the pictures but it was pretty bad in person. Especially the places where I fell down the stairs holding a can of paint last year.

The bedrooms had a cut pile carpet that looked awful now.

Getting new carpet is almost as bad as moving. The back bedroom and dining room are still full of stuff for me to put away. The installers moved furniture, but we had to move everything on the furniture.

Halloween: Costumes

2011-11-03T22:46:00.000-05:00

On Halloween, we went trick-or-treating with some friends whose mom actually took some pictures. They had so much fun we stayed out for 3 hours. They got plenty of loot - probably enough to last til next year.

This year, Katie was a sailor, and Lizzy was a cat for trick-or-treating and supergirl for our Mops party.

Halloween: Decorations

2011-11-03T22:33:00.000-05:00

Halloween: Carving the pumpkin

2011-11-03T22:28:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, Theo helped the girls carve the pumpkin. He didn't have to do much this year. He cut open the top and the rest they did themselves.

(Hey -- he has more teeth than Katie!)

While they worked on that, I baked some pumpkin cookies for them to decorate for their teachers.

Overheard

2011-11-02T22:39:00.000-05:00

Lizzy: "I had a really hard day at school today"
Me: "what happened sweetie?"
Lizzy: "People were coughing outside of their sleeves and it was making me sick"
Katie: "There was an announcement this morning that you should cover your cough with your sleeves so we don't spread germs"

Lizzy "Momma, katie hit me"
Katie "no I didn't. She just hit herself and then told on me."
Me: "Lizzy, did you do that?"
Lizzy dejected : "yes."

Katie: My class was really quiet today because my teacher had amnesia and could barely talk so we had to listen carefully."
Me: Amnesia???? Do you mean laryngitis?"
Katie: "something like that"

Mini-Vacation

2011-10-27T22:12:00.000-05:00

Plano schools had a long weekend so we went to San Antonio to get a second trip out of our Sea World tickets.

They were having their Halloween celebration. It was lots of fun. Starting at dusk, they had people in costumes trying to scare people. They had a scary forest trail, which we decided was too scary for the kids but Theo went through. We waited for him at the end where we enjoyed watching them jump out at people with chainsaws.

We all got to pet the giant snake.

I don't know why this guy was considered part of the freak show. After all, doesn't everyone tuck their legs behind their head to play guitar?

The next day, our first stop was to feed the dolphins.

That evening we went to dinner on the riverwalk at Casa Rio. It was fun and yummy. Too bad dinner was followed by an hour of wandering lost around San Antonio searching for our exit.

Sunday we went to see our friends in Austin. The kids enjoyed rocking out to Justin Bieber in the car on the way to school.

Then we headed downtown to see the capital and check out the weirdness that is Austin.

New Dresses

2011-10-27T21:27:00.001-05:00

Fire Safety Posters

2011-10-10T22:39:00.000-05:00

The girls made fire safety posters for a school poster competition. I think they turned out really cute!

Bible Presentation

2011-10-10T22:34:00.000-05:00

The third graders were presented with new Bibles from the Pastor on Sunday. Katie was so excited and had a great morning.

Lizzy's Class

2011-09-30T12:05:00.001-05:00

Here's a picture of Lizzy's class. She really loves her teacher! She's a great teacher who seems to make every kid feel like her favorite.

Wizard of Oz

2011-09-26T10:58:00.001-05:00

My Mom's church had an interactive showing of the Wizard of Oz, complete with costume contest. We tied for best family and Lizzy the tinman won best costume.

First MOPS Meeting

2011-09-10T20:42:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, we had our first MOPS meeting of the year! We had so much fun and it was good to see my friends again. This year my good friends took over as coordinators and I joined the hospitality team, in charge of decorations and greeting new people. We had 7 new people at our meeting which was exciting!

~~Tuesday night~~ Over the summer, we worked on the table centerpiece boxes and I think they turned out totally cute. You may notice that our theme this year is games.

We played Mommy Feud and Minute to Win It. The ladies really worked hard to set up some fun games.

Please keep our MOPS group in your prayers this year. Due to cutbacks at our church we have lost our childcare funding and have to come up with $300 per meeting to pay for childcare. (We can't take turns due to the child protection policy). MOPS is such a great outreach ministry to moms who need friendship. All of my best friends were made there and I still remember when my kids were tiny and that was my only social outlet. It is a great program for our community!!!

Mini-Golfing

2011-09-10T20:02:00.000-05:00

For Labor Day, we went to Adventure Landing and played mini-golf and laser tag. We had lots of fun and the weather was beautiful. After it got a little warmer, the girls played in the arcade for awhile.

Miss Fancypants

2011-09-03T19:09:00.001-05:00

Lizzy was told to go get dressed so we could go out to eat. This is what we got.
She may have been just a tad overdressed for Macaroni Grill, but she looked beautiful!

First Day of School!

2011-08-22T12:20:00.000-05:00

For those of you who didn't get the memo, we've decided to put the girls in public school this year. Today was their first day. Katie has been super excited all summer, but Lizzy has been worried sick.

So when we got there this morning, I dropped off Katie and then prepared myself to deal with a crying Lizzy. Nope - she gave me a quick hug and then literally pushed me out the classroom door. So I cried instead. My baby doesn't need me anymore. I don't know how they've gotten so big. Katie is starting 3rd grade and Lizzy is starting Kindergarten.

Their teachers are both really nice and I can't wait to hear how their first day went! The principal was really nice and worked it out so Katie would be in the same class as one of her best friends! Hopefully they don't just chit-chat all day. Lizzy doesn't know anyone yet, but she makes friends very fast and will probably have 29 new best friends by the end of the day.

Katie's 8th Birthday!

2011-08-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we celebrated Katie's 8th birthday!

She wanted a Littlest Pet Shop birthday. But we couldn't find anything Pet Shop to decorate cupcakes with so we used Squinkies.

They enjoyed swimming. We were lucky and got a nice cool day. It was only 103*!

After swimming, they had pizza, ice cream and cupcakes.

She got lots of fun presents! Her friend got her into Justin Bieber so she got a cd and a Bieber doll. She got lots of Barbie's too which she loves!

Lizzy got her a trunk for her stuffed animals and we decorated it with the cricut my sweet friend gave me!

Visit to Austin

2011-07-26T22:31:00.000-05:00

We went to Austin last week and had lots of fun with our sweet friends there. Lizzy and I stayed for one day, and then Katie stayed two more nights by herself. While we were there we went to the Austin Art in the Park and got to hear the Biscuit Brothers sing. They had a really cute show. Then the kids got their faces painted.

Sunday School Swim

2011-07-26T22:14:00.002-05:00

We hosted our Sunday School Summer Fun night the a couple of weeks ago and had lots of fun with some of our friends.

Amazing Trasnformation!

2011-07-10T21:28:00.001-05:00

Worked on the fifth bedroom today. It was a disaster. I think the gravity is really thick in there and things just whoosh right in from all around the house. Katie's been doing a lot of crafts lately too and sometimes (always) forgets to put things away. I wanted to document it while it was clean because I know tomorrow morning I'll go up there and it will be a mess again.

MOPS BBQ

2011-07-10T21:20:00.000-05:00

Last night, we had our fifth annual Mops family BBQ. We had a great time with our friends!

Stylin

2011-07-10T18:52:00.002-05:00

Doesn't everyone wear cowboy boots, a swimming suit and a headband?

Rearranging the girls' bedrooms

2011-07-03T23:43:00.000-05:00

I've been searching for a new comforter for Lizzy for awhile now. Every time I see one I like, they only have twin and full sizes. The one we had was a full/queen and didn't cover the bed completely. And it didn't wear well, so it was all lumpy. Yesterday at Penney's, I found a cute one on sale for $50 with a coupon! And they had them in queen size!!

So this inspired me to clean out the girls' rooms and rearrange their furniture. Lizzy's bed had been shoved against the wall which gave her more floor space, but made it a pain in the neck to make. So we decided to try it in the middle, thinking it would be too big, but it worked great.

Lizzy's room before

We even got her closet cleaned out!

Katie's bed had been against the window. I decided to move it against the wall again and I like it better.

Katie's Room Before

I'm still deciding how to arrange her letters and bulletin board.

Wedding

2011-06-27T12:54:00.001-05:00

Saturday, we went to a theme wedding of one of our friends. The wedding was lots of fun. It was held in a hundred year old movie theatre. The bride and groom were from the 30's and everyone was supposed to come in costume from their favorite movie. The wedding was beautiful.

We went as characters from Bringing Up Baby

I just went GAY all of a sudden!

George and her stolen "intercostal clavicle"

Baby

Susan, with broken heel and butterfly net for catching leopards. "everything's going to be alright"

With the bride and groom and family.

Summer Afternoons

2011-06-15T16:40:00.001-05:00

Katie's architectural masterpiece.

Play-doh... best way to spend a too hot to go outside afternoon.

Dallas Zoo

2011-06-08T23:01:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, we went to the zoo with some friends. It was fun, but really hot. I think we'll wait until fall to go back again.

We all enjoyed feeding the giraffes. I think that is such a fun addition to the Dallas zoo.

Interesting, in this last picture, the giraffe in the back appears to be outside the fence. One would assume it is a trick of the camera, however since this is the Dallas Zoo, it is just as likely the giraffe is making a run for it. So far, a chimpanzee, four gorillas and two macaws have escaped.

New Dining Room

2011-06-08T17:47:00.002-05:00

It occurred to me when I saw the pictures from the bridal shower that I never took pictures of my dining room after changing it back from a play room.

Here's the before

And the after, all grown up.

Bridal Shower

2011-06-04T20:56:00.002-05:00

Today, my friend and I put on a bridal shower for another friend who is getting married later this month. We had a fun luncheon, and some games.

I got another use out of my cupcake stand.

The one who could get the most cotton balls on their head with a spoon won a prize.

I designed this gorgeous toilet paper dress.

But lost to this one.

Here are some more pictures from my friend's blog.

Swimming

2011-06-04T20:20:00.000-05:00

Katie's Choir Program

2011-05-28T20:20:00.001-05:00

Wednesday night, Katie had her program. She got to play the part of Peter in prison in one of the songs. She did a great job as did all the kids. The boys rocking out were just so cute I had to get a video of them too.

Neighborhood Watch Block Party

2011-05-26T17:32:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, on the one day it thankfully didn't rain, we hosted our neighborhood watch block party. It was fun and the police officer was very informative.

First to blow the balloon so full it popped won a gift card!

Fun at Church

2011-05-26T17:20:00.001-05:00

Katie and her friend having fun at church.

Lizzy's Choir Program

2011-05-26T13:41:00.003-05:00

Lizzy's Choir did their performance last Wednesday. They were super cute.

Girl Scout Awards

2011-05-25T22:38:00.003-05:00

After Mops on Wednesday, we headed over to Girl Scouts for our awards ceremony. The girls both got lots of new patches.

End of Year Mops Party

2011-05-25T22:30:00.002-05:00

Last Wednesday, we had our last Mops and enjoyed a yummy luncheon, and a fun comic whose most memorable moment was playing Jesus loves me on his hands with fart noises, followed by Amazing Grace on the handsaw. It was lots of fun. For my wonderful steering team this year I found some cute plates at TJ Maxx and made some goodies to share with them. And they all got me a recipe book with pictures of everyone in it, which was really cool. I also "graduated" this year - meaning my baby goes to Kindergarten next year so I got a picture frame and a pretty cross.

Poor Fred

2011-05-25T22:16:00.001-05:00

Poor Fred the Tadpole keeled over dead yesterday morning. Oh well, we tried.

Girl Scouts

2011-05-15T16:07:00.004-05:00

This weekend,we headed out to the girl scout camp out. Because GS USA wanted over $400 for one night, we took off for a Baptist camp near Lake Texoma which was only $150 for the night. This also meant that little brothers could come along too. The "cabin" was cool with 4 bedrooms full of bunk beds, and a main eating and kitchen area. MUCH better than the tent where the boys had to sleep!

Our first stop was a boat ride. One of the girl's grandpa owns a pontoon boat and took us out. It was lots of fun, though cold, getting splashed with the water. But the wind was starting to pick up and we were headed back in, when a large wave came over the front of the boat and nearly sunk us. But we made it though, just a wee bit traumatized. Everyone was wearing life jackets so we would have been fine but very cold.Thankfully, he was able to get the engine (which had been drowned) started back up and we made it back in. We wound up with some sopping shoes and a fun story to tell.

Here is the first and only group to go on the boat.

Fun around the camp.

The next day, we took a hike to the beach. It was very pretty and green there. You wouldn't even think you were in the southwest.

There were thousands of tadpoles in every little bit of standing water. We brought one home, and he is currently swimming in a cake pan on my counter. The internet says it can take anywhere from 2- 12 weeks for them to transform. We're hoping for two weeks. Hopefully, he won't be like the caterpillar who was with us for 3 months.

The lake was gorgeous on Saturday. Not so windy and cold. The girls all enjoyed collecting clam shells.

EEW!

Pretty sky

2011-05-15T14:19:00.001-05:00

These clouds looked so pretty the other night that I had to take a picture. Of course, they don't do them justice.

New Fence

2011-05-11T10:28:00.002-05:00

During all the storms this spring, part of the front of our fence fell down and we decided to finally have it replaced. We did only the front and side and hope the back stays up for another year or two. Fencing is ridiculously expensive!!

Before

During

After

Kemah Boardwalk

2011-05-10T09:05:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, we went to the Kemah Boardwalk. It was lots of fun. We enjoyed speed boating, rides and lunch at Joe's crab shack.

First, we rode the Boardwalk Beast. We sat in the back where they warned us we might get splashed. We got soaked.

Then we spent the day going on rides. Even Theo went on all of them. I have always avoided the scary rides, but we decided to try them this time so we even went on the inverter (the one that hangs you upside down) and the one where you free fall down the tower (my heart just started beating again). They also had a great roller coaster, but it was the kind that beats the tar out of you so we only did it twice. The girls favorite ride was the one that spins you around very fast which we went on at least 6 times.

They had a revolving tower ride where you could go up and see the beautiful views and these were taken from there.

Galveston Beach

2011-05-09T22:31:00.002-05:00

Saturday afternoon and Monday morning, we played on the beach at Galveston. Other than a rather excessive amount of seaweed and some serious sunburning we had a great time. The girls built a sand castle, bounced on the waves in a tube, collected seashells and fed the seagulls.

Sea World

2011-05-08T08:12:00.002-05:00

Friday, we met our friends from Austin and headed out to Sea World. We had a great time and it didn't have hardly any waits for rides.

Our first stop was to feed and pet the dolphins.

Next, we went to the sea lion show where we heard about the Case of the Missing Fish. Someone was stealing fish from the cannery!

A beautiful damsel in distress.

Who could it be?

They caught him!

Next up was the Azul show. This was my favorite. They had beautiful divers, and jumping dolphins.

After lunch, we went to the Shamu show! It was really awesome too. Just the size of the whales was amazing!

Our last stop was the gift shop. Katie was rich from the tooth fairy. She isn't anymore.

Riverwalk and Alamo

2011-05-05T21:59:00.003-05:00

Today, we explored the Riverwalk some more, ate at Rainforest Cafe, took the boat ride around the river, and explored the Alamo, followed by a swim at the hotel indoor pool. When asked at the end of the day what their favorite part was, both replied "the baby duck". Guess we could have saved a bunch of money by just going to the park.

The best part of the vacation so far according to the kids.

We liked this triangle shaped building which looks like a freestanding wall when you look up at it.

Dinner on the Riverwalk

2011-05-05T07:40:00.002-05:00

Last night we had dinner on the patio by the River walk in San Antonio. It was very pretty there. We were serenaded by a mariachi band and tried alligator nuggets.

Natural Bridge Caverns

2011-05-04T22:58:00.001-05:00

This morning we started our Texas vacation. We haven't been sick all year so of course, Lizzy woke up with a cough yesterday morning and now she has a slight fever too. (At least she's not barfing. We joke that in our family it's not a road trip until someone barfs in the car.) Other than that it's been a great first day. Our first stop was the Natural Bridge Caverns between Austin and San Antonio. Although not quite as impressive as Carlsbad they were still beautiful. And we got a good workout since they are 18 stories down with no elevator.

Our litte Movie Star!

2011-05-03T15:36:00.006-05:00

We have a friend whose husband makes inspirational short films that he sells to churches. Lizzy recently got to be the star in one of his movies - well maybe not quite the star, but she was an awesome extra. The video makes more sense if you watch the first in the series. She is in the tee ball video in the swimming parts. She's in the yellow swimsuit. While you're there, check out some of his other work. Man fell in a hole and the firefighter ones are excellent.

Faith in Kindergarten

Faith in Teeball

2011-04-28T23:04:00.003-05:00

The girls got to go to a birthday party today for a friend whose grandpa is a retired airline pilot and now flies his own plane so they got to go on a second little plane ride this month. They had lots of fun and weren't scared at all since they'd just done it a week before.

And away they go

Duckcakes

2011-04-28T16:58:00.001-05:00

We had a baby shower for someone at Mops Wednesday and I got to take the cupcakes. I found these adorable baby rubber duckies at my favorite store along with a cupcake tree which I'd been thinking about for awhile and finally had an excuse to buy.

Gymnastics

2011-04-28T16:53:00.002-05:00

Our last day of co-op was on Monday and on Tuesday evening they had family night. Katie's gymnastics class spent a few minutes showing what they had learned.

Easter Bunny

2011-04-26T08:18:00.002-05:00

The Easter Bunny came on Sunday morning and the girls enjoyed finding their eggs. I totally forgot to get a family Easter photo when we were all dressed up.

Easter Activities

2011-04-25T08:22:00.001-05:00

On Good Friday, we went to my Mom and Jerry's choir cantata at the Lutheran church.

On Saturday, we went to the egg hunt at church and had lots of fun but forgot to take the camera. On Easter, the girls got to find eggs that the Easter bunny brought - I'll add those pictures in another post, followed by church and then lunch at some friends. After, we came home to have our own Easter dinner, followed by hiding out in the closet (isn't that a treasured Easter tradition?) and then when it cleared up, we did our Resurrection Eggs.

Weekend trip to Kansas

2011-04-19T23:19:00.001-05:00

This weekend we went to Kansas to visit the grandparents. We had lots of fun. First, granting Katie's request, we returned to the river we visited last time and collected more fossils.

Then we went to the old style park where we fed the ducks, followed by a ride on a hard to find merry-go-round.

Katie lost another tooth and found out the the tooth fairy pays really well in Kansas.

After being stuck in the house all day because of the rain, the next day we went to Kansas City where we walked around the plaza.

That evening, we went on a flight with Grandpa. This was our first chance to fly in a small plane. It was scary at first, but after we got going, it was fun and it was so pretty looking out.

I even got to steer for a few seconds before I totally chickened out.

Becky's flying!- which button operates the ejector seat?

Building a house field trip

2011-04-08T12:22:00.002-05:00

A friend of ours is having a new house built so she invited us on a mini-field trip to watch them pour the foundation. We only stayed for awhile, but it was really cool.

See the pictures here.

Spring yard work

2011-04-06T00:12:00.003-05:00

I worked in the yard all last week, pulling weeds, putting out mulch, planting flowers, getting the pool ready for spring, trimming the bushes, deciding that trimming the bushes was too hard, calling the guys to trim the bushes, and cleaning off the back porch which had become a dumping ground of sorts. The pictures aren't very impressive since I forgot to take any before so I found the picture below that looks about the same as our yard did. At least it felt like that when I was pulling all those weeds.

Now, you can actually walk out on the porch without tripping over something.

Two years ago, our yard started leaving and we lost a tree. So our lawn guy suggested putting in bedding around the edge to keep the dirt from escaping. It looks pretty and fixed the problem, but now, all we do is pull weeds. We put out a bunch of mulch (40 bags!) and hopefully that will keep them under control.

One of the stones fell out of our tree holder? (what is that called?) so I got that cemented back in and it looks much better.

Got the pool all clean and ready for summer. Of course, there was a storm the next night, so we already have to do that again.

We replaced the canas near the pool with hibiscus which don't grow so tall that we can't see the kids, and they always have pretty flowers.

Now we're just waiting for the grass to green up and fill in some bare spots.

Grandpa's Birthday

2011-04-05T23:20:00.001-05:00

On April 1, we celebrated Grandpa's birthday. Katie did all the decorating and Lizzy and I made cupcakes.

Arboretum Field Trip

2011-04-05T23:12:00.003-05:00

Last Wednesday the girls and their friend went on a field trip to the arboretum. It was very cold before lunch, but afterwards it warmed up a bit. It was beautiful as always with all the spring blooms. We got to dissect owl pellets (I was told that if they knew we were going to dig through owl barf for dead things they wouldn't have come), find all the little animals living in the soil, and learn about different types of plants. After the educational part, we enjoyed a picnic lunch and then explored the arboretum. They have lots of fairy tale houses there right now. The girls' favorite was the Little Mermaid. It was a fun day.

Out Little Jack-O-Lantern

2011-04-05T22:30:00.001-05:00

Cute new dresses

2011-03-28T16:31:00.002-05:00

The girls have been anxiously awaiting the dresses Aunt Mercy had promised them and they finally came today! They are beautiful knit dresses - Aunt Mercy has way more patience than I do. They wanted to show her the pictures right away, so I'll be replacing them later when they are dressed up for church so check back. Thanks!! (I got a new picture of Katie, but Lizzy looked better here since she was busy throwing a fit Sunday)

A very green day

2011-03-24T00:06:00.003-05:00

On St. Patrick's day, I made some green cupcakes and then we headed to the park to make it green by picking up trash. Normally, a fairly easy undertaking, but adding in 30 mph wind made it kind of tricky. But we had lots of fun with friends, picked up a little trash, and enjoyed some treats.

Booth Sale

2011-03-24T00:06:00.002-05:00

And finally, the last thing we did over spring break was our Daisy booth sale (along with a couple of older girls to help us out). We sold 52 boxes of cookies, bringing Katie's total to about 175 boxes. And thankfully, that ends the 2011 Girl Scout cookie season!!!!

Spring Break Sleepover

2011-03-24T00:01:00.004-05:00

For spring break, we met Katie's Austin friend half way to her house and kidnapped her for two days. Then we decided if we were going to have one girl over, we might as well 15. The girls had so much fun with all of their friends. They watched movies, had pizza, baked cookies and painted their nails. I was worried it would be kind of crazy, but they girls were all so well behaved and sweet. It was actually surprisingly quiet. At least til they went out on the swing set at 8 the next morning to make sure the neighbors were awake.

Dallas Zoo

2011-03-23T23:27:00.001-05:00

We had lots of fun at the Dallas Zoo the week before spring break. And we got a membership, so hopefully we'll have many more chances to go this year.

King of the Hill

Cutie pie

Can you hear me now?

Riding the camel

2011-03-23T23:07:00.005-05:00

The Giraffes

2011-03-22T21:19:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog. We've been so crazy busy lately it's gone to the bottom of the list. A couple of weeks ago, Theo took the day off so we could beat the rush and get to the zoo before spring break. Here's a sneak peek and I'll post more soon

Tractor driving

2011-03-06T21:00:00.001-06:00

We got our driveway expanded recently by some family and friends (thanks!) and the girls got to drive the tractor.

Hannah's Tree

2011-03-05T14:02:00.001-06:00

This morning our girl scout troop planted a tree at the Allen Library in memory of Hannah. In spite of the cold, we were very glad to be able to participate and to visit with her family again. What a sweet remembrance of a sweet little girl.

Daisy Service Project

2011-03-02T07:28:00.001-06:00

Last week at Girl Scouts, my Daisy troop participated in a service project. They filled 60 bags of food for the homeless. We got an assembly line going and had lots of fun. And thanks to the boys who helped while they waited on their sisters.

The Symphony!

2011-02-27T19:59:00.001-06:00

Last Tuesday, the girls and I got the chance to go see the Dallas Symphony Orchestra perform Peter and the Wolf. We had amazing seats right above the orchestra, and really enjoyed the performance. Lizzy was just starting to get wiggly when it ended so it was perfect. We ate lunch at the Plaza of the Americas and got to go up to the 12th floor in the glass elevator, where the girls laughed at me for being scared of heights. We also took a look inside the 100 year old Catholic church. We enjoyed riding the train there and back. It was such a fun experience for the girls and no sitting in traffic!

Color Guard

2011-02-27T19:24:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday, the girls got to go do color guard with their friend from girl scouts for a local political campaign.

Now I know where I want to retire. This place was beautiful! I wonder how old I have to be before I can move in.

The three girls with Cathy Fang, city council hopeful.

Bull Riding

2011-02-25T19:33:00.000-06:00

God's Army

2011-02-13T16:03:00.001-06:00

The theme in the Second Grade Sunday School class at church this month is "I'm in the Lord's Army". Here's one of the new recruits.

Snow Sledding

2011-02-04T11:39:00.003-06:00

Snowmygosh!!

2011-02-04T09:26:00.001-06:00

We woke up to a winterwonderland this morning. I have to say, a snow day is much better than an ice day. Everything looked so pretty. For ten minutes before the girls trampled it.

Oak Point Park across from our house.

Our backyard.

Now, that's just wrong.