Dewali Mela 2009

Last night we went to the Dewali Mela in Arlington outside the new cowboys stadium. We had a lot of fun, in spite of the cold and mist. Dewali is the biggest Hindu holiday, the celebration of light, and of good over evil, but we just went for the food and fun.

Here's Theo in the new stadium. They had it open so we could see it. Too bad they didn't hold it inside because it was so cold out.

Elephant trunk

How cute! They really do walk that way.

The girls and Theo got to ride an elephant. I decided not to since I wanted pictures and I didn't want to wait in line again for just me, and I went on one in India anyways. It was very reasonable at only $5 per person. Even Theo was prepared to pay $10 each. But he was going to make them choose one.

Here are the girls on the camel.

They had a really good turn out in spite of the cold. They were expecting 100k people, but not sure how many actually turned out. Since they advertised it as being at the cowboys stadium, most people thought it would be inside and like us didn't bring coats. It never actually rained, but it misted all evening and kept us freezing.

Some classical Indian Dance.

As we were leaving they were setting up for a skit of the Ramayana. Here are the girls with the Hindu monkey god, Hanuman. Katie recently learned the 10 commandments and so everywhere we went she was pointing out the idols and telling us how we aren't supposed to worship them.

Soccer

Katie and Lizzy got to play their first soccer game this weekend. Katie is returning, but it was Lizzy's first game ever! Go Plano Kings and Shooting Stars!

Rainbow

A quick storm this evening left us with a beautiful reminder of God's love. We even saw a hint of a second rainbow.

Heard Museum

We went with some Mops friends to the Heard Museum today. The girls had a lot of fun. It is so pathetic that it is only 5 miles from my house and we hadn't been yet. They had a butterfly exibit and they were getting ready for dinosaurs alive which starts in a couple of days so we got to see a dinosaur too (which Lizzy was scared to death of). The "big" 4 year old boys were brave though and walked right up to it. You should have seen them run when he roared though. So funny. The weather was absolutely marvelous all day. 78 and sunny. After we got home we played in the yard all day. Gotta love a playdate you can count as a field trip so we don't have to do school! Esp. on a day like today.

One little, Two little Indian Girls

The girls wanted to wear their Indian dresses to church today and they looked so sweet I just had to take a picture.



Lizzy and her tooth that she got a the Dentist

Katie and her new build-a-bear from a birthday party she went to. She had a great time and loves her new bear, Ellie.

My children

Ok, so I linked over to another blog that I had never heard of but apparently everyone else has (which is not uncommon because I'm always the last to know anything - probably because I tend to daydream instead of listening.) so anyways I link over there and I find out that this woman who I have never met knows my children! How'd she do that! Here's the link, but I pasted it below too.

Katie was the most difficult baby ever, and I seriously considered finding the receipt and returning her, but she turned out to be a nearly perfect child. Lizzy was the sweetest happiest thing when she was tiny, but darn, there is no pleasing her now, and I don't dare turn my back on her because she has a talent for finding mischief like none other.

Sometimes babies come out screaming and never stop, sometimes they are angry that you did this to them, gave them life and now? Now they have no choice but to live it, AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT. Turns out those are the ones who can read at a third grade level when they are only five-years-old. I guess that's what they call a trade-off.

You came out and were all, hey. What's up. Yeah? Really? Because I was just going to lie down over here and look cute. And then sleep. And then maybe sleep some more. And when it's time to eat, I will. And then I will smile. And I will make you want to have more babies.

You are what I call The Ruse. And I am not falling for it, not one bit. No way. I'm guessing your kind is evolution's way of sustaining our species. Because you and your irresistible cuteness and mood could fool a woman into having lots and lots of babies. BUT I AM NO FOOL. You know why? Because I have already lived through the third year of someone's life, and I know yours is coming. And when it hits, when you throw your body across the floor in a fit of rage, I'll be all SEE! I KNEW IT! Behind all those smiles and adorable dimples lies an evil three-year-old!

More pics from the balloon festival

Plano Balloon Festival

Plano has an annual hot air balloon festival, about a mile from our house, so usually the balloons float over us. This year we had friends over two nights in a row to watch with us, but no balloons. I guess it was too cloudy.
But this morning we finally saw some balloons! We watched a few fly over this morning when we woke up, and then got ready to go to church. When we headed out to get in the car, we saw a balloon headed in low towards our house. They waved at us as they went over our yard, very nearly hit our chimney, and then landed just up the street from us. And it was the pirate balloon! Although Katie said she wished it was the flower one. We were late for church, but I think we had a good excuse.

First Day of Co-op

Here are the girls on their first day of PATH Homeschool Co-op. Everything went really well and the girls love their new classes. Lizzy's favorite part was the Rosita, the Spanish puppet. Lizzy stays in pre-school all day. Katie's favorite class was sewing, the one I teach. Katie takes sewing, handwriting, ballet, munchie math, and the young naturalist.

Oh and here is our tomato crop. It rained so much the bush got knocked over, cage and all, and drowned but I rescued these. Some of them are nice and red now. Hopefully the rest will get there before they rot. I am really impressed because last time I tried it, I got 1 tomato which looked terrible. We also got a bunch of cherry tomatoes off the other bush. But we just ate them. What else would you do with 1 or 2 cherry tomatos at a time? We planted pumpkins too, and they sprang up fast but I think the grubs got them because they all died. I sprayed them, but too little too late.

Round-Up Sunday

Here are the girls for round-up Sunday. They got to dress like Cowgirls as they started the year in their new Sunday School Classes.

Our old house

I am joining Thrifty Decor Chick's before and after party. Well if I can figure out how to do it anyways. This is our old house a few days after we purchased it, and once we finally finished the remodeling. When we were looking for houses, we found this for 130. Our realtor informed us that with 10K worth of work it could be a beautiful home. Nearly 100k in renovations later, we finally had a fairly nice, but small home. But eventually we moved to Texas because we needed more space, and the neighborhood was starting to scare us. In the end we wound up clearing only 40k when we sold it, which did help us to buy our Texas home, but man, that was the hardest money we've ever made! Click here to see the slideshow. Note the linoleum tiles glued over the original wood floors - and only half of the living room???! When we were looking at it, I pulled up the carpet and saw the wood floors and was happy, til after we bought it and I finished pulling up the carpet to reveal those awful glued on with thick black glue tiles thruout the rest of the house.