August

The boys started a new school year on Wednesday. D is in 2nd grade and Ry is 1st. So far they are really enjoying school. I started doing preschool with Rose and I'm happy to say that she is able to focus and she even likes the hour we spend on it. I tried it last year and she just wasn't ready. I think being a year older plus getting glasses (yay! she can actually see now!) helps.
I've got to say, if your kids are super uninterested in learning letters/numbers or can't remember what letters look like at 3-4 years old... go get their vision checked. Our pediatrician does a little eye chart exam at 5 years old, but for us that was too late and I had already caught the boys eye problems and were seeing an optometrist. I caught Rose's vision problems pretty early. One, she wouldn't sit on the couch to watch tv or movies. She had to be close to the screen. Two, after spending an ample amount of time learning about a letter she couldn't pick it out on a page with other letters no matter how many times we tried. (She could pick out T, O and X) Three, after both boys needing glasses and the family history I was watching a lot more closely. The optometrist was impressed that I had caught it so early. Four, I had a gut feeling she wasn't seeing clearly. Trust that feeling.
We went on our 2nd annual trip to Schlitterbahn to reward the kids for completing their swim lessons and to celebrate our anniversary. This year was our 10th anniversary! It has gone by so fast and time's not slowing down. It's amazing what has happened in 10 years and I'm so glad I got to live those years with my best friend by my side. It makes me excited for the next 10!

my hair needs your vote

I have some plans to get a hairchop on Saturday. It's actually more like a trim and style since I don't want to go short-short. Anyhow, here's the thing, I want something pretty and easy. I haven't brushed my hair in days so... yeah. I'm hoping a little trim will give me some kind of pick me up so I will want to brush my hair, get dressed before noon and make me a tiny bit happier. I don't care what anyone says, when my hair looks good I feel better.

I had bangs growing up. Sometimes they looked good and sometimes I wonder how my mother let me go to school looking so fine. Sarcasm, y'all. I have some wonderful examples:

Ignore how dorky I look in that birthday pic. These are the best pics I could find showing the hair in a semi-good state.

Here is what I'd love to avoid:

Not only am I missing a lot of front teeth in this picture, I also look like I was just rescued from the wild. See how that hair flips out on the right side? I have to deal with that all the time. Still. The picture above with my hair pulled back... the wispy hairs? Every day. I used to call them horns. Not that I was devilish but that's what they look like. I have wavy hair. Not good wavy, mind of it's own wavy.

Hold on, I'm embarrassing myself here so I can get your opinion! Bangs or no? Currently I have none. (Except for the weird ones growing out.) The closest I've been to having bangs was almost three years ago.

I had some side swept bangs and it looks nice. (My hair is straightened in this pic.)

I've had some bad haircuts in the past and a few good ones. Even if I do decide to get bangs it'll probably be another year before I get a real haircut (I'm shooting for something closer to six months, but we'll see) so any bangs will be growing out as soon as the haircut is complete. I'm a bad maintainer.

I'm going to put up a poll and you may vote away. I know I'm asking you to do this, however, it's all up to how daring I feel on Saturday.

Here's my current look...

We have until Saturday to figure this out! Bangs or not? That is the question.

mainly because I was bored (the tree is up)

 Fifteen days until it's that day.

I am not exactly in Christmas mode, but because I have little kids about I dug out our decorations and artificial tree (like I'm actually going to pay for a real tree that will probably make me sneeze) and set it up. Last year I couldn't find our star and instead of buying a new one (they were ugly) my mom gave me a thirty year old foil star I could use. I don't know what happened but I took it out of its box and it doesn't look so good. So... we are starless until I find some spare change for a new one. (I don't like buying decorations... I use the same ornaments I bought on Black Friday in 2004 and the tree is 4 years old... still looking good, too.) Plus, for some reason people give us ornaments every year for the kids so our tree does get new stuff.

I have one Christmas item from my childhood. It's a wooden Santa sleigh that plays "Santa Claus is coming to town". Neat story on my acquirement of the little treasure. I don't know how old I was maybe five or six. My dad and I were driving back from town (around Christmas time) when he spotted a box in the road, he stopped and picked it up and we took it home. (It was not uncommon for my dad to see something in the ditch or side of the road and turn around to see if it was anything interesting.) There was a phone number somewhere in or on the box (I know we opened it) and we informed the people we had found their box of Santa sleighs and when they came to pick it up they let me choose one to keep since we had been so kind. I have cherished it ever since and I love having that memory.

I put it on the piano that is in our dining room. The kids love having me wind it up so they can listen to it play. (Santa's arm, the toys in the back and the reindeer's head and leg move up and down... very cute.)

The boys helped me set up and decorate the tree. When Rose woke up she said, What's that? (hey, she can say Christmas now!) Here's how her reaction went

If you look closely you'll see she's crossing her fingers... making a wish?

She was just a tiny bit excited. (that picture makes me so flippin' happy!)

Yesterday was such a nice day. It was cold, but the sun was shining so it didn't feel too bad. We walked to the stock tanks behind the house and there's water! Not a lot, but we have had some rain over the past month so they aren't bone dry anymore.

We had a lot of fun and for about 30 minutes I wasn't saying:

Don't touch the tree.
STOP touching the tree!
Do NOT crawl under the tree!!
Get that ornament OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!
I'M GOING TO TAKE IT DOWN IF YOU TOUCH IT ONE MORE TIME!

Because I did say all of those things (on shuffle/repeat) for thirty minutes before bedtime.

(I don't regret putting the tree up early at. all.)

Fifteen days, right? And then it's coming down immediately. 

(guess what? I've noticed they aren't as tempted to touch if I keep the lights off... Perhaps the tree has a chance to stay up after all.)

prehistoric black friday: chaper 3: happily ever after

Are you tired of my pictures yet? This is definitely picture overload, but I don't scrapbook or even get prints of my photos most of the time so I will keep the memories here for now. 

chapter one      chapter two

After we left the museum we decided to walk through the campus (since it was a lovely day) and see if the LBJ Library was open. (It's free, by the way!) We did make it there and yes, they were open. It was busier than the museum and I think we were the only people that brought children under 15 years old. It was also lunchtime and the kids were getting restless so our visit was verrrry brief (we have been there before though and it's really interesting).

oh look! downtown Austin construction! That's always a nice addition to great photos. (yes, that's the UT tower in the background... we didn't make it over there, but there's always next time.)

I really like this picture. It has a retro feel to it (at least to me). It's like we had the entire place to ourselves... which we sort of did. Inside was a different story as there were many older(ish) folks milling around (wait, does this mean we are old?)

We went to the 10th floor and saw LBJ's Oval Office (replicated) and then someone or maybe all of us started feeling really hungry. Apparently cinnamon rolls will only hold you over for so long (especially if you accidentally burn them.) T suggested bar-b-q or my favorite Mexican restaurant, Maudie's. Seeing how the last time I was going to eat at Maudie's I was experiencing contractions and was on the phone with my doctor's nurse when we pulled into the parking lot only to be told, "No, you can't eat lunch. Go to the hospital." I jumped at the chance for my favorite enchiladas! 

The food was perfect. The kids' behavior was exceptional. The tacos, chips & salsa, rice and beans and, of course, the enchiladas were all I had hoped and dreamed of for over 2 years. As many times as I make tacos and enchiladas at home I fail so badly to replicate my favorite.

she was worth missing Maudie's... although I still don't know why no one brought me some in the hospital

I know it sounds terrible that I hadn't been to Maudie's in over two years when I have frequently gone to Austin for doctor visits and such. It's just that my Maudie's is not close to my doctor's offices. And I like it being a special treat. It's a special place to T and I. I remember lunch breaks spent there while we were both working/living in Austin and childless. It was really fun to take the kids and reminisce about those days. We even drove to our old apartment complex (and I went in and asked how much they were going for just for fun). We stopped by our friends' place (they are getting married this weekend!) and said hi. Then we thought of going to Mount Bonnell (very cool, holds some great memories, too), but it was packed (what's with that?) so we just drove around and looked at all the awesome houses out there. Very much like back in the day. By then the kids were falling asleep so we drove home and rented Captain America and Horrible Bosses from redbox to end the night. Awesome daytrip vacation. I can't wait for 2012 Black Friday.

We had such a great day. I'm looking forward to next year! I'm glad I could share it with y'all, too. 

this sums up our lovely, lovely day

prehistoric black friday: chapter 2

If you noticed in yesterday's post the museum was not very busy. We happened to get there an hour after it opened and were pleasantly surprised by the lack of people. We were about 3/4 of the way through the exhibits when we started actually having to walk around people or say "excuse me". There was a moment when Ry started walking away with another family.... um, sorry kid, you're stuck with us. 

Now, let us get back to my mahr-va-lous pictures.

 See that gigantic skeleton there? (above these words) That, my friends, is the Mosasaur. (That's what we were looking at outside and sitting on it's vertebrae.) This is why I don't swim. I mean, I know it's extinct...

Here was another slightly smaller, not less scary creature. Look at the teeth. 

I failed to get a picture of the enormous armadillo. I'm sorry, I know you wanted to see it. I just took pictures of the kids reactions to things.

 above is an ancient zebra.  below is a giant tusk from something.

 above: Rose giving a very scientific explanation about skeletal structure. Below: D and the giant sea turtle

 above: the kids go fishing  

below: big fish

Last pictures of this post are from the wildlife exhibit.

Mountain lions bring up a lot of emotions. Mostly bad ones.

Tomorrow: Pictures of the family on the University of Texas campus. 

Have a lovely Tuesday!

for more on this trip see chapter one and chapter three

prehistoric black friday: chapter one

Friday T had the day off (it was a surprise!) and we wanted to go do something to take advantage of this. We wanted it to be as close to free as possible so we started looking at museums on line. The boys really want to go to a dinosaur place that is a couple of hours away (the entry fees are not nice for a family of 5 however) so we looked up dinosaur museums in Austin. Come to find out there is one! It's on the University of Texas campus: The Texas Memorial Museum and Texas Natural Science Center. The admission is free and that day parking was also free (in a VERY nearby garage) due to the holiday! I only took a hundred pictures so get ready...

 Outside the museum and science center is a replica of dinosaur tracks found in Texas (pretty cool).

There are also these fun vertebrae (replica) chairs. They are 8 times the size of the vertebrae from the Mosasaur (an underwater dino).

At the entrance there is a large saber tooth tiger (Rose was not getting close!) and I had to have a picture of the boys with it.

The day was absolutely lovely, too. Just had to mention that.

After you walk through the small entry way you see this. It's the Texas Pterosuar. It's hard to see tell how large this is but I couldn't get the whole thing in one picture. I practically had to lay on the floor to get this shot and the wing span is still not entirely captured. It's the "largest flying creature ever discovered." Um... awesomeness. The boys loved it.

D and Ry were identifying all the dinosaurs before I could even read the ID cards. Smart little cookies.

 Rose wanted her picture taken in front of dino skeleton but forgot to look at the camera and she ran away quickly after to find a giant petrified tree trunk.

They all carried their maps around and ohmygosh looked so adorable and like little scientists the entire time.
It's time for me to say goodbye today.... I can promise a lot more pictures tomorrow! I'll leave you with this

for more on this trip see chapter two and chapter three

Two Birthdays

On this day, many years apart, two women were born. Women that would become incredibly important in my life.

One was my Oma. She would have been 96. I've been in the house that she was born in. It still stands on my parent's land, just a few steps away from the house where I grew up.

blanketed in a very rare snowfall

How am I just realizing that we grew up on the same piece of land? I walked in the same woods she did, ran across the same fields, probably fell down in the same places and got scraped hands and skinned knees. She was tougher than me when she was seven years old than I have ever been. She walked miles to school by herself and had to cross a creek to get there. If it rained while she was in school and the creek rose she didn't get to go home; she stayed with a family on the other side. Could you imagine doing that at 6 or 7 years old? Incredible.

She moved to San Antonio and eventually got a job in Comfort working at the retirement home. This is where she met my Opa who was working there as well.

 

This is them on their wedding day.

I love this picture

She had three sons. Eventually she and my Opa moved back to her family's land and built a house (one of many... my Opa was a builder) She designed the plan and he built it. She always had a garden with tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. Her pickles were the best. She always had homemade bread in the house. I have her recipe for cornbread dressing that is a must have at every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. She always made a smaller pan of it for me and my uncle (we don't like raisins). I still have a corn-husk doll she made me. She never made me eat peaches... even though she had peach tress and canned them. Once she caught me pretend smoking a white lego piece (one of the long skinny pieces) and I thought I was going to be in so much trouble, but she just laughed. She always wore a coral shade of lipstick to Mass on Saturday nights. I am tall like she was.
I am so proud to be her granddaughter.

The other important lady is my mother-in-law. Without her I wouldn't have my husband... or my children. She has been a wonderful mother-in-law to me. Never nagging, never into my business, always respectful of my decisions and very, very supportive. My sister-in-law, Shauna, wrote a beautiful post about her. I'd suggest you read it so you can see her flying a plane. How cool is that? Happy birthday!!

What is Happiness?

an October evening

 

brothers. sister. 

never remembering one without the other.