An Almost Perfect Christmas

We had plans to travel to Houston to celebrate Christmas with our dear friends Rex, Jim, and Fabene'. On the morning we were to depart, Todd received a call and had to go into work. Yuk! He was not going to be able to drive with us but was hoping to leave a couple hours later. Sadly, he did not make it.

We had a wonderful Mexican dinner and then exchanged gifts. As you can see in the pictures, a good time was had by all. Eva love, love, loves her new American Girl, Felicity! El has introduced her new Chrissa to all of her other girls. What a wonderful way to start off the best Christmas ever!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, another year has flown by. I finally know what my Mom meant when she would tell me she still felt 16. I thought, "How on earth?". But it is true. I still feel so young. Much younger than that number that keeps creeping up.

Miss Eva has a new 'do! She LOVES her bangs. When she first looked at herself she grinned, jumped up and down, and then said, "I'm just like Issy!".

Friends for Thanksgiving

Eva made a new friend on Thanksgiving. Gary and Leslie have a granddaughter, Lilly, who is one month older than Eva. The girls met and quickly became buddies. Here are some pictures that El took. Check back later for a cute video.

Buster

We have a houseguest this week... Buster! He is the teenage boy living next door. He is of the canine type of kid. Our neighbors, Leslie and Gary, took a little trip to London so we invited Buster to stay with us. He has been a good boy. He and Lelly get on well. They are definitely Mutt and Jeff! Lelly is 5 lbs. and Buster is about 75 lbs. Now Lelly had a little brawn to back up her bark. The cutest was the day I handed out treats (which Buster LOVES!) and he finished his and decided to try and take Lelly's. Let me tell you there was 5 pounds of fury! The funniest part was how quickly Buster backed off!!! He could have just as easily had Lelly for a treat.

Thanksgiving Feast!

Thanksgiving was a very fun event! However, I had several stressful moments just before the big day. First the windows in the front of the house are leaking... again. Second, and worst, I was sitting in the living room and I heard drip, drip, drip. I wander to the kitchen to find a pond in front of my dishwasher! I start calling to get it repaired... 1) can't come until after TG 2) scheduled a time the next day, confirmed time, then cancelled my saying they were overbooked 3) came out that afternoon but unable to get the part. Long story longer... I have dishpan hands!

In the picture with Eva, I am helping her with her sticker art book that Fabene' gave her. Then there is a photo of Jim. The lovely pilgrim is our new neighbor Leslie. They let us deep fry our turkey in their cooker. Everyone tells me it was delicious! Then you will see Chef Todd being watched by Fabene' as he attempts to fry the turkey without frying himself! Lastly but not least is Rex enjoying some spirits.

Rex, Jim, and Fabene' are our neighbors from our first house in Houston. We have certainly been blessed with great neighbors and that trend is continuing. Among the many things I am thankful for this season is for the wonderful Texas family we have in Rex, Jim, and Fabene', our great neighbors on Stanmore, the kind and artful Gadbois family and the fun Rice family, and our new neighbors Leslie, Gary, and Buster!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm so busy, busy, busy!

Well, I know it has been awhile but I will try to catch up. El won 3rd place in the Science Fair!!! Great job!! She did an experiment to find out which hand cleaning method is most effective: hand sanitizer with alcohol, hand sanitizer without alcohol, or anti-bacterial soap. To find out the results you will have to visit her blog.

Underage Drinking

We all know there is a problem with underage drinking. I, of course, try to educate my children to the dangers so they will not be influenced by peer pressure to drink or anything else. With that said, I will tell you a story. I am enjoying the Halloween party. I went out to the dance floor to check out what was going on outside. I gaze across the dance floor and see my lovely 10 year old daughter filling a cup with Frozen Margarita... under the careful instruction of her Gramma DeDe! My first thought was that El was filling the glass for DeDe... but why would DeDe be showing her how to use the machine instead of just filling her own? By now I am across the floor and asking El just why she is fixing herself a cocktail. She and DeDe act a bit surprised to find out this is a Margarita machine and not a Slushie machine. Right, how many times have you heard that one? "But I thought it was a slushie machine".

Boo!

Here are some pictures of Hermione and Mariposa! They had a great time. We went on Thursday to the Galleria. Most of the businesses pass out candy. Then on Halloween we had a hayride to trick-or-treat followed by a party at the amenity center. Eva loved the hayride and after the first couple of stops did not want to get off to trick-or-treat because she thought if she got off the hayride might be over!

Officer Sam

At story school we learned about the importance of policemen. We met Officer Sam and we saw his car. Eva has decided she would like to be a police girl when she grows up.

You asked for it...

Pix of the new house!

These are different angles of the main living areas; the living room, kitchen, lounge and dining room.

More to follow later.

More on Moving Day

These are some more pictures from moving day. We woke up on that day to RAIN! Just what you want to see when you are about to drag everything you own outside. However, about a half an hour before the "mover guys" arrived we found this lovely sight. I love rainbows! These pictures were taken off the back porch of the rental house.

The other pictures are of El entertaining Eva while the trailer was being loaded. Eva used to love to get in these baskets when she was one. She decided she still likes to. They were both thrilled to be moving to the new house!

Sweet Elyse

I know I say this alot... but she really is a sweet sister! While I was busy packing up the house El made the full out Tea Party for her little Eva. They had tea, cookies, and strawberries. Eva thought this was the most wonderful thing ever! I must admit; I have it made!

Moving Day

The girls decided to pack Daddy for moving. They were able to wrap him but unable to get him into a box! We now know that everything we own fills one semi-trailer. Eva is checking out the acorns while the "movers guys" load the truck. She liked to walk over the acorns and have them crunch under her feet. Overall moving day went well (as well as moving can go I guess!).

I'm tired...

All the time! Boxes, organize, boxes, organize, rinse, repeat...

A little more catching up, these photos are from my parents visit to Austin. The first is of our group at Sea World. We had a great day. El insisted we sit in the splash zone, but we only had a few misty drops hit us. Then we went to the last show. The people to the left were wet, the people to the right were wet, looks like our luck is holding out. Then, out of nowhere a tunnel of water came straight at us! It was as if a fire hose was being sprayed in our faces. So, I did what any good mother would do... I used Eva a a shield! Well, the water kept coming and I began to get concerned that she might not be able to breathe. Just as I pull her down from in front of my face the water relents. She starts howling! With laughter that is. She thought that was about the best thing in the world... as did El.

The second picture is from Pa's birthday shopping trip to Cabela's. Pa arrived in Austin on his 70th birthday! We were so happy to have him. We went out for a steak dinner and then on to Sea World and Cabela's.

Catching Up

We are in the new house! We are getting settled. I am exhausted. I decided to catch up on some past events... I have loads of pictures to upload but no time to do so.

This picture is from our dear friends last visit. We all went out to brunch. Pictured left to right are Eva, El, Charles, Rex, Jim, and Todd. We had a great weekend and a delicious Sunday brunch.

I need to go clean floors, unpack, organize, re-organize, keep kids happy, check homework, feed kids, etc...

Moving Tomorrow!

The girls are excited about moving tomorrow... almost as excited as their parents!

The big day has arrived, at long last. Eva is concerned that all of her things will be at the new house. El is just excited to be done with this whole mess. I am just plain old exhausted. I have one more box to fill. Unfortunately I have more stuff than will fit in one box... eeek! Que Sera.

Barbie and the ...

Eva has been watching a lot of Barbie movies lately. She recently has enjoyed Barbie Diaries. Today Todd brought home the Barbie toy from a happy meal. It was a notebook shaped like a purse with stickers and a pen. She was talking about the movie and her new acquisition. She told us about her best friend, Raquel, and that they were from Barbie and the Diarrheas! She later brought the notebook up and said, "I put all the stickers in my diarrhea". We are having quite a few laughs but will need to correct this problem soon.

Disney Dazzler

Eva is in a dance class called "Disney Dazzlers". It is a ballet class that dances to Disney songs. She seems to enjoy it. The teacher told me today that she enjoys hearing who Eva is each week. Yes, we are still full swing in our identity crisis. This video is from her first day waiting for dance class. Posts will be few and far between for the next month or so as we are in the final stages of building and moving into the new home. Wish me luck!

More house pictures to come soon...

Here are a couple pictures of the new homestead. I will be taking more at weeks end as changes are happening quickly now! This is a picture of the front of the house and of the kitchen. The appliances will be arriving today so this will change as well.

Gramma Pat and Pa are here!!!

Sorry I have not been updating lately! I have truly been Busy Busy Busy. School has started and so have extra-curriculars, I am in the last stages of building a house and preparing for a move at the end of the month. I am so happy my kiddos now have a distraction. Time to start packing!

Models

This is a page from Waterways Magazine. The day of our luau made it to print. The caricature I posted earlier was from this party.

These things just never occurred to El

Well Gramma Pat, you asked for it... you got it! Yesterday Eva wanted to cut with the scissors. She can only use the scissors with El or Mom close by to help and must ask if something is ok to cut (these are the rules). Well........ yesterday she quietly left with the scissors and cut a picture of El's. So, boohoo, scissors were taken and no more cutting for the day.

Today she asks if she can cut. We discussed the rules and she cut up some ribbon and some paper scraps. I then look over and Ballerina Barbie is getting a new style! BOOHOOHOO!!! And all I said was, "What are the rules?" When the drama simmered down we discussed why it is not a good idea to cut Barbie's hair. I decide to find two (already on their last leg) Barbies to become willing victims. So the blonde gets a new style. Eva is a bit upset that she can't get her hair longer. So we talk about the perils of cutting Barbies hair again with a bit more understanding this time. As of this post she hasn't cut the other Barbie's hair.