Gram's Visit

Gram came for a short visit on Saturday. We did a freezing cold cookie booth from 10-12, visited with Gram for a couple of hours (and Regan's talking on the phone to Papa Leo), then did another freezing cold cookie booth from 6-8. And I mean freezing! We had to sit right by a sign that would blink the temperature at us every few seconds to constantly remind us that it was 35 degrees out and we were idiots for being out there trying to sell a few boxes of cookies! We're at about 200 boxes though, and would really like to sell 540 at least, so we'll see!

A Reason to Remember

Georgetown Park

There's a holocaust exhibit at the Georgetown Public Library and we met up with a home school group for a docent led tour of the exhibit. It was very moving, and the kids really enjoyed it. We first watched a short film, focusing on a very small town in Germany, and the 5 Jewish families in that town. We followed them to the camp, and saw what happened to each member of each family, and whether or not they survived, and if so, how they survived. They had surviving members on the film talking about their life, how they were persecuted, and how they managed to escape and come to America, and were sometimes still picked on here for being "different". We learned a lot about tolerance, and the importance of speaking up for people, not just turning a blind eye when someone is being picked on or bullied. I think the kids learned a lot from the exhibit.

The docent who led our tour was fabulous! He used to teach 5/6th grade history, and had a lot of family that survived the holocaust, so he had a lot of personal stories about it, and knew how to get right on Riley's level and talk to him. Plus, there were only 5 of us in our group, so it was a very personal experience.

And after the exhibit, we grabbed lunch and headed to one of our favorite parks, the castle park, where Riley tried to be Spiderman, and then pretended he was on a Ninja Warrior show, and Regan made her self sick spinning in the tire swing.

Cookie Booth!

Here we are at our 3rd booth today, the big one at Walmart after this. At least its not FREEZING like last year, but it is super windy!

Sent from my G1 phone

The Noble What?

Regan was playing with our dog Bailey, and having him follow her around at her heels, he's actually pretty good at that. Especially with her because she's usually the one walking around spilling food, so he's learned where to get a tasty morsel. But we heard her calling him, saying, "Bailey, you are my Noble Steve!" Riley said, "What?" She kept saying, "You know, Bailey, he's a noble Steve!" And we tried so hard not to laugh but she really meant Noble Steed. It was pretty cute.

And today she got all mad at us for something we said (or maybe we looked at her wrong, with her, who knows) and she informs us, "Don't make me mad, or I will get all puffed up!" And then of course, we cracked up and that just made her more mad, and I said, "Sorry Boo, but 'puffed up'?" And she says, "NO! I said Huffed up!" So don't make her mad or she'll blow your house down!

Swimming!

Regan LOVES to swim, it's one of her most favorite things to do. So tonight while the guys were at the Wild Beast Feast at church, I took Regan to the YMCA for a little mom and daughter pool time. The inside pool there is really nice, has a water slide and a lot of fun things for the kids, the water is nice and warm, and they have a huge hot tub too. Regan asks me every day when we're going back. It might be time to just get a membership there so we can go whenever we want!

Star Center Meet

Today was Riley's first gymnastics meet for the traveling team. Thankfully it was in Austin so we didn't have to travel far! He has some coming up in other cities, so it was nice to get our feet wet here in town so to speak. He did really well. You could tell he was nervous, and there were a LOT of boys there. The age break down was 9 year olds, 10-11 year olds, and 12 and up. Some of the 9 year olds looked about 6 or 7, and some of those 11 year olds looked 16! The never ending gymnast-age issue. Anyway, he started on floor, slipped and lost his footing (almost everyone did, which makes me wonder what was up with their floor) but anyway, he won bronze on pommel horse, but I thought his best was parallel bars and rings. It was good to get the first meet out of the way and now he knows what to expect at the next one. Dave video taped so I'm sure we will have it on DVD for anyone who wants to see it. Until then, enjoy:

Awake 21

Our church is participating in a world-wide event called Awake 21, which is 21 days of prayer and fasting at the beginning of the year to seek God's will for this new year, and new decade. Well, we've decided to do a variation of the Daniel fast, no meats and no sweets (and no wine, but that's not a big issue for us) the meats however, have been a challenge, and then this is what I get to wake up to every day of my fast:


Two days before the fast began, I had to stack 210 cases of Girl Scout Cookies in my living room (because our garage door is still broken, and it was FREEZING when we picked them up and didn't want to sort them anywhere but in a nice, warm house!) Thankfully most of the cookies have been picked up by parents, but I still have the 30 cases we ordered and will also have the pleasure of selling them at cookie booths over the next 6 weeks. So it's either a really bad time to try to fast, or a really good time and I will learn a lot over the next few weeks!

Sydney

I know, I know, more pictures of Sydney, and she's not even my kid :) But she's so stinking cute, and she's eating Cheerio's now and all kinds of yummy stuff. She's pretty stubborn when it comes to baby food, she doesn't want to open her mouth sometimes AT ALL. But she's so much fun, and kinda makes me want another one.

Watoto Friends

These are pictures Alex sent me from his iPhone. He took the boys to see Alvin and the Chipmunks and then to Austin's Park and Pizza, where they played video games, and rode go-carts, and had a blast. Then David met them all for dinner at Benihana which apparently the boys LOVED. Riley had such a good time getting to know Paul and Vincent, and Uncle Nik and they learned a lot about Uganda, how they have no TV there, but they do have running water (which we do not give a second thought to here in the US). The boys really opened up, and cried when it was time to leave, Alex was a blubbering mess too, they really got to him! He said as soon as the boys got on their bus with the rest of the choir, they started telling them about Benihana and how they caught food in their mouths, the fire volcano, and all the video games they played. I really hope this teaches Riley and Tristan to be much more thankful for what they do have, and to never take things for granted. I know for sure, this was one weekend I don't think any of these boys will forget any time soon.

Watoto Children's Choir

Our church was blessed to have the Watoto Children's Choir come and perform for all 4 services this weekend! These kids were amazing. They are from Uganda, and most of them are orphans due to HIV/AIDS. They sang, danced and shared their incredible testimonies. Our friend Alex signed up to be a host family so he had the pleasure of hosting 2 boys, Paul who is 8 and Vincent, 11 and "Uncle" Nicholas. We met them and Riley got to spend some time with them on Saturday night. Then on Sunday, we went to the first service, Riley came in and watched with us, and he wanted to stay the whole day! We went back to the evening service to bring Regan since she was still at her friend's house and didn't get to see them.

Both my kids are ready to adopt! They thought we could just pick one of the kids from the choir and bring them home with us. Regan especially liked a little girl, Brenda, who was 7 and had no front teeth. She just knew she and Brenda would make the best sisters! And Riley was upset when he found out that Paul and Vincent couldn't just move right in and be his new brothers. I love that my kids care so much about others and wouldn't hesitate a second to open our home to people in need.

Happy 2010!

We went back and forth this year about having a "party" at our house. First we were, then we weren't. David couldn't make up his mind. Finally, Alex decided that we HAD to do a prime rib again like last year, so he and David hit the stores last minute and found a prime rib, and David made some of the creamiest mashed potatoes ever, and I made my very first homemade macaroni and cheese. Then we had Alex and the kids over, our friend Andy, and Tammy and her kids who came to take Regan home with them for 2 days. So it was a small get-together, but the prime rib was SO good, and David of course made me take pictures of all his food.

That morning David made us a ham and cheese fritatta, and the best cinnamon rolls ever, with hazlenuts and a marscapone cheese icing, they were so yummy! He's becoming quite the little bread-maker! Regan wanted me to use my new flat iron and fix her hair up, so she did a mini-modeling session for me. And then after dinner, Tammy left with Regan, Alex decided to take Riley with him, and all of a sudden David and I were standing around a clean house with no kids, so we took off for the late movie! Stayed up super late listening to jazz, enjoying the quiet and his homemade drinking chocolate!

We got to sleep in the next morning, enjoy Juan in a Million breakfast tacos, take a long, un-interrupted nap, enjoy a quiet dinner at Mandola's, grab dessert to take home, and by then of course, Riley was missing us too bad, so we picked him up on our way home and shared our dessert with him and played cards together. It was a pretty great start to the New Year.