MonasticJournal

Start of School

2010-09-07T18:07:00.001-07:00

So, I don't have any pictures of the first day of school, because it happened so quickly that forgot the camera. Maddie is a senior this year, Ben just started high school, Ellie is in middle school, and Sammy is in fourth grade. Online grades for the year became available today, so we had some "Mom conferences" tonight. After tearing my hair out over Ben's struggles in 7th and 8th grade, I finally found the solution with my nightly conferences. Whenever I see a missing assignment, or an overall grade below an 80 for a class, my and the offending child sit together at the computer. We check their grades in each class, discuss any problems they are having, and make sure their time tracker is filled out. After they complete whatever work is listed in the tracker, they have to let me check it. Once they get all the grades up to 80s and above, they can try it on their own.

I have to give a shout out to Maddie here. Since late middle school she's been very self sufficient with school and grades. Last year she finished the semester with all As, and got a letter from the principal congratulating her for this. She sets a great example for her siblings, and I hope they are able to follow her.

New Start

2010-09-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

OK - after a long break, I'm going to revive my blog. Facebook is fun, but it doesn't really keep a family journal the way this did. To start off, here a some photos from a recent visit we made to the San Jacinto Monument.

Doom and Gloom

2008-09-12T20:44:00.001-07:00

We're ok, riding out the storm, but I wanted to post this cool picture I got of our house earlier today. The power went out for a little while shortly after this was taken. We found our candles and set the kids up on the floor downstairs. The electricity came back about 45 minutes ago, so I'm taking the opportunity to download my pictures and check the news. I'll check in again tomorrow.

Somerville, with the Liangs

2008-09-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

We spent another weekend at the lake, with the SS Monk and some friends. The Liangs have four kids too - some with ages close to our kids. Everyone ditched school and work on Friday, to make the fun last longer. It was suprisingly cool at night - next time we'll bring more warmer jammies and more blankets. I think the highlight of the trip was our campfire on Saturday night. We made S'mores and sang songs. It turns out that our children know shockingly few campfire songs, but I intend to fix that and next time the Monks will be giving a Von Trapp family performance for everyone's amusement.

More pictures and some videos can be found here:

Somerville with the Liangs

Boat Buddies

2008-08-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Dave has finally realized his dream of getting a boat. If I'd known how much fun a boat would be, I would have given in sooner.

Here are Ellie, Ben and Sam as we zip through the lake:

Here's the boat - it's a Four Winns Fish and Ski, it seats 8 people:

There are a bunch more pictures of our two recent trips here. We've been taking the boat up to Lake Somerville, which is about an hour away. We're going on a two day trip with another family on September 5.

Frontier Camp

2008-07-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

Ellie went to Frontier Camp in Grapeland, TX for the first time this week. After arriving at camp, the kids set up their beds and immediately go for swim test, while the parents make the trek home to a week of peace.

Here's Ben with some of his friends right before the test.

Jerry Chicken

2008-06-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Look on Sammy's shoulder - it's Jerry Chicken, his birthday present and new pet. Jerry is a Leopard Gecko lizard. We don't actually know if Jerry is a boy or girl yet, but we figured that Jerry can go either way. Chicken is all Sammy - I think it's from some silly cartoon he watches, but I'm not really sure.

Celebrate Good Times

2008-06-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

Ellie and Sam shared a party at Pump It Up this year for their birthday. I did a bang-up job decorating their cake. A friend had told me that Walmart will make a sheet cake decorated in two different themes - 1/2 each. I asked our local grocery store and the lady at the bakery told me she couldn't do it. She said she'd done it once and her manager got mad at her. Whatever - I decided I go to Walmart, except I never made it there and ended up buying a generic cake at 11:30 pm on Friday night. When I tried to decorate it myself, I discovered that all the little containers of decorative gel were pretty much empty. Oh well.

New Digs

2008-06-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of my new office. We finally moved into this space a few weeks ago. It's more modern than my taste, but it's a very nice place to spend each work day. Check out the pictures of the sink in the bathroom - it's a solid piece from New Zealand, and the water drains off the back. When Sammy came to work with me this week, he jumped back when I turned on the water to wash his hands.

Mm Mm Good

2008-06-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

Every year our neighbor Jay takes our kids to Vacation Bible School. They have so much fun there, and we really appreciate him driving them, since I can't do it with my work schedule. To thank him this year, we made chocolate covered pretzels. They were really easy - we just melted semi-sweet chocolate, dipped the pretzeles and laid them out on foil to cool. For something special, we added sprinkles.

NFU (Nature Friends United)

2008-05-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

Ellie is with her friends Shaylan & Michael, at the end-of-school celebration their class put on for the parents. Together with Faryal (who's not in the picture) they created their own club, called Nature Friends United. The want everyone to take care of our earth and to recycle. Ellie has been really good about reminding us to use the recycling bins we put in our kitchen, and loves to help take them to the recycling center each weekend.

Spoiled

2008-05-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

These are the two hotels I've stayed at on my trips to New York. If I was visiting on my own, I probably couldn't afford to buy a pack of gum in the lobbies of these places. The beds at the St. Regis are the only hotel beds I've ever liked better than my own bed at home - it was like sleeping in a cloud. I'm so glad my job gives me the chance to visit NY and stay at these places.

Ground Zero

2008-05-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

I took another trip to New York for a business conference. On the second day, my friend Laura and I braved the subway to visit the memorial at Ground Zero. It was very sobering, and interesting to see all the construction and rebuilding that's being done there.

Canoe Trip

2008-05-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

Ben got a bunch of fancy new equipment for his Boy Scout canoe trip. Unfortunately, in our excitement of packing all the new stuff, we neglected to pack him a bathing suit or swim shoes, but he didn't care - shorts and tennis shoes worked fine. He cooked his own dinner of chicken noodle soup and set up his personal tent. He also claimed that the glasses he's wearing in this photo were broken when he borrowed them from his dad. I think the photo shows otherwise, but it was worth a try, right Ben?

Grasshopper

2008-05-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Ben did an excellent job on his belt test to move from Green Belt to Green Stripe. Don't mess with him or he'll mess you up.

Plastic Man

2008-04-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

We have no idea who Sammy inherited this from - no one else in our house can do it.

Speed Race

2008-04-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

Riding in very fast circles around the cul de sac.

Hittin' the Links

2008-04-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

A new minature golf course opened by our house, so we tried it out. Sammy boasted of his impressive golf skills, but his most prominent skill was that of yelling "that doesn't count" and demanding another stroke for free. I wonder if that would fly in the PGA?

Reading Restaurant

2008-04-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

In first grade the kids at our elementary school always have a "reading restaurant". Parents come in and are seated by the maitre d' (the teacher) and given a menu of books by their waiter (their child). Sammy read us three non-fiction books, because those are his favorite.

Bunny

2008-03-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

Ellie found Bunny when we were visiting Granny & Pappa Haddow years ago. Bunny has been her constant companion since then. Bunny was actually AWOL for over 6 months last year - Ellie and she were playing hide and seek in the front yard. Bunny was hidden so well that we couldn't find her, and I eventually assumed we'd lost her at a store somewhere. Then one day we hired some guys to clean up our front yard landscaping. They took a chainsaw to our big fir tree and laid the branches on the ground - lo and behold, there was Bunny. Thank goodness she didn't get chopped up. The tree was so thick that she was perfectly dry, and good as new after a spin through the washing machine.

Summer's Almost Here

2008-03-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

Actually, our ice cream man comes year-round, but I liked Sammy's face in this picture.

Last Day at Sea

2008-03-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

On our last day at sea we slept in, stuffed ourselves with food and sadly started to pack up our suitcases. It was a great vacation.

Cozumel, Mexico

2008-03-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

We visited Chankanaab Park and swam with the dolphins. I'm going to add more dolphin photos over the next few days, as I scan them, so check back to this post.

Belize City, Belize

2008-03-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

It was drizzling when we got of the ship, so we spent $30 on tissue thin rain ponchos. They came in handy later, as we scaled the slippery Mayan temple at the Lamanai ruins. The view from the top was incredible.

Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala

2008-03-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

We visited a school and handed out supplies, then took a tour of Livingston - the only place in Guatemala settled by black Carribeans. Our guide Gus was fantastic.

Roatan, Honduras

2008-03-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ellie, Sam and I visited Coral Cay, where we saw sharks, turtles and a gorgeous beach.

First day at Sea

2008-03-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Ellie started the day by reading on the balcony. We visited the kid's pool, the kid center and saw a beautiful sunset.

Cruise Photos

2008-03-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

I want to write about our cruise, but for now I'm just linking to the web albums of our pictures. We had a really fun time - I hope we're able to go on a family cruise again sometime.

We stopped in New Orleans for beignets at Cafe du Monde and a carriage ride through the French Quarter, before we got on the ship.

Smart Sammy

2008-02-16T14:17:00.000-08:00

Sammy got a note from the school nurse a while back about his vision. These are the new glasses he got from the optometrist. I think he looks quite fabulous in them.

NASA

2007-12-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

Here's our herd of kids (Monk kids plus another family) after a long day at the NASA space center.

Memory Lane

2007-12-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Well isn't that clever? After the game, we hung around in Brenham for a while. It's a really cute little town - they have a lake with camping sites and a downtown area with shops and restaurants. We happened to drive by this street, and I couldn't resist.

District Champs

2007-12-02T11:45:00.000-08:00

Ben's soccer team was undefeated in their regular season. This weekend, they went to a regional tournament. On Saturday the won two games and tied another, so they got to play in the semi-finals the next day. They played a good game, but lost 2-4. There was a really egregious call at the beginning of the game - a player from the other team was blatantly offsides and scored a goal, but the ref at that end of the field was not paying attention. There were some pretty riled up parents. The boys really turned it around in the second half, and we're very proud of all their hard work.

Sheeple

2007-11-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

I accompanied Sammy's class on a field trip to the Health Museum. I don't remember what part of the exhibit this was, but I thought it was a neat picture.

At the Hop

2007-11-10T20:00:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor Jay had a really fun 70th birthday party. There was 50's music, a hula hoop contest, rootbeer floats, and an Elvis impersonator. Ellie easily won the children's contest - it's amazing to watch her to it, because you hardly see her moving at all.

Future Gridiron Star

2007-11-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

Sammy loves to practice all sorts of sports with Dave in the cul-de-sac. Here they are working on some football moves.

Tiny Dancer

2007-11-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is Ellie with her dance teacher, after the Christmas recital. They performed at a local church's Nutcracker Market.

Bad mommy, bad blogger

2007-10-31T20:48:00.000-07:00

I pretty much dropped the ball this Halloween. I never got the invitations done for our annual neighborhood Frito Pie party, so we didn't have it. Maddie and Ben got out the door before I could get pictures of them. Sam was Jack Sparrow, and Ellie was a brown bat. I did sew the wings on Ellie's costume, and paint her face with the only brownish type makeup I could find at 5:17pm on October 31.

Annual Hoedown

2007-10-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

And October always brings the elementary school Hoedown/Fundraiser. Ellie and Ben got cool face painting (Ben's is a disturbingly realistic eyeball), and Sammy managed to win some squirt guns.

You can go home again

2007-10-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

The junior high that Maddie attended splits off into two high schools, so some of her friends are not at school with her this year. She went to their homecoming with a group of people, and had a great time.

We're on TV!!!

2007-10-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

Our football game against the Katy Tigers was televised on Fox Sports. Their football team whipped us, which was not surprising since they're currently ranked top in the state. They put the band halftime shows on too, and it was fun to watch them later on our DVR.

What goes around . . .

2007-10-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

I've been working in downtown Houston for over a month now. This has been such a good change - I have a company provided bus pass, so no more horrible Houston traffic every morning and evening. No more filling up the gas-guzzling Expedition every five days. I love working in a city, as opposed to a random building off the freeway. My office is on the 52nd floor, so I have a really nice view of the city. When they finish renovating our floor and I move to the other side, the view is even better. Anyway, I wanted to blog about some of the odd similarities I've found between Houston and Washington D.C.

1. The Slug Line. I take a commuter bus in and out of work everyday. However, most mornings I have a really hard time getting to the park and ride before 8:30am. This is when the last regular bus leaves - the ones after that run every hour, and stop at some other places before getting downtown. Luckily, I've never had to get on the 9am bus, because there's a slug line. Just like I did 14+ years ago, I get a free ride to work with a stranger almost every day. I generally take the bus home - there isn't a centralized location to pick up riders going home. Plus, I do have a free pass and the buses come frequently in the early evenings when I'm headed home.

2. The Tunnels. During my various stints as a page and intern at the Capitol, I spent a lot of time in the tunnels that connect all the buildings. It turns out that the buildings in Houston are connected by tunnels too. There are restaurants, stores, banks, even doctors and dentists with tunnel locations. Since Houston weather tends to alternate between hot or raining, this is a good thing. Last week I did quite a bit of exploring and found some new places to eat, but this week I'm brown bagging it, in the interest of my wallet and waistline.

Homecoming 2007

2007-09-29T17:57:00.001-07:00

We started out today at 9am at the nail salon. The I dropped Maddie off at home, while I trekked to the mall in search of a small silver purse to complete her outfit. While I was at the mall, Maddie called me in a minor panic, because she realized that her ticket to the dance was in her trumpet case, which was in her locker in the bandhall. Luckily, I knew there was a drumline competition today, so they would be returning to the school and opening up the bandhall to put the equipment away. I called Wes's mom to find out when the buses would be returning to the school, then went to wait for them. Finally, ticket safely in hand I headed home. Oh - I found the perfect handbag at the mall, for only $3.50 too.

Once I got home, gathered up the dress, jewelry and shoes and started getting her ready. Finally, with hair curled, makeup done and everything put together, we snapped a few pictures at the house. We also visited Mary Lou at work - she wasn't scheduled to be home until after Maddie had already left for the dance, and wanted to see her. However, on the way to Wes's house, we realized that we'd left the ticket (and Maddie's school ID) at our house. So, one more detour, then we finally arrived. Victoria and Justin joined us there, then we went down the street to another house, where we took more pictures, with a bigger group. Wes's parents drove the kids to the restaurant, and by now they should be at the dance, having lots of fun.

There's a slide show of all my pictures here, as well as some pictures from the game yesterday:

Homecoming

You might be from Texas if you . . .

2007-09-28T05:04:00.001-07:00

Wear a ribbon flower thing as big as your head, with streamers down to the floor, and painted overalls to school on the Friday of the Homecoming game. Texas is definitely a world all of its own.

Mom-mobile

2007-09-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

This video was too funny to not post:

Campers

2007-09-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

Dave and the boys went on an 11 year old camp out - they had a great time.

The Big Easy

2007-09-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

Dave and I took a weekend trip to New Orleans. It was great - what a beautiful and interesting city. We had some delicious food there too. Our second night we had dinner at Antoines, and now I understand why my neighbor from Baton Rouge says that people in Houston don't know how to make gumbo. This is definitely a place for repeat visits.

mmmmmm . . . Caramel!

2007-09-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

This picture turned out blurry, but I still like it. Everyone's eating my instant caramel popcorn, which is a family favorite. I've never made a bowl that's not completely devoured in under five minutes. Heres the recipe:

Make 8+ cups of plain popcorn (I use an air-popper that I got at a garage sale for $1, a million years ago.) In a small saucepan, melt together 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup dark corn syrup. Bring this to a slow boil, then cook and stir for two minutes. Pour the mixture over the popcorn, in a large plastic bowl that has a lid. Stir it up, then shake the bowl vigorously with the lid on, until all the popcorn is coated. Eat right away, but watch out, it's hot. I have no idea how well this stuff keeps, because we've never had any left.

Birthday breakfast

2007-09-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Because of everyone's busy schedules, we had a birthday breakfast for Mary Lou, with fruit salad and a coffee cake. Maddie, Mary Lou and I declined to be in the pictures, since it was the first thing in the morning.

The invitation

2007-08-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

We've discovered there are a lot of traditions surrounding Homecoming weekend here in Texas. This is the invitation that Maddie got to the dance (I think Wes had more than a little help from his Mom and big sister putting it together.) We've also gotten a garter for Wes - it's this huge ribbon flower thing that goes around the arm, with all sorts of stuff attached to it. The kids wear them on the Friday of homecoming. The girls get mums (also huge ribbon flower things that are pinned on). At Maddie's school there's a tradition of wearing overalls that Friday, probably so that the huge mum has something sturdy to be attached to. We've obtained those and are almost ready for the big weekend.

Marking time

2007-08-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

Maddie is in the marching band at her new high school. This is a picture of the March Off - the drum majors barked out orders and the kids followed. If they made a mistake, they stepped off the field.

Thespians

2007-08-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

My kids and my friends Laura's kids spent two of their weeks this summer at a local Theater Arts Daycamp. During the camp, they got to create their own play, with some guidance and help from the camp leader. Their play was called "Medieval People" - the plot was a little murky, but there were some great sword fighting scenes. Before the night of the play, we took them all eat at Johnny Rockets. Luckily that place is very loud already, because they were just as rambunctious as they appear in the top picture.

You can see a video of the play here - it's a little long so I'm just linking it in.

Down the Slide

2007-08-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

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The swim school that we enrolled Ellie and Sam in this summer is nothing short of amazing. Four weeks ago, Sammy was terrified of the water - we could barely coax him onto the steps of our community pool. Now he's a regular fish, jumping in and paddling around. Ellie has made just as much progress. Dave said that we couldn't have a pool in our backyard until everyone could swim, so I'm keeping everyone in lessons until they are swimmers.

Splashway

2007-08-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

My friend Laura and I played hookie from work and took our kids to Splashway in Sheridan, TX. It's a great water park for families - not very big or crowded.

Magic Time Machine

2007-08-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

After a day in the sun, we went to dinner at The Magic Time Machine. Harry Potter was our waiter, and we also met Hermione Granger, Jack Sparrow and Daphne from Scooby Doo. The food was so/so, but the atmosphere was great.

Sea World

2007-08-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

We finally got a break from the rain, so while Maddie was in Dallas visiting her friend Sarah, we spent the weekend in San Antonio. Ellie and Sam have been taking swim lessons this summer, so we had a blast at the Lost Lagoon water park inside Sea World, floating around the Lazy River and playing in the wave pool.

Money Changers

2007-07-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

On a slow Saturday, Dave likes to pull out his big plastic jar of quarter, nickels and dimes. When they were done stacking the coins, Ben added it up. It was a lot of money.

Belt Test

2007-07-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

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Ben and Sammy tested for their yellow belts. I love their Tae Kwon Do school so much. They have lots of classes to choose from, and a set of treadmills behind glass down one side of the practice area. While the boys are taking their class, Dave and I can work out too.

My New Toy

2007-07-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

We rearranged the dining room, so this would fit in the corner. If one more person tells me that adults can't learn to play the piano, I might smack them. I have a set of adult piano books, and my family's ears are ringing with my repeated renditions of "When the Saints Come Marching In" and "Kumbuyah". Beenie should be warned that she's in for a recital prepared in her honor at Thanksgiving, since she is one of the naysayers.

And the next day . . .

2007-07-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

We drove up again to Grapeland, TX to pick up Ben. He had a great time at Frontier Camp, and actually managed to pack up all his things and keep track of them pretty well during the week.

Brownie Camp

2007-07-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

We picked up Ellie from Brownie camp, and she had a great time there. This is one of her counselors, Wildcat. The counselors all use nicknames, rather than their real names at camp.

Freedom

2007-07-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Ellie and Ben are both off at sleep-away camps this week for the first time. Ellie's at a Girl Scout camp that specializes in horses, and Ben's at a recreation camp. We've gotten two letter from Ellie, none from Ben. From the pictures posted on the camp sites, it looks like they're having a great time.

Order of the Phoenix

2007-07-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a pre-screening of the new Harry Potter movie, courtesy of Goldman, Sachs & Co. I love my job! Maddie and Ben liked the movie, and they each got a cool souvenir after the show - a display box that contains four metal clip type bookmarks with the Hogwarts team names and logos on them.

Patriots

2007-07-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

A photographer came to Ellie and Sam's daycamp and took this picture - so cute I couldn't resist buying a print.

2007-07-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

Miniature Horse Show

We visited a miniature horse show today with some friends. They were so amazing - about the size of a big dog, but perfectly formed little horses.

Phonics

2007-07-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

Sammy was eating some Lemon Cookies for breakfast this morning. Or has he calls them - Lemon Cook-Eyes. Ever since he learned to read, he carefully sounds out every word he sees phonetically. Any word that ends in -ie or -ies is pronounced with a long I sound. He's been calling Maddie Mad-Eye for a few months now, and I thought it was just for the sake of annoying her. It turns out he was trying to correct us all on our obviously incorrect pronunciation of her name.

He's already lost most of his baby talk - things like lellow for yellow, so I'll just enjoy this while it lasts.

Travelin' Man

2007-06-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

Ben left today to spend 12 days in the lap of luxury at Granny and Papa's house. Further details can be found on their blog, linked at the right. This was his first time to fly along, but in typcial Ben fashion he was completely unphased by it.

Announcement

2007-06-25T04:48:00.000-07:00

This is for Jenny and Kelsey - you guys need to update the pictures you have on Mommy and Daddy's Cieva frame. Log on today - do it! Now that I'm all caught up with blogging, etc, I'm going to hound everyone else about it. :)

Edited to add - when you add pictures, you should unlock the same number of pictures from the 10 you have on the frame, so you don't end up bumping someone elses photos off with your upload. Currently, all the pictures are locked, so that we can choose which ones will be replaced. If this makes no sense to you, give me a call and I'll explain it.

Inebriated Arachnids

2007-06-23T06:48:00.001-07:00

This is a little off color, so you might not want to watch it with the kids. However, it made Dave laugh hysterically, so I can't resist posting it.

Karate Kid

2007-06-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

Sammy and Ben started karate this week. They teach them all sorts of great things, like respecting your parents, and saying "Yes sir!"

Sammy is Six!

2007-06-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Sammy's 6th birthday - we had the cake a little bit late that night so everyone could be home for it. He's got the Littlekins that Granny sent in front of him.

Watch this space!

2007-06-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Updates are coming soon, I promise. By the way, I use the neat trick of backdating my blog entries, so in the future it will appear that I was perfectly punctual in posting my pictures. So when you see my new pictures, be sure to check April and May.

Breakfast of Champions

2007-06-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

After I finished taking the grueling Level II CFA exam, I turned my attention back to home and family. I went on a cooking jag and made everyone chocolate waffles for breakfast this Sunday.

Nutjobs

2007-06-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of random junk in my dining room. This is what happens when a bunch of bored teenagers start digging through it. I guess these party hats are one less thing I'll have to sort through later, if I ever get around to tidying up this room.

Campers

2007-06-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

Dave accompanied Ben on his first Boyscout overnight camp. It was hot and humid all night, and apparently the guy a few tents over was actually able to outsnore Ben! But it was still loads of fun, and the boys can't wait to camp again. Dave has recurring ideas about our family taking a camping trip, but so far, my idea of roughing it would be staying at a Holiday Inn instead of the Embassy Suites.

Maddie and Wes

2007-06-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

Maddie met Wes at the introductory camp for high school marching band next year. They're getting ready to take Serena for a little walk here.

Ellie & Papa & and the day of soccer

2007-05-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

Ellie enjoyed hanging out with Papa at the various soccer games on Saturday. We had two games, two parties, plus the boys went to a Dynamos game that night. Papa said he saw more soccer in one day than he'd seen in in total prior to this visit.

Racoon

2007-05-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

After their last practice, Maddie's soccer team took a run through the sprinkler park across the street from their field. Her eye makeup got a little runny. Why is she wearing eye liner to soccer practice? She's 14, that's why!

Up Up and Away

2007-05-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Ben takes a flying leap off the diving board on our first day at the neighborhood pool.

Kindergarten Celebration

2007-05-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

This was my last kindergarten mother's day breakfast at school. They sang a cute song and served all the moms muffins and juice.

Eight is Great!

2007-05-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

Ellie requested a visit to the Rain Forest Cafe for her 8th birthday, where we got a volcano cake to share. It was much bigger than we expected - we had a bunch of leftovers to take home. She also got a new bike and helmet.

All Dressed Up and Someplace to Go

2007-05-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

Maddie and her best friend Victoria, on their way into the 8th Grade dance. This is the only dance their Junior High has, to celebrate the end of their time there. All of the girls were dressed up for the dance, while most of the boys were wearing jeans and button down shirts, with a few in khakis, so the group pictures were pretty funny.

Earlier that day . . .

2007-05-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

The morning of the 8th grade dance, Maddie was giving it her all on her soccer team.

Clydesdale

2007-04-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ellie loves horses, even when they're shills for beer companies. (Sea World is owned by Anheuser Busch.)

Four D

2007-04-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

We took our first trip of the season to Sea World, to see Ben's school choir perform there. It turned out to be quite cold, so we spend most of the day watching shows (carefully out of the splash zone). They had a new 4D movie about pirates this year - you get sprayed with a water a few times, but not enough to get soaked.

Hazards of Spaghetti

2007-04-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure when my cooking became a safety hazard, but Sammy felt he needed these goggles to eat dinner.

Happy Birthday Dave

2007-03-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Dave and his homemade birthday cake - this was number 42 for him. We decided not to light a bonfire on top of the cake and just went with Happy Birthday Candles.

Buddies

2007-03-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

These are just various pictures from Ben's party that I thought were cute.

Maddie and Jonathon, one of Ben's best friends and our neighbor.

Sarah and Sammy

Jamie (little sister of Ben's friend Jordan) and Sammy

More than a decade . . .

2007-03-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

Mr. Ben turned 11 this year. He helped me decorate his cake - I've suddenly got a cake making bug that I can't explain - I usually don't even hesitate to order one from the store.

We had his party at a gaming place. They have multiple big screen TVs, pleather couches and every gaming system and game known to man. Ben and his buddies spend two hours like little zombies, playing video games. They did take a few moments to eat pizza and cake at the end, but wouldn't even take time to open presents, because they could game for a few more minutes at the end of party.

Chef Ellie

2007-03-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

Ellie made dinner for everyone - Hidden Hotdogs. She's always asking me if she could start cooking stuff, so we dug out a kid's cookbook we had and got started. They turned out very well - we're looking forward to her future creations.

Three Musketeers

2007-03-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

Maddie's friend Sarah came down from Dallas to stay with us for Spring Break. She's such a sweetheart - we love having her at our house.

Salesgirl

2007-03-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

Ellie's had several cookies sales for Brownies in front of the grocery store by our house. On this night, her group of girls sold 71 boxes. I bought 7 of them, because we'd already eaten all the cookies from the regular sale. The Lemonades are absolutely addictive.

We are the (second place) Champions

2007-03-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

Ben's basketball team, the Panthers, won second place in the post-season tournament. They played good games and we had lots of fun watching. Dave enjoyed being the coach - he's always really good with kids that way. The boys were very happy, because they got trophies. In this league, only first and second place teams get trophies at the end of the season.

Duh duh, duh duh, duh duh . . .

2007-03-02T18:38:00.000-08:00

That's the theme from Jaws, by the way.

Ben wanted to make a shark cake this year for the annual Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinner. I thought about how to make this cake in the background of my mind for at least a week. On Monday night (the night before the dinner) I had a dream of how we should make the cake. I got at 5am and made a trip to the grocery store, where I purchased: Red Velvet cake mix, two tubs of white frosting, small tubs of decorative frosting in black, red and white, and a box of Goldfish crackers. Then I baked the Red Velvet cake in a 9x12 pan, put it in the freezer and got everyone off to school, and headed for work.
That afternoon, Ben and I found an appropriate shark outline on the internet and cut out the shape from the sheet cake. We also mixed the decorative black frosting in to the white, to make grey. It turned out to be harder than we expected to frost this thing - crumbs were going everywhere. I was on the phone with Jenny, and she suggested pouring thinned down frosting over the whole thing first. We did this, popped it back into the freezer for a while and were able to finish the coat of grey. Ben added the gill lines, eye, mouth, and some streaks of red blood falling from the shark's mouth. Then the goldfish crackers. The base is a white plastic cutting board covered with blue cellophane.
Here's Ben with the finished product - the cake turned out really good almost all of it was eaten at the party.

Cats in Hats?

2007-03-02T16:26:00.000-08:00

Ellie and Sam decided to have an impromptu Dr. Seuss party in our front yard. Sammy has made the various hats in school over the years, so they hung them on the tree and Sammy did a reading of Hop on Pop.

When they were finished they planted to following sign by the tree. It's little hard to read in the picture, so for posterity, it says, "Discovered by the Guicker Quackers Quacks P.S. Sorry all ready discovered"

Sammy is just starting to get the hang of reading, and Dr. Seuss is his very favorite. Dave has been a long time hater of Dr. Seuss books, but he's willing to listen to Green Eggs and Ham for the 38th time if it furthers the cause of Sammy learning to read.

Take it to the Hoop

2007-03-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

Ben is finishing up his season on the Panthers. Last night his team won their second tournament game - Saturday is the final game. At this point they're guaranteed to get a trophy, we'll just have to see if it's first place or second. Go Panthers!

Rrrrrrrr!

2007-02-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

You can't see it in the picture, but he has a ballon tiger on a leash too.

Bathing Beauties

2007-02-25T10:40:00.000-08:00

Sam getting cleaned up in my bathtub.

President James Madison

2007-02-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

Ellie's class did a "Living Presidents" presentation. Ellie was James Madison - we dressed her up as best we could and she made a memorized speech about his life and presidency.

Aye Aye Captain

2007-02-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

Sammy still adores his Jack Sparrow costume. On this morning, he was planning on attending school like, this. Unfortunately, Mom intervened.

Slave Labor

2007-02-19T05:18:00.000-08:00

Ben, doing his daily chore of unloading the dishwasher. Work Ben, work!