Lunch time madness

Sometimes an hour break is just long enough...

to do things like this.....

After many months of considering it and Yuliya asking for a momma that did not have "Rapunzel hair" I have finally done it! It's so different and breezy! It will take a while to get used not having much hair to wash or brush. But I really can't wait to see the kids reactions after school today. :)

Daisy Love

Last night was our first girl scout meeting! It was a meet and greet, a discussion of what to expect and which uniform our troop would adopt. Yuliya is excited about this new adventure and new friends, as am I. Her first years as a girl scout she will be a Daisy, then a brownie and so on. Even daisies sell cookies so be prepared!

She can't wait to start earning patches/petals!

Oh Deer!

Last week we spied a group of deer munching away on grass as we made our way into town. Yuliya told us they were "reindeer and that Santa put them out to eat." 

Just a sweet(relaxing) photo of the old Azalea bush.

Tonight on my journey home I cut through the park as I always do (relaxing) and slowed to a stop to let a deer cross the my path. Such a pleasant intermission to my rush hour drive time seeing her dash across and back into the woods. I'm tempted to yell out wait! and hop on her back to see where she takes me. (Deer must go magical places) But I have kids to pick up, meals to make, homework to check and faces to scrub clean. 

Oh.... and lots and lots of hugs and kisses to steal(pretty magical)

It's delightful to live in a part of Houston where we semi regularly see wildlife. 

:)

Sight words

I love fall. 

Our Halloween costumes are almost together. Yuliya is still working on deciding what character to be for her book character parade at school. And next week we pick our pumpkins!

We have had the windows open for a couple of weeks now and the house feels crispy cool every morning. The children have traded in shorts for pants and spending time inside after dinner has become nearly impossible.  We spend our nights playing with neighbors and/or writing sentences on the drive way. If you happened upon our house you would see a brightly colored driveway littered with sidewalk chalk rainbow colored sight word sentences. 

Where is my hat?   

 I can see you!  He can go in.

My mom is tall.

I like my mom.  

 He is so happy. It is my dog.

We do it up.

etc. 

Not only is Yuliya fully capable of writing upside down(you know the way a teacher would) but her theory is which ever end of a sentence she puts her period, the sentence will be read that way. For example

.cat my is this

 Should be read, "this is my cat."

 I am not convinced her teacher will agree.

Lions and Tigers and Butterflies....Oh my!

What have your children decided to dress up as for Halloween? 

Yuliya has decided she is a purple butterfly. We are still putting this one together results to follow on Halloween!

While Cash was taken with the idea to be a "little lion" so I did what any loving mother would do...I made sure he had a lion costume.

This past weekend the children were insistent that they suit up, so of course I let them.
Ready to have a Purple butterfly and "little lion" as company for the rest of the weekend.

Only...




Ever since he put the costume on, he is insistent that he's a...


"TIGER!"
(you're killin me!)
"RAWRR!! Momma!!"


They both insist that he is in fact a tiger...he is just missing his stripes and is unusually furry around the head. No amount of convincing will sway these children, and I have extremely credible sources.

Que sera sera.....

Ace of Base

Years ago when I was in grade school (2nd grade to be exact) I had this gym teacher who played "Rockin' Robin" every morning as all of us kids somewhat line danced to it. These days the only step I can seem to remember is doing a mime swimming motion at some point in the song. It was slightly embarrassing when I was the new kid and had to watch everyone else in class to pick up the moves. But some how I survived. Now once a day was fine, it wasn't my favorite song, but it wasn't enough to wear me out. 

Let us visit 4th grade. 

Remember that song The Sign by Ace of Base? 

I remember liking this song when it first hit radio. Shortly after, we acquired a new "young" gym teacher who also must have liked it. We listened to this song everyday during gym class for the entire 50 minutes....over and over and over again. This was just in my class, I imagine this went on all day for every grade level. Dodge ball, jumping jacks, jump rope for heart, we saw the sign during all of it.

Just as I did this morning when I heard it (and every time for 18 years), I can't help but think of that 4th grade gym class. Thankfully nothing terribly humiliating is linked to those memories, just the song playing on repeat and how much it must have grated on the assistant gym teachers. 

Credit to the folks that make life long impressions, no matter how eccentric the print is. 

Family Pictures 2012

My favorite group photo

Compliments of Eye candy by Candace

At this point the Yuliya and Jack may have run out of gas for smiles.

New Orleans

We visited the wild wonderful city of New Orleans this weekend. We took a short trip from Thursday morning to Saturday evening walking as many miles as we could through the boisterous city.

We ate as much Cajun as we could. We had gumbo for breakfast, catfish and grits, french toast on french bread, Hurricanes, an amazing spinach crepe, beignets, etouffee and sweet potato pies.  Being my first time to eat oysters I think we went all out. e tried as many as we could each prepared a different way.  We had them raw, bbq'd and grilled, my favorite being raw.

Of course we had to make a stop at the ever famous Cafe Du Monde that has been around since 1860! And oh how delightful those beignets were.

After our first day of walking all over the city my piggies were screaming, specifically the big guys. After a little bit of complaining my dashing guy suggested we take our shoes off and walk barefoot...

now this thought had been in my head for sometime...

I had picked the wrong shoes for this walk and my toes were not going to let me forget it. My only concern was...well we were on some pretty dirty streets...

aching feet, dirty feet which was it going to be....

it was a struggle. 

But when Keith so kindly offered to go barefoot with me so I wouldn't look completely foolish on my own, I was one joyful girl. So we took on Jazz night, eating crepes and walking back to our hotel barefoot with a few silly looks. 

It was completely worth it.

A souvenir we brought home...feels super neat.

A few sights we saw....

Loved this little yellow house!

I am not sure I could love the old architecture more. 

I adore cities that keep their history and culture alive. 

Riding a trolley along the river, with a pretty hairpiece Keith purchased in the French Quarter.

We played slot machines and video poker at the casino, at one point I was up! $25 but of course as it goes...I ran out and we left empty handed. 

On our way out of the city...we might have been exhausted :)

A great trip out of the way. 

We made it to the airport pretty early and spent a while reading...and biting ones nails. 

The best trip yet, we arrived home on Saturday night with time to relax and catch up around the house before heading back to work for another work week. Next up Charleston!

A girl can dream

What makes you feel All American Classic?

Eating hot dogs at a ballgame?

Drive in movies? 

Tossing the football around on thanksgiving? (long standing tradition from dad)

For me, one of those...."Ah this feels like the good ol' days American girl in a sweeter time" is eating ice cream out of a cone and listening to classic rock. Not that experience this combination often mind you..

But the other night date night(ohh lala) Keifer and I went out for sushi and ice cream. On the drive home classic rock purred through the car speakers as I savored my ice cream and waffle cone. 

I paused and thought...this feels a classic All American moment. Like apple pie at church picnics or carhops at drive ins and boys asking girls to go steady instead of go out. Mentally aging each car I encountered 60 years back I imagined living then, what our city looked like then, what I really would have been listening to. Our current interstates being beyond a belief, less traffic for sure right? At the very least a very lovely wardrobe.

And suddenly I was home.

Storm chaser

Despite the fact that my morning drive time is now a little protracted with school in session, the drive this morning was more than pleasant.  Mother nature put on a dramatic lightning show this morning sans the rain and thunder. Large ominous clouds took over the sky as the light danced inside. I never once saw lightning actually make it out to open sky.  The morning commute gave off a classic horror ambiance. Cheers Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, and all Gothic fiction.

Roll down the window!

Cool Front

Hey we went out to our land again this weekend! 

And we worked the land like a couple of people that do not sit at desks all day…. we really worked! How lucky we were that our pre-planned weekend happened to fall on the first cool front of the season.

Keith built two dams in one of our creeks.  I trekked around the property and snapped photos. I kept saying, "I wish I had taken photos the first time we looked at the property there was nothing out here!" Really, it was depression era sand bowls with silent black crispy trees looming over the land, debris from the no longer existent house and one brick walkway.  Now it seems our land is bursting  verdantly, flowering vines petitioning to enchant the creaking bones of once fertile trees and small splashes of color hiding beneath the weeds.

Empty canopy

A look down one of the driveways

Chimney on a scorched empty hill top.

These guys found me after not too long. The black and white one absolutely loved me and kept guard over me from "The bad man with the hat" (Keith)

Little white dog says...this guy's not too bad

The start of Keith's rock dam

Pretty burned tree

Woodsy manly man does manly things in the woods...

Like haul rocks

And chop down trees

And sweat like manly men do...with cougar pride!

While yours truly pushed over 15 to 20ft tall trees, ooh rah! It was slightly difficult, but oh so much fun. As the property is scorched most of the trees are completely dead and pose the threat of crashing down at any given moment, especially on this slightly windy weekend. I took to clearing a path along the creek where we could easily jump down in it but also not fear trees falling on us.  Don’t worry I only took out the dead ones.  Here was me pulling over an oak, which I learned are much more difficult than pines...It kicked my butt. 

Falling on my rear.

Keith hauls my trees away...thank you dear