Her Majesty

Trent and I just watched an outstanding movie. I highly recommend it. It is called "Her Majesty". Click on the link and you can read more about it. I thought it was a great movie. It teaches so many lessons about tolerance and friendship and love. You should all see it!

Hard water

Having lived in our new home only a few months, I was surprised to find evidence of hard water everywhere. The inside rim of the washing machine was building up scale. The soap in the dishwasher was not dissolving and I always felt like I had soap scum on my skin following a shower. So we bought a water softener and I love it. I love how the water feels in the shower, the washing machine is sparkling, the dishes are cleaner, the clothes are cleaner . . . it really is amazing. (and amazingly expensive). . . so here's to hoping it is worth it!

Lazy River

Our new neighborhood has some cool pools. This one has a lazy river and the big slide as well as beach entry and a splash play zone. We plan on trying out a new pool each weekend. (Notice the dark sky) We actually got to swim for about 2 minutes before the thunder began. . . so much for timing.

I'll do the dishes!

Adam is here helping me do the dishes. He insists on self feeding and makes such a mess that he needs a bath. But if I put him in the sink then I can get the dishes done as well as bathe him. . . Win- Win situation yes???

First loose tooth and check out these!

The big day is here at last. The first loose tooth (the top front left one), and the arrival of the 6 year old molars. It was pretty funny, Julianne kept excusing herself from dinner saying she had to floss because something was stuck in her teeth. She finally figured out it was 2 new teeth coming in! She is so excited!

I can read!

Julianne is loving reading. She has made it part of her routine to read to Catherine and Madelyn each night. She is a sweet big sister!

Fire Ants

Last week after church, Madelyn stepped into a fire ant pile. She started screaming and I threw down all my stuff and started to get them off her. But they got her good. They must attack with a plan -- none of them bite until at least 50 of them are ready and then they all bite at once. She had about 40 bites on one leg and 10 or so on the other. The looked awful. So consider this your warning. . . When in Texas -- don't play with ants!

Fun Friday

At Swim Team they get to jump and play on Fridays. This past week they went off diving boards, but I forgot my camera. Adam and Madelyn sure have fun watching. Madelyn has to get in her suit every day even though she does not swim at all. Adam is just as happy as can be.

Lunch at the Elementary

At her old school, Julianne would buy lunch on occasion. Those occasions were pizza (not pizza sticks). She would buy either Galaxy Pizza (which means it is round) or Classic Wedge. She knew how to do it. We had an account there, and she knew her account number.

Here at her new school she just wasn't sure how to do it. There pizzas have different names and we don't have an account yet and she was pretty nervous to try it out. So I made her a deal. . . We would all come buy lunch with her the first time she did it.

Here we are at lunch. All of us bought lunch (me included) and did our very best to like it. All in all it was a success. We all had lunch. Of course she has not bought lunch since so maybe it wasn't a complete success. . . but then again school did get out 2 weeks later?

Mother's day

Well, I had a great Mother's day. My kids are so cute and my husband so kind. That makes for the perfect combination! They made me breakfast in bed and gave me all of their handmade (priceless) cards. Julianne has made me a card at school for the last two years that has a little poem that ends with ". . .so relax and have a cup of tea" and then there is a tea bag hiding behind a flap. She explains to me how they did not have any other choices like lemonade or juice, so I will have to throw the tea bag away. She is so sweet and accomodating even when she knows her "gift" is not exactly ideal. And speaking of gifts, I thought you all might want to know what I got for Mother's day (now I might add that we are not big on gifts and often do nothing but a nice card for eachother). That said, I got a new lawn mower, new tires, and new shocks and struts. What luck huh? When I went to High school musical, Trent was going to work on the lawn and the lawn mower would not start. It had been giving him fits for several weeks and he had had it. And then on Saturday, Trent noticed something wrong with one of his tires. It was cupping (they had to explain it to me) and it happens when the shocks are bad. The guy asked when we last had them replaced and the answer is NEVER! So new shocks, new tires, all that money on some pretty necessary things, but not exactly fun things. The good news is that my Father's day shopping is done too!

High School Musical

Two of my friends and our daughters all went to see a community theater production of High School Musical. The kids had a great time. We sat on the front row and when they concluded with "We're all in this together" All the kids could go on stage and sing and dance with them. Our kids moved right to the back and tried to hide from us. I finally had to go up there just to get a picture of them. They had a great time. My kids are huge fans of High School Musical and are counting down the days until #2 comes out.

Black Tie

We went to a black tie thing the other night. It was fun to get all dressed up. Trent actually told me about it on Monday afternoon and it was Thursday night. . . not exactly a lot of time to get ready, but oh well, we made it!

Start of Swim Team

Swim team has started. The girls are both in the 6 & under age group. That keeps my life relatively easy this summer. They are having fun. I guess the waiting in line was worth it.

More weekend

Also, on the same weekend, My sister Amber and her husband Dan and my other sister Carrie also came into town and we were juggling a bit. Since it was the first time in a while since we were all together we tooke family pictures. Here we are getting ready!

Busy Busy Weekend

The first weekend in May was busy, busy. Heidi, Aaron, Kaleb and Andrew came to visit us. They got here on Thursday and we had a Texas style fajita dinner. On Friday, we went to the zoo. We saw the baby giraffe and the baby elephant and the baby orangatang. It was warm and muggy! But the kids did not seem to mind. They crawled through the piranha tunnel and into the groundhog tubes. We went to the barn park, and the splash park, and had a picnic in the back yard. We also went to the children's museum. So to all of you out there contemplating a trip to Houston, come on down. We'll make sure you have fun!!!!

First Swim of the Season

On April 28th, we had our first swim of the season. Our new neighbors invited us to come try out their new pool with them. They were heating it just slightly (enough to take the edge off it when you first get in). The kids had a great time! This was even Adam's first time swimming ever!!! They remembered most things pretty quickly!

Talking on the phone

I am a bit behind on posting, but I will try and do a little catching up today. My kids are funny about talking on the phone. They either utterly refuse to talk or they talk and chatter so much that eventually the person they are talking to loses interest and quite often hangs up. This particular Sunday, April 22nd, they were talking to my sister, Carrie, on the phone and being silly. Carrie must have asked them to send her a picture and so they wanted me to take pictures right then -- I think they even set the phone down for a long extended pause while posing. The one picture shows Julianne wearing the phone headset. . . she was in it for the long conversation!