Recovery Time

Daddy's home and not feeling well. He'll have to wear this gauze strip for a day or two because of the constant flow of blood and liquids. He's so sick and weak it's not fun. Sicily was quick to give him her teddy and draw him some pictures. And everyone was forewarned to not jump on Dad, don't kiss Daddy, be gentle and soft, Daddy is sick. You may hold his hand but that's all. To which Sicily added, "And rub his tummy?" Yes, Sici, that is ok too.
Hope you get feeling better soon.

Train Depot

And right next to the pond is the Train Station. $3 a ticket + a sucker for each of us makes one happy girl
She had to have a taste test first though to decide which one she wanted.

And a couple of smiles,

and excitement at the first toot of the horn,

I finally got me a sucker and the train was off.

And though it looks like we had the train to ourselves, there was a little crier behind us. This train is very much recommended to all those with pre-schoolers.

And for the adults you even went past a few major sites in Downtown Houston. This is Sam Houston, super cool founder of Houston, Texas.

Picnic by the Zoo

There is a great little pond next to the zoo where the ducks, pigeons, geese and all water fowl love for us to have a picnic. Jared's surgery took about 2 hours so while he was out, Sici and I fed ourselves and the birds.

It was a good afternoon, all things considered.

Nose Job

It's the end of the year, the deductible has been met and we're about to move so we thought what the heck, so Jared had his nose job today. Poor guy. It wasn't an actual nose job. Jared has a deviated septum AND polyps. Not good for breathing or sleeping. And exceptionally bad during allergy season. Over the last 6 months or so he's been developing sleep apnea symptoms that were really starting to freak me out. And he's had more sinus infections in the last year than he's had in our entire marriage. So it was time for the surgery.

Sicily got to tag along of course, not for the actual surgery, just for the ride down the hall. She was super glad to wish her Daddy luck.

Poor Jared, he was so nervous. He doesn't do well with Doctors and Anesthetics and such. He can shoot a deer and slaughter a cow but when it comes to his blood or that of his loved ones he is just not up for the job.

The surgery went fine. They sent a little Pac Man tool up there to cut out all the polyps and he'll have two 3 inch stints (pretty much straws) up his nose for a week to straighten out the septum. He was so pale when he came out of surgery it really scared me. But things should be ok as he continues to heal.

Good Big Brother

I snuck this Photo from the kitchen. Sicily was having a tough morning and I quickly learned that she is one lucky little girl, she has the best big brother in the world. London is always to good and so quick to read her a story or play a little game with her to distract her from her grumpiness. Thanks London, for being such a great big brother.

Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Aspens Best Friend, Sophia Strathearn, was in a play tonight with her big brother Adam. Adam was Charlies Dad and Sophia was an Oompa Loompa. It was so much fun, and so stinking cute. Sophia did such a good job. Danced, sang and smiled all around.
I just hope for her Mom's sake that they save some of these photos and videos for Sophia's future "Senior Roast," because it was just too funny.

Etching

My calling at church right now is to help with the Relief Society Enrichment Activities (even though it's not called that anymore :)). So this Saturday we hosted the annual Super Saturday. We had all sorts of activities to choose from: Crocheting Scarves, Jewelry Making, Muffin Tin Advent Calendars, FHE Plaques, Menu Boards and Glass Etching.

I lucked out and with my Art background I was in charge of the glass etching. It was so fun, and super easy. We printed off words or initials on Vinyl using a Cricket machine, stuck the sticker/stencil on our glass (that the Sisters brought themselves), swooshed around the etching creme for 5 mins or so,
rinsed it off with water and Vwa La! You had some beautiful glass for yourself or a gift for someone you loved.

I copy catted my friend Nicole and made this same 9x13 when I came home the next day. Isn't that so funny!

All in all it was a good day. I hope everyone enjoyed it.

Skipping

Did you know that skipping is really hard to do? Really!?! I love to skip and I love to watch my kids learn how to skip, it's even funner than skipping myself. Enjoy!

See! Wasn't that just as fun as skipping?!?

Sorry it's sideways.

Veterans Day Celebration

There are times when I really am Proud to be an American. And right now as we are preparing to leave the Country again for an undetermined amount of time, Holidays like these are wonderful.

Our Elementary School put on a wonderful presentation to celebrate and honor our Veterans. Aspen was part of the 3rd Grade Choir. They sang just about every National Song there is, it was wonderful and I cried through the entire thing.
Aspen was so proud to be a "Blue Star." Really it was a white star on the blue t-shirt, but who's counting. Made me think of Pollyanna, and Aspen's smile was just as big.
"America, America" This is truly Gods country.

The entire school was out for the celebration. All in red, white and blue of course. Phoenix is way over in the last row closest to the school. They all had their little flags that they'd been trained to wave at certain times during the songs.

The kids were asked to invite all the War Veterans in their families. They made posters to honor them. As they sang each Armed Forces song (Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Military) those Veterans would stand at attention. It was so cool as everyone cheered and clapped for them individually.

God Bless the USA!

I truly am Proud to be an American!

Favorite Breakfasts

This is my little carnivore, Phoenix. "If it has meat, I will eat," that's pretty much his motto. His absolute favorite food in the entire world is Chili. The spicier the better. But since you don't typically serve chili for breakfast, bacon will do in it's place. And for lunch, Bacon Cheese Burger with BBQ sauce, no ketchup or mustard, that's the best in Phoenix world. Sicily is a little more rounded and a very typical 4 year old. As you can see by the smile her favorite part of breakfast this morning was the Hot Chocolate. It was a "freezing" 55 degrees outside, so we had to have hot chocolate. :) Boy are they in for a surprise when we get to Calgary!

Helping Daddy Cook

My kids love to cook, they think it's the best thing in the world. But there's a difference in helping Mom cook vs. helping Dad cook. This is what happens when we "help" Dad cook.



You may have to look close, but yes that is flour. I think she was painting herself with it. All I heard was, "Go show Mommy!" And she came in all white and covered with smiles. Crazy kid!

International Festival

After our morning race we headed to downtown Sugar Land for the International Festival. In the town center they have this HUGE fountain. My kids love fountains, and I "love" trying my best to not let them go swimming. :) But it was still super cold so that water was freezing, and they were not about to jump in. Thank goodness.This was a super fun Saturday activity. The people gave each of the kids a "passport." More or less a book mark with separate sections devoted to each country in attendance. Then the kids went around to each countries booth, checked it all out and then got a stamp. When their passports were full they received a little goodies bag. It was so fun.
Each booth had a person or 2 dressed in cultural costume. These ladies were all over the place so we had to have a shot.
While you wandered around there was a show going on. These are the Tai Chi club of Houston performing with cool fans. We also saw some little black cheerleaders, some Germans in liederhousen, and a Chinese fashion show. But that was all that was on during the hour we were there. Later on they had some islanders doing the Haka, and other cool shows. Wish we could have stayed longer.
So though the festivities were cool we were mostly there for our little Aspen. They had a display set up with artwork from local(ish) kids. Aspen had brought home a note a few days prior saying one of her pieces of art had been selected to be on display. Being an artist myself, I have to say I was rather proud of my Aspen. She did good.All said and done, this was a good day.

Vihba 10K Race

My friend, Joy Packard, told me about a fun local race. I've been getting into these races and thought I'd give it a go. It was so stinking cold when I first got there at 6:30 in the morning. I was bundled up in a blanket as I drove there. Joy and I took this picture after, after the sun had actually woken up.

I finished the race quicker than I thought. There was a little 10 year old kid I ran with for a while, he was quick and only finished a minute behind me. But as I was standing there waiting for Joy to finish up they said the times were posted. I thought there had been some women in front of me so I was really surprised when my name was listed as 1st PLACE! Can you believe that? My first 10K, and I won.
Jared came a bit later with the kids. He was just as shocked as I was, but so proud of his speedy wife. :) They all got there just in time to see me be awarded my cute little golden running trophy girl. I don't think I've won a trophy since I played baseball as a kid, and even then I'm not sure they gave out trophies back then. :)
They had a family fun walk afterwards, so the kids all got shirts and medals too. It was a good morning at the park. :)

Zumbatomic!

So I've developed a bit of an obsession for ZUMBA!! It's so much stinking fun and my kids hear me talking about it all the time. So when our local gym advertised a Kids Zumba Class, I was the first in line to sign them up.

Ages 4-12 are allowed, so all 4 kids are in. They're teacher, is my new teacher. His name is Deon, he's only 19 and he's a member of the church. Phoenix had no desire to take a dance class until he learned the instructor was a guy. Then he was like, "Yeah, ok." They learn a routine, bit by bit, then put the parts together with the music. Sicily trys so hard and has so much fun, she's the youngest in the class and eats up all of Deon's attention. I love in this bit where he tries to dance "with" her and she's totally ignoring him because she's too busy watching herself dance in the mirror.


Phoenix was actually sick this evening, so that's why he's not in the videos. But London and Aspen are busting a move on the back row. London's pretty good at the Snake.

Hair Do's

Sicily's favorite thing in public bathrooms is the hand dryers. She'll dry her hands then dry her hair. Not that her hair needs to be dried, she just loves that she's short enough to actually fit under the dryer.
Aspen wanted to show off her hair style for the day. We slept in a bit and I knew they'd most likely miss the bus anyhow, so we took our time getting ready knowing Mom was taking them to school