Our version of American Gothic

Actually, Griffin and Jasper are posed for American Gothic. Avery and Rhys seem to have just escaped from an insane asylum!

Friday group Valentine's party

Hello-o-o-o-o-o-o

Wow, I have really been neglecting this blog lately, haven't I? A friend of mine was kind enough to point that out today. ;-) I've been having computer issues for a few months that make it hard for me to post pictures from my computer, so I keep putting off posts until Bill has his computer home. Not to mention that, as usual, we've been crazy-busy. Ok, enough excuses. On with the update!

Let's see...what has gone on in the past month or two....Avery is still heavily involved in gymnastics and works out 12 hours a week now. Rhys started T-ball a few weeks ago. Griffin is closing in on 2 and is just as ornery and busy as ever! We also are still involved in the Friday co-op that we've been attending for years, plus Bookclub, a monthly American Girl class, a Harry Potter discussion group, two writing groups, a nature club, and a science co-op. Plus playdates, park days, and my regular volunteer work. Whew. Gee, why is it that I can't keep up with the housework?

The science co-op is a new addition to our schedule, and we're all really enjoying it. The kids are studying physics, and I'm learning a lot along with them. I was actually surprised to realize just how much Rhys is getting out of the group. On a walk the other day, Rhys was pointing out all the things he saw that were made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons (yes, there were a lot of items), and he also explained to me that if the stroller started rolling away from us, it would roll and roll until something stopped it. Laws of physics coming from my 4 year old. Pretty neat.

Oh, exciting stuff this week: Avery and I went with Mamar, Linah, and Dani to see The Lion King. Wow, it was amazing! We had fabulous seats -- fourth row and dead in the center. We could see *everything*. The costumes were amazing!

We also went to NASA a couple of weeks ago for the Homeschool Overnight field trip. We had a blast!! (bad pun intended) I'll post some pics soon.

Sad news from this month is that we lost our sweet Wolfie cat a few weeks ago. We have all been very sad, and Avery has had a particularly hard time getting over it. He was her best buddy and roommate for as long as she can remember. We're slowly feeling better and hope to eventually feel ready enough to add a kitten to our family. We'll see.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm really going to try harder to keep up with regular posting. For real this time. No, I mean it. I swear!

In Memory of Wolfie (May 17, 1994 - Feb. 13, 2007)

Native American costumes

For Christmas, the kids got Native American costumes from Nonnie. They love them!

Here they are looking "fierce":

Bikes

The kids got new bikes from Mom and Doug for Christmas. They love them, and Rhys is getting really good at pedaling! Griffin also likes going out and riding his trike every afternoon.

Christmas

Making Christmas doorhangers

Sir Griffin

Sir Griffin with his knight's helmet and, yes Bill, the weirdest pacifier ever.

Avery's 8th birthday

Ok, so yeah, I'm a month late, but better late than never right? Avery celebrated her 8th birthday with two of her close friends. We took the girls skating on the rooftop at Whole Foods, then went to eat at Central Market, then came home for cupcakes and a sleepover. The girls stayed up until the wee hours, talking (mostly about books!) and giggling.

A pox on our house

I'm not sure what we did to deserve it, but the week after New Years, we seemed to be cursed. In a one week period, our family was plagued with a sty, 4 cases of a stomach virus, one case of the ickies (not the full-fledged virus, thank goodness), and one UTI. It was one looooong week, and our DVD player sure got a workout. I'm happy to say that everyone is now fully recovered, and hopefully we've payed our dues for a while and we'll stay healthy!

Taking tattling to a whole new level

Rhys just came to me and asked for an envelope. He had written a letter to Santa, telling him that Avery refused to play Chess with him today. Apparently I hadn't acted on the issue like I was supposed to, so he was taking it to a higher authority. So, the question is: Is not succumbing to your little brother's every whim enough to earn a spot on the Naughty List? Seems unlikely.

Movin' on up...

We got a letter in the mail today inviting Avery to join the Level 4 girls gymnastics team. She is beside herself with excitement. We're very proud of her and excited too, although we might have to sell off one of her little brothers to pay for it....

My favorite part of homeschooling...

...has very little to do with schooling. My favorite part of homeschooling is the close relationship my kids are able to have. I've noticed a lot recently how different my children's relationship is from the traditional sibling relationship. Sure, they bicker sometimes, but they aren't competitive, they aren't mean to each other, and they truly, genuinely enjoy being together. Not only that, but I've noticed how well older homeschooled children relate to younger ones. They treat them with such respect and try hard to help and include them. That kind of patience and kindness is more important than any academic lesson I could teach them.

Last night Avery had a couple of friends spend the night, and I was reminded of this again. The girls were so sweet to Rhys; they worried when he was bored when they were ice skating and they didn't mind a bit when he huddled with them on their blankets to watch a movie.

Happy birthday Avery Simone!

I can hardly believe that my baby girl is 8! It seems like it was just yesterday that she was the goofy baby in the floppy yellow hat. And now she's grown into such a smart, wonderful girl. Happy birthday, girlie!

The Bug Guy

Today our Nature Club had a presentation given by Jungle Jim, aka The Bug Guy. He brought a seemingly endless supply of spiders, scorpions, snakes, and lizards, as well as several huge display cases full of mounted insects. His collection was quite impressive, and I just might have nightmares about those giant cockroaches. *shudder* It seems that Griffin might have agreed with me, since he very loudly said, "Ewwwwwwwwww!" as he pointed at every creature he saw.

Christmas crafting

I've been on quite the crafting spree lately! Not only have I been frantically sewing some Christmas gifts for the kids, but I've been crafting some new Christmas decorations. I'm not finished yet with all my projects, but here is a peek at a couple of finished projects.

First, our new Christmas stockings. I embroidered the little elves with a free pattern so generously supplied by Wee Wonderfuls, then I constructed the stockings and sewed on some cute vintage reproduction fabrics. Now, I just have to come up with something for Bill's stocking and mine too!



Also, I made stocking advent garland. There are 24 stockings, one for each day in December leading up to Christmas. Every morning, either Bill or I put a note in that day's stocking, notifying the children of a Christmas craft or activity we'll do that day. They've ranged from watching a Christmas movie and drinking hot chocolate to going to a Christmas party to making Christmas ornaments. It's a fun challenge to come up with a new activity every day, and the kids really look forward to each day's special event.

Bookclub holiday party

This week we had a holiday party at Book Club. After doing the normal book discussion, the kids had a feast of cookies, brownies, and fudge, then played several fun holiday games. They also all got to open gifts of (what else?) NEW BOOKS! Yahooo!



Book Club is one of the kids' very favorite activities. Rhys is in the younger group, aptly named "The Crazy Readers". They read picture books or short chapter books, discuss them, and do a craft. The older group, to which Avery belongs, is called "The Fantasy Worms" (think: book "worms"). They read novels and the girls discuss the book and take turns making up a game to go with the book. This week was Avery's turn, and she spent quite a bit of time creating a shell-shaped game board and tons of trivia questions to go along with the book The Tail of Emily Windsnap.

The best part for me is that we do a mini grown up book club! We select a book to read each month (alternating fiction and nonfiction), and we try to grab a few minutes here and there to discuss it. This month we're reading Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women. It's so nice to have such a great, smart group of women to help me broaden my horizons!

Tree trimming

Our Christmas tree has been up for about a week, and we've had a few ornament casualties. Griffin was very interested in the tree at first, and enjoyed throwing the "balls" (aka ornaments) on the tile floor. It didn't take long before we realized that we needed to move the ornaments out of reach. So our tree is naked until about halfway up, but at least we should have a few ornaments left for next year!

Austin Toros

Last week, the Show Team performed at the Austin Toros halftime show. The Toros lost, but we had a fun time. Rhys jumped and pretended to shoot baskets the whole game, while Avery goofed around with her gymnastics friends in the stands.

Christmas card picture attempt

In this year's Christmas card photo shoot, I managed to get some really cute pictures of Avery and Rhys. Unfortunately, most pictures had Griffin streaking by in the foreground as he rushed to get out of the posed shot. Or, even better, him throwing a tantrum when we tried to hold him in the picture. I did manage to get this really great one of the bigger two. Maybe I can draw Griffin in?

Chuy's Parade

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Avery performed at the annual Chuy's Children Giving to Children Parade. We go every year, but it was very special for Avery to actually be in it. It's such a fun parade; there are huge balloons, marching bands, and much, much more. Griffin was especially impressed with all the firetrucks that were included in the procession.

Soccer season ends

In mid-November, Rhys had his last soccer game. He really started coming around toward the end of the season, and started to really "get it". Of course, he only focused on the game for 20 second intervals, and the rest of the time he spent running and playing with his buddies on the field. He did enjoy the season, but he plans to try T-ball in the spring. Ever since soccer ended, he's been asking me if every other activity he does will eventually come to an end. He was ok with soccer ending, but apparently he plans to do book club and gymnastics "FOREVER!!!!"

Washington-on-the-Brazos

A couple of days after Halloween, we went with friends on a field trip to Washington-on-the-Brazos. We visited a museum and a living history farm. The kids especially enjoyed the living history farm, and Avery insists that she would *love* to do laundry if she could do it the pioneer way!

Too much cuteness

Today Avery and Rhys were playing Hide & Seek, and suddenly Griffin jumped up, went to the middle room, covered his eyes with his little hands, and started counting, "Two, two, two..." Then he uncovered his eyes and went running, looking for the kids in their hiding places. Sooooo cute.

Then we were out looking at Christmas lights, and we saw a house that was really decked out with tons of lights, wreaths, candy canes, etc. Rhys sighed, "Oooooooh. Does Santa live here?"

So beautiful

Rhys was itching to go out to eat, and he noticed a Subway restaurant while driving down the highway with Bill.

"Daddy..." he said, "have you ever been inside a Subway restaurant?"
"Yes, I have," Bill replied.
"It's soooooo beautiful," Rhys said with a sigh.

Mine! Mine! Mine!

Griffin, who normally doesn't have a lot to say, has learned a new word. Unfortunately, the word is "MINE!" and it's never spoken -- it's always shreiked. He has only known the word for about 24 hours, and I've heard it at least 4000 times.

Babies

After seeing a cute baby on TV, Rhys turned to me and said, "Maybe when I grow up, I can get a wife, and she can have a baby like that!" I guess he's giving up on good ol' mom to provide him with any more babies! ;-)

Halloween

On Halloween night we held our annual party and trick-or-treating expedition. This year was different because all the adults came dressed up! It was so fun to see everyone in costumes, and it made for a great group escorting the kids trick-or-treating! I think ours were the only three kids that were accompanied by a group of 15+ dressed up adults!

This year, Avery dressed up as Kirsten, the pioneer American Girl, Rhys was a knight, and Griffin was a fuzzy blue monster.

Boerne Meet - Oct. 28

Last Saturday Nonnie accompanied the kids and me to Avery's district meet in Boerne. Avery did very well, and got blue ribbons on all four events! She was the only one from her team to earn all blues, and we are so proud of her for improving at every meet. She has worked so hard!

Unfortunately, the meet wasn't all a bed of roses. Rhys came down with a cold during the meet, and was quite miserable by the end. And Griffin...well, he was just Griffin. He climbed, fell, ran, jumped, ate things, made messes, etc, etc. Thank goodness Nonnie was there to help me, or I wouldn't have lived to tell about it!

Halloween Co-op

After taking a few months break from co-op, we returned just in time for our annual Halloween celebration. It's always such a fun party, and this year was no different. After taking the obligitory group picture, the kids did a parade through the labyrinth, listened to Halloween stories, made Halloween crafts, and had all kinds of Halloween junk food.

Elisha and Nick's Wedding

On October 22nd, we went to my cousin Elisha's wedding. It was the most beautiful wedding -- the perfect mix of sweet and meaningful and just plain fun. The ceremony itself was beautiful, and we all had a ball at the reception. We were all worn out the next day from dancing all night, especially Avery and Rhys!

AMOA and the Capitol

In mid-October, we went down to the AMOA to see an exhibit of the Gee's Bend Quilts and paintings by a local artist, Lu Ann Barrow. It was an awesome exhibit, and the kids really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we walked down to the Capitol to eat lunch on the lawn.

2nd soccer game

Rhys is getting a little more into the whole soccer thing, but he still tends to hang back. I told Bill that it only makes sense -- we've told him his whole life that he should take turns and share with other kids...it stands to reason that he doesn't feel comfortable trying to steal the ball away! :-) He really loves it, though, and it's even better now that Daddy is the coach! Our original coach just stopped showing up, and won't return anyone's calls (who does that?!). Luckily, Bill and two other dads stepped up and are sharing the responsibility of coaching the kids.

Pumpkins at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm - Oct '06

In early October, we went with a homeschool group to a fall festival at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm. There were tons of kids there, and it was H-O-T! The kids got to play, paint pumpkins, build scarecrows, play put-put, have duck races, and more. Despite my miserable allergies, we managed to have a good time!

Heart of Texas meet - October 1st

Avery's third meet was held here at our home gym. It was special because she had lots of people come watch her. Papa and Ronnie, Mamar and Doug, Linah, and Avery's friend Maya and her mom all came to cheer her on. Avery had another great meet and earned three blue ribbons and one red. Go Avery!

Soccer at the Y

Rhys started soccer at the YMCA in Sept. He really enjoys it, although I'm not sure we have a future World Cup player on our hands. ;-) He does really well in practice, but he's not very aggressive at the games. Usually, he and his friend Gregory spend the games playing and tickling each other end of the field. But he's having a great time, and that's the goal!

Pookie's "Off Button"

Avery has the magic touch. She figured out just the right way to rub Griffin's ear to soothe the wild beast. In fact, it puts him right to sleep! It's quite remarkable. She calls it his "off button."

San Antonio Meet - September 16-17

We drove to San Antonio for a gymnastics meet in September. We stayed in a fabulous hotel that had a great pool and a huge playscape right outside our room. Avery did great at the meet, and earned two blue ribbons and two red ribbons.

On Sunday, we went downtown before going home. We explored the Alamo and ate on the Riverwalk. It was another fun getaway!

Galveston - September '06

As you can tell, I'm way behind on my posts. We have had a lot going on! But, I don't want to miss out on journaling any of our activities.

In September, we decided on the spur of the moment to go to Galveston for a few days. I was feeling stressed out, and I felt like I would feel better if we could get away for a few days and just focus on enjoying each other. It worked like a charm. We had a great time, and I came back feeling rejuvenated and ready to face our busy fall season!

Avery and Rhys really enjoyed the beach, as always. We got Rhys a life jacket so he could have more freedom in the water, and he loved it! He and Avery would go out to body surf in the waves for hours on end. This was Griffin's first trip to the beach, and he loved it too! He had fun in the water, and also enjoyed digging in the sand and picking up shells.