Easter '09

We had a bit of a non-traditional Easter this year. Normally we wake up early in the morning, hunt for eggs outside, then we spend the afternoon with family or friends. This year was different -- but hopefully not the start of a new tradition. Since our family has been plagued with...well...some sort of plague for the past week or so, we have been quarantined. We've been falling like dominoes for 10 days now, and Bill is the only one untouched. Coughing, sneezing, wheezing...that is the sound of our family's Easter. Blech!

We still had an egg hunt for the kids, but because it was storming outside, we had it in the house. The kids still traded and sampled candy, but without the typical fervor.



Although Rhys can always be counted on to lighten the mood.


Bill and I made an Easter lunch, while the kids curled up on the couch with new books. We very much missed visiting with our extended family, but we tried to make the best of it and enjoy our quiet day.

Orange-White Scrimmage

While I was in San Antonio, Bill and the kids had a nice weekend. Avery was sick, so Nonnie provided reinforcement while Bill took Rhys to his t-ball game. Apparently I missed quite a game: Rhys hit his first Grand Slam! He was pretty proud of himself.

On Sunday, Avery was feeling better, so Bill took the kids to UT's Orange and White Scrimmage. They had a fabulous time!

Mighty Madre Getaway

On Saturday morning, I packed my bags, hopped in the car, and headed to San Antonio with a few great mama friends. A friend's mom generously opened her house to us, and we had a great, relaxing time chatting, movie watching, Wii playing, and snacking.

We also spent a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon exploring the King William historical neighborhood in downtown San Antonio. The houses were built in the late 1800s and backed up to the Riverwalk. I had no idea such a lovely, quaint neighborhood existed in the heart of San Antonio!




(Photos courtesy of The Woodland School.)

PSIA

A little over a week ago, Avery competed in the PSIA competition. She participated in three events: Ready Writing, Music Memory, and Spelling. After studying really hard to prepare, she ended up getting first place in both Music Memory and Spelling! She won bids to the state competition in May.

Several of her friends competed too, and everyone did really well! Between the seven of them, they ended up with nine 1st place ribbons, one 2nd, one 3rd, one 4th, and one 6th. Go homeschoolers!

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a picture of the whole group, but here are some of the kids with their ribbons:

Another gem

Today Griffin got in trouble for whining incessantly about playing Wii well before "Wii time" (after 1pm), and he had his Wii privileges revoked. During lunch, we had this conversation:

Griffin: Tomorrow, if I don't cry about the Wii, I can play.
Me: Yes, that's right.
Griffin: Can we skip to tomorrow? Can it be tomorrow now?
Me: No, unfortunately we can't skip ahead like that.
Rhys: Well, we can't...only God can. (pause) I wish God would decide to skip forward four days so we don't have to do school work....

Conversations

Driving in the car, I was telling a story about when my sister was little.
Griffin: How old was I when that happened?
Rhys: Oh, you weren't even born yet. You were just a star in the sky.
Me: A star in the sky?
Rhys: Yeah, that's where you are before you're born.
Me: Really? How do you know?
Rhys: I just know.

Then, the other day, my friend Kelly was pushing Griffin on the swing.
Griffin: We don't have any babies at our house.
Kelly: Yeah, we don't either.
Griffin: My dad is William, and he says we can't have any more babies.

And, on Griffin's birthday, I was reminiscing about when he was born. After answering many questions about his birth, the kids said this:
Avery: I'm NEVER having any children.
Rhys: I'm going to have LOTS of grandbabies for my mama!
Me: Aww, Rhys, that's so sweet!
Rhys: And I'm going to go on trips every week so you can take care of them!

Party!

Today we had a party for Griffin at the park near our house. We had everyone bring a bike or tricycle and we cooked hot dogs out on the grill. We had a great turn out, beautiful weather, and a very fun afternoon!

FOUR!

Today Griffin turned four! It's hard for me to believe, and I wonder if I'll ever stop thinking of him as "the baby." He will be the first to tell you that he is no baby, but I guess it's always hard for mamas to let go of that last little one.

As much as I hate that Griffin is growing up so quickly, he is just thrilled to be four. After a small birthday celebration on Saturday with Papa and Ronnie, Griffin said, "So now am I four like Marten?" When I told him that his birthday was still a few days away, he replied, "But, Mom, I already blew out my candles!"

Griffin has grown into such a fun little guy. After a couple of rocky tantrum-filled years, he is so pleasant to be around now. He's sweet, cuddly, and funny. He loves hanging around with his brother, sister, and friends. He definitely has his own ideas, and as long as we all cooperate, we get along just swimmingly! ;-)

I did a little birthday interview today, and here are his answers:

Favorite color: red and pink
Favorite food: macaroni
Favorite movie: Bolt
Favorite book: Puff the Music Dragon
Favorite song: Paralyzer
Favorite game: Lego Star Wars
Favorite thing to do: play some Wii
Favorite toy: wooden sword
Favorite place to go: Sonic
Best friend: Marten
What do you want to be when you grow up: a dog
Favorite birthday present: X wing
Favorite thing about birthday: sprinkle cupcakes with icing

He concluded the series of questions by telling me, "I'm done interviewing" and scampering off to play. Typical Griff; everything is on his own terms!

Spring ball

Spring has sprung and it's time for t-ball again! Rhys is playing for the Sidewinders this season and his having a great time so far. We followed last season's coach over to a different league, which means that Griffin gets to stay with his little t-ball buddy, Zachy. Those two are like two little Star Wars-obsessed peas in a pod.

Rhys has been playing lots of pitcher this season, as well as some short stop and various other positions. It's so fun to see how much he really loves it. He has practiced a lot at batting, and the improvement is obvious. It's so nice to see him work so hard for something he really enjoys.

Soccer

Griffin just finished up his first class ever -- a soccer class at the YMCA. We weren't sure how he'd do, since he has a...um...strong personality and likes to be in charge. But he did so well! He listened to Coach Dan (who also happens to be his good buddy's grandpa) and participated in all the games and drills in class. He had two little friends in his class -- Axel and Harper -- which was fun. We can't wait to do it again!

Home repair hell

We've been very busy the past month with major home repairs. Thanks to the clay soil found in our area and the major drought of the past year, our foundation needed some serious work. We ended up having 22 piers installed around the perimeter of the house, which meant days and days of jackhammers and lots of workers in and out. Then, as if that wasn't enough, we needed some post-foundation repair plumbing work. It's been a long--and expensive--month or so, but I think we're all finished save for cosmetic repairs. (Knock on wood!)

Vegas, baby!

For my birthday, Bill and I went on our first kid-free vacation since Avery was born and spent four fun-filled days in Las Vegas. Mamar and Doc kept the kids for most of the trip, but our good friend Courtney stepped in to help and kept the kids one night. I think the kids had as much fun as we did -- with the exception of Rhys, who got sick the first couple of days. Poor little guy. He was a trooper, and Mamar took good care of him.

Bill and I had a blast seeing the sights and sounds of Vegas, but I think the best part for us was having our time be all our own again. It's been a long time since we've not had to worry about hungry or tired kids! But four days was just perfect; by the end, we were really missing those little monkeys.

The highlight for both Bill and I were the two Cirque du Soleil shows that we saw. At the MGM Grand (where we stayed), we saw Ka. The stunts and set were incredible! I've never seen anything like it. Then we saw LOVE, which is the Beatles show at the Mirage. Wow, that was the best show I've ever seen. The set, costumes, dance, music...I could go on and on. Just amazing. We also saw an exhibit of Titanic artifacts that was really amazing. There sure isn't a shortage of things to see in Vegas!

Toothless!

What homeschooling?

We have had several wild weeks that have involved very little home or schooling. We had our foundation repaired all last week, and we've had lots of other commitments lately that have driven us out of the house and all over Austin. That's not to say that the kids haven't learned a much. If nothing else, I'm pretty sure they've learned just how far Mama can be pushed before breaking. But I digress....And despite our crazy month, the kids have done all sorts of neat projects and activities and learned a ton.

In science co-op, they have continued their study of the human body. The kids learned all about blood and circulation, did some edible activities to learn the components of blood and the route it takes as it circulates, and toured The Blood Center. (The Blood Center was definitely not Avery's favorite field trip destination. She's still recovering from the horror of seeing all those bags of blood.) They also spent one afternoon making latrines.



In our history co-op, the kids made dioramas with scenes from the lives of Anglo-Saxons, created some illuminated manuscripts, made a giant three-dimensional dome (modeled after the Hagia Sophia), and painted frescoes. Rhys told me, "Every week history gets better and better. I love it!"

Avery is learning a lot about music, as she is busy studying for PSIA Music Memory, in addition to taking her weekly lesson from Elizabeth and learning new pieces for the Austin Youth Orchestra. She is also making big strides in sight reading, which is a huge accomplishment.

And we can't forget the historical impact of the swearing in of our 44th president. The day before the inauguration, Bill and the kids participated in Obama's National Day of Service by pitching in with a park clean up.



For the actual inauguration ceremony, we got together with friends for a viewing party. I think we all will remember it for a long time to come.



(All photos courtesy of the Woodland School, whose historian never fails to forget her camera.)

7 months old!

Christmas Day

We had a lovely Christmas. It felt really low-key this year, which was perfect. We had some nice family visits, but most of the day was spent quietly playing with all the new loot!

Rhys was pretty excited to get the Dangerous Book for Boys from Avery.


And Avery was thrilled to get the new skateboard she was hoping for. She spent quite some time practicing outside, while Rhys played with his new baseball bounce back.




We also enjoyed all of our indoor goodies. Rhys settled right in with his new Clone Wars activity book, and Avery immediately started reading a new Christmas book. Griffin and Daddy spent a long time working with his new tool set, then later, Griffin tried out some other toys and Bill and I played many rounds of Quirkle.





The day was completed with a family jam session, thanks to the Guitar Hero World Tour that Papa and Ronnie brought.

Christmas Eve

As always, we spent Christmas Eve with the Waller branch of the family. This year, we went to Mamar and Doc's for a fabulous Christmas dinner, visiting, and more presents than I can count!





Before leaving, we tried for quite some time to get the obligatory Christmas pajama shot. As those that were there can attest, we're lucky that I managed to get Griffin in the shot at all!



The rest of the pictures were some version of this:

January re-cap

As happens every year, I spend about a month recovering from the birthday/Christmas extravaganza that is December. Not only did I need time to recoup, but we had some setbacks this month.

First, we received some sad news. Bill's grandmother had a stroke earlier this month, spent a few days in the hospital, then passed away. Bill was able to make it up to see her one more time, and I know he'll be forever thankful for that. She was a wonderful woman, and will be very sorely missed. We spent a couple of weekends visiting family in Lampasas, remembering and celebrating Meme's life.

Also, Rhys had surgery earlier this month to repair an inguinal hernia. He was a trooper, and aside from feeling bad the first day, he bounced back immediately. In fact, by nighttime on surgery day, I had to remind him not to jump on my bed! He spent a long two weeks restricted from running, jumping, or acting too wild. He's very glad to have gotten the green light from the surgeon this week to resume his normal activity.

So, between those things and just trying to regroup from Christmas, we've been quite preoccupied. We're finally getting back into the swing of our spring schedule, so hopefully my blog will be better kept up to date!