Hamilton Pool

We live off of a road named Hamilton Pool Road. My father-in-law made the mistake of asking how the street received that name. It is from a stream/waterfall/mineral pool that is about five miles away. I had not been there at the time. We decided to check it out. It was about an hour before lunch and Eva, DeDe, PaPa, and I ended up on a half mile hike down and then back up a stoney hillside in street shoes and Eva was not that great at walking at the time. It was beautiful, but we were hot, tired, and hungry by the end!

Now I know to be prepared for the trip... walking shoes and plenty of time to enjoy the sights. On New Year's Eve we took our reluctant visitors to enjoy the outdoors. When I first mentioned going on a hike I got some not so enthusiastic faces. Later that tune changed as we all loved it and had a wonderful time!

The Best Christmas Ever!

And finally Christmas arrived! It was wonderful. Santa was good to everyone. We woke up bright and early and opened gifts... taking a break for breakfast... and opening more gifts. Katie and Lolo were quite amazed at the taking a break. They said wild horses couldn't have made them stop opening when they were younger! (To be truthful it was hard to pull them away at 19)

They the playing began! And the cooking. We had a nice slow relaxing day. Sadly, Aunt Kathy had to return to Ohio the next day:( Hopefully her next visit will be longer.

What happens when I am not in the car...

I step out of the car to run an errand and somehow it turns into a rock concert. I think the cousins are enjoying their time together!

Traditions con't...

Aunt Kathy finally arrives and it is time to get down to serious Christmasing. (Yes, I made that word up) Gramma Pat (AKA Mom) always bought us new pj's that we opened up on Christmas Eve. Kathy and I have continued that with our children. These are some pictures of the girls opening their new pajamas. Eva had to put them on right away!

...so did Lolo:)

Santa

The first attempt to get Eva to talk to SAnta was unsuccessful. But the second time she was all about it! I really did not think she would talk to him this year. But, as you can see, they had a nice long chat. She asked for a camera!

More Traditions

Elf Annie is one of Santa's helpers who visits Katie and Lolo. She will take and information you need to relay to Santa and she leaves yummy candy canes! We are lucky enough that Elf Annie found us as well. This video is of a morning that Elf Annie left Eva a Disney Princess candy cane.

The Ten Days of Christmas

Traditions.

When I was a young girl, my grandparents used to spend the winter in Florida. They sent my sisters and I a package in December with several small trinket gifts. We were allowed to pick one each day and open it. I remembered this fondly! When Kathy had Katie and Lauren I decided to continue on that tradition... adding a little something to it. I wrap 10 gifts for each. They begin opening on December 15th (AKA my birthday) and open one each day. When the last gift is opened... the next day is CHRISTMAS! We call it the Ten Days. When El came along Kathy did the same for her and now for Eva. The video is of Eva's first gift of the ten days.

Wake Up little Kelly, Wake Up

I have two girls with sore throats:( I took them to the doctor and we are waiting on strep results. While at the office I asked the doctor to take a look at Eva's ankles. She has been complaining that her ankles hurt often when she lays down to go to bed. The doctor did an exam and then wanted her to get an x-ray and some blood work. I was going to wait until she was feeling better... but Eva wanted to do it that day! So, off we go to get her blood drawn. I sit in the chair and she sits on my lap. Eva is amazing! Just a little whimper and the blood is flowing. Then the needle comes out of the vein and the lady has to dig around, a little whimper, and blood is flowing again. Unfortunately, the needle pops again and Eva is starting to get upset. I look down and see the lady wants to dig again and I end the test telling her we will come again on another day (we will not got there again). I also need to stop the test because of the poor needle work I have seen a needle digging around in my baby's arm and I am feeling a bit green. I say to El that I need her to take Eva. I am at this point sweating though a shirt and jacket. I lay my head down and ... good night Irene! Yep... Momma just passed out. El found this quite amusing as she has no problem giving blood and watching it flow. El will be holding Eva for the next test.

Houston was a little uglier on December 22nd.

And Austin was four times more beautiful! My girls, my peeps, my posse came to visit!!! Yea!

These lovely young chicks are my team from Poe. Paola, Anna, Laura, and Tanya drove from Houston to Austin and then back again all in one day! It was wonderful to see them and to get to catch up on some of the gossip. I wish I could have been in the car as well... I am sure I missed out on a lot of great girl talk.

I really miss you girls and can't thank you enough for making the trip out here to see us!

The Holiday Fun Continues

Next in our festivities was the arrival of Katie and Lolo. Lolo arrived on my birthday and Katie flew in a few days later. I now have all my babies under one roof! It doesn't get better than that!

We finally were able to decorate the tree. It is a 12 footer and managed to fall on me three times! But it looked magnificent when finally lighted and adorned.

There's Something About Mary

While in Houston we managed to get a quick visit in with Mary, Chloe, and Alex. This is an older photo of Mary and Chloe... I realized Mary and I do not make it into very many pictures! It is always nice when we can fit in a visit. Mary is the reason El has no idea what five minutes is. We would tell El and Chloe that it is time to go in five minutes and about an hour later we would leave. Mary and I have been able to converse without awkward silences since we first met. When I would tell El, "five more minutes" she would reply, "Is that a long five or a short five?"!

Time to catch up!

After a lovely evening at Rex and Jim's we all met for brunch and tree decorating at Fabene's. More great food and holiday fun! Eva was the tree trimmer extraordinaire. She finds one spot on the tree and puts all the ornaments there! We also played El's new word game. (I won!) After our weekend of Christmas fun it was back to Austin for one more week of school.

An Almost Perfect Christmas

We had plans to travel to Houston to celebrate Christmas with our dear friends Rex, Jim, and Fabene'. On the morning we were to depart, Todd received a call and had to go into work. Yuk! He was not going to be able to drive with us but was hoping to leave a couple hours later. Sadly, he did not make it.

We had a wonderful Mexican dinner and then exchanged gifts. As you can see in the pictures, a good time was had by all. Eva love, love, loves her new American Girl, Felicity! El has introduced her new Chrissa to all of her other girls. What a wonderful way to start off the best Christmas ever!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, another year has flown by. I finally know what my Mom meant when she would tell me she still felt 16. I thought, "How on earth?". But it is true. I still feel so young. Much younger than that number that keeps creeping up.

Miss Eva has a new 'do! She LOVES her bangs. When she first looked at herself she grinned, jumped up and down, and then said, "I'm just like Issy!".

Friends for Thanksgiving

Eva made a new friend on Thanksgiving. Gary and Leslie have a granddaughter, Lilly, who is one month older than Eva. The girls met and quickly became buddies. Here are some pictures that El took. Check back later for a cute video.

Buster

We have a houseguest this week... Buster! He is the teenage boy living next door. He is of the canine type of kid. Our neighbors, Leslie and Gary, took a little trip to London so we invited Buster to stay with us. He has been a good boy. He and Lelly get on well. They are definitely Mutt and Jeff! Lelly is 5 lbs. and Buster is about 75 lbs. Now Lelly had a little brawn to back up her bark. The cutest was the day I handed out treats (which Buster LOVES!) and he finished his and decided to try and take Lelly's. Let me tell you there was 5 pounds of fury! The funniest part was how quickly Buster backed off!!! He could have just as easily had Lelly for a treat.

Thanksgiving Feast!

Thanksgiving was a very fun event! However, I had several stressful moments just before the big day. First the windows in the front of the house are leaking... again. Second, and worst, I was sitting in the living room and I heard drip, drip, drip. I wander to the kitchen to find a pond in front of my dishwasher! I start calling to get it repaired... 1) can't come until after TG 2) scheduled a time the next day, confirmed time, then cancelled my saying they were overbooked 3) came out that afternoon but unable to get the part. Long story longer... I have dishpan hands!

In the picture with Eva, I am helping her with her sticker art book that Fabene' gave her. Then there is a photo of Jim. The lovely pilgrim is our new neighbor Leslie. They let us deep fry our turkey in their cooker. Everyone tells me it was delicious! Then you will see Chef Todd being watched by Fabene' as he attempts to fry the turkey without frying himself! Lastly but not least is Rex enjoying some spirits.

Rex, Jim, and Fabene' are our neighbors from our first house in Houston. We have certainly been blessed with great neighbors and that trend is continuing. Among the many things I am thankful for this season is for the wonderful Texas family we have in Rex, Jim, and Fabene', our great neighbors on Stanmore, the kind and artful Gadbois family and the fun Rice family, and our new neighbors Leslie, Gary, and Buster!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm so busy, busy, busy!

Well, I know it has been awhile but I will try to catch up. El won 3rd place in the Science Fair!!! Great job!! She did an experiment to find out which hand cleaning method is most effective: hand sanitizer with alcohol, hand sanitizer without alcohol, or anti-bacterial soap. To find out the results you will have to visit her blog.

Underage Drinking

We all know there is a problem with underage drinking. I, of course, try to educate my children to the dangers so they will not be influenced by peer pressure to drink or anything else. With that said, I will tell you a story. I am enjoying the Halloween party. I went out to the dance floor to check out what was going on outside. I gaze across the dance floor and see my lovely 10 year old daughter filling a cup with Frozen Margarita... under the careful instruction of her Gramma DeDe! My first thought was that El was filling the glass for DeDe... but why would DeDe be showing her how to use the machine instead of just filling her own? By now I am across the floor and asking El just why she is fixing herself a cocktail. She and DeDe act a bit surprised to find out this is a Margarita machine and not a Slushie machine. Right, how many times have you heard that one? "But I thought it was a slushie machine".

Boo!

Here are some pictures of Hermione and Mariposa! They had a great time. We went on Thursday to the Galleria. Most of the businesses pass out candy. Then on Halloween we had a hayride to trick-or-treat followed by a party at the amenity center. Eva loved the hayride and after the first couple of stops did not want to get off to trick-or-treat because she thought if she got off the hayride might be over!

Officer Sam

At story school we learned about the importance of policemen. We met Officer Sam and we saw his car. Eva has decided she would like to be a police girl when she grows up.