We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Well, again, here I am trying to play catch up on the blog. In a Nut(cracker)shell...this fall was ridiculously busy. Busy to the point that I found myself wondering just about everyday if it was worth it. Nutcracker was so much work. Mentally and physically, and many days emotionally exhausting. Working with 5 other people on an in some senses completely new production, and not really knowing the ropes with all of these people was really a feat. In the end, I was very pleased with my party scene. I was very pleased with the dancers that I was blessed to work with, and the Drosselmeyer that stepped in for me when my original Dross suffered a shattered foot injury. In the end, the show hit the stage, and ended up being a very nice production.

The very second that Nutcracker was struck, I was fully engaged in Angel Tree. I had 10 days from Nutcracker till the Angel Tree party at our church. Now, Angel Tree is also a fair amount of work...but with Angel Tree I know that I am doing something with truly lasting significance. Yes, Nutcracker is a wonderful holiday tradition, and many young dancers are affected by participating, BUT Angel Tree is God's work. And at the party, watching all those kids (43 this year and 22 families, compared to 14 families last year) open gifts- and honestly, the only gifts they will receive for some of them- is an absolutely out of this world joyful experience for me. And 2 things made it even more special this year.

The first was that our church really really took ownership of this ministry this year. Often it seems like only  a small percentage of the church population really embrace any given outreach opportunity. But I was blown away by the response from our members this year. We had so many attend the party, love on the families, and just dive in to do whatever needed to be done. And that was a great help to Jess and I. I was especially blessed by several new member families that got really involved and were excited to help out.

The second was the fact that my children were really involved this year, as opposed to being stuck back in the nursery "not getting into anything." This year, they really helped me in a variety of ways with the set up, decorating, and even at the party. It did them good to have a part in giving gifts to the other children. And while they noticed some of the toys and commented about how they liked them...they didn't whine about needing a present to open. It's a good thing for children to experience the joy of giving.

Our Angels got gifts and Bibles and our caregiver families were blessed with giant boxes and bags of TONS of food from our food pantry. I got a lot of hugs and a lot of gratitude from some very overwhelmed peoople.

A few days after the party, the kids and I got to play Santa and take the gifts and food to 3 families that were unable to attend the party. And I actually love getting to do that, because at the party I'm usually running around like a crazy person, and don't get to engage with the families as much as I'd like.

So, here we are. We made it to Christmas. Oh...well...there was Thanksgiving. I managed to completely leave that out, didn't I? Thanksgiving was fantastic. I cooked for a week. And then I roasted my 2nd turkey ever. My family came to our home for T'giving, and we had a really great time. The kids had a blast with their cousin, Kylie. We did a little Black Friday shopping (to replace two tv's. Yes, I said two tv's. One was an old tube tv from our bedroom that was going out. The other was our nice living room 47" Aquos that Alec cracked by throwing a wooden block at. Yup. Life with small children.) But the good news is that we landed a great flat screen led 3D tv, dvd, and glasses bundle AND a new flat screen for the bedroom ALL for about half of what we payed about 5 years ago for our other big tv. So, the burn wasn't TOO bad.

Okay...now we made it to Christmas. We are currently enjoying a wonderful holiday with Aaron's family. We had a lovely Christmas yesterday. The kids got some really nice gifts. They both got what they wanted more than anything: for Alec, a spiderman talking action figure and for Emma, a Buzz Lightyear action figure. Hey, it's kind of a doll! They haven't put them down since they opened them.

We are looking forward to seeing more friends this week, and then on to another "Christmas" with my family. The best gift for me is just getting to enjoy down time with our families. I don't have to cook, or clean. I don't have anything to organize right now. I have a moment to blog and drink a nice cup of coffee. My kids are happily playing with their new toys and the people they love. Life is good.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, my friends!

Ready, Set, Chaos!

I kind of feel like we've been living in a slight state of chaos over the last week or two. Sunday before Halloween, Aaron started demolishing the tile in our foyer. Remember that because of the 8 year leak in our formal dining room, (that was finally fixed last year, but we needed a year to really really believe that it was truly fixed) we needed to replace the flooring in the great room. We decided forever ago on hardwood, and it's just taken this long to decide on which one and when to actually break down and do it.

Aaron wanted to leave the tile in the foyer, at first, and then decided, along with me, that it would look nicer to have all hardwood in the foyer, dining, living room and hallway. It's just that it was such a monumental pain in the rear. Seriously, I don't think I can ask him to do any other "honey do" work for a really really long time. He had to borrow a rotary hammer and chisel away at the tile and mastic. It took days. It was loud, it made the house ridiculously dusty, and it was downright HARD work. I got in there one day, and worked on the adhesive with a cold chisel. I worked an hour and cleared about 3 sq feet. Good grief.

Our friend, Wes, a contractor/builder/knowshowtodoitaller, came last Thursday and started cutting into the wall in the hallway to frame up two new closets. Yeah, that's right. Our builder didn't give us any storage/coat/linen closets in the hallway. Now we're getting two. Oh, I can't tell you how exciting it is to have two new spaces to store clutter! Seriously stoked about that! Friday and Saturday the guys laid the floor, after the foyer was FINALLY cleared of tile crap. I helped Aaron prep the subfloor, pulling up carpet, vacuuming dust, etc.

 It is done now, and it looks so so awesome. I'm thrilled with it! We haven't moved back into the living room yet, because we need to touch up the baseboards, but we're almost there. Wes will come Monday to finish the closets with doors and shelves. Drywall is up, taped and mudded. I'll paint this weekend. Here are a few pics of all the fun!

This first one is of the kids in their Halloween costumes. Spidey and Supergirl. They just so happened to wear these costumes the whole time the work was going on in our house. We went to Lowe's twice dressed like this!

Left of bathroom; Closet will have shelves.

Right of bathroom; closet will be a coat closet.

The foyer and dining room all tarped up.

What a mess!

Daddy's got SKILLS!

DONE!

LOVE IT!



Alec and Emma watching a movie with popcorn whilst all the construction was going on!

Photo Update!

One of my favorite things about having a little girl is getting to do her hair for ballet class.

Alec and Emma loving on eachother in the backyard.

Tickling Sissy.

Children of the Corn, Part III

We actually made it OUT the EXIT!

King and Queen of the mulch pile!

Pumpkin Patch.

Mommy's Birthday Cake and Flowers that Daddy and the kids surpised me with!

Dixie Dude Mariachis- Can't you just hear them singing "La Cucaracha!"

Alec and Emma dancing at the wedding. Emma DID NOT want the band to stop playing or to leave the dance floor!

Remember this pose from last year?

Perfect riding weather!

Cira, Alec and Emma in their new Dallas Cowboys jerseys, compliments of PaPa!



Riding a Longhorn!

All of the family at Larry and Suzy's wedding.

One more picture of  Emma going crazy on the dance floor! She was INTENSE!

Fall Frenzy

Wow, it's been entirely too long since I've posted, but the last month has been so incredibly busy. I have so many pictures that I need to post and updates to share. Where to begin? I'll give my written update and then post pics later.

Okay, we went to Dixie Dude Ranch mid-September, instead of June when we normally go, because Aaron's Uncle Larry got married Sept 17th. We had an awesome time, as usual. The kids had a BALL! They had so much fun swimming, riding horses, playing ping pong and tether ball, being out in nature, being with family, and being with the four other cousins that are their same age! What a life! It was a really wonderful trip.

Since we've returned to TX, I'm full speed ahead into Nutcracker, the kids have school, dance, and swimming, we all have church, I really need to get going with Angel Tree, and my MOMC (mothers of multiples club) responsibilites have been crazy!

So lets start with Nutcracker. The part where I get together with the kids and adults in my cast and do the artistic stuff (the choregraphing, staging, rehearsing) is fantastic. I have a wonderful cast, and Party Scene is coming together really quickly and beautifully, and I'm already thrilled. The parts where I have to think about costuming, sets, props, deal with parents, and with one especially EGR (extra grace required) person who is involved in the production are the parts that make it stressful. By and large, however, it has been a good experience...it just happens to be taking up A LOT of my life right now. By November, I will be down to only rehearsing 2 hours a week on Saturdays, just running Party Scene, and that will be much better.

The kids are loving their new school. We moved them from a place called Fellowship Bible to Cross Church Springdale, simply because I can send them 2 days a week at the new place for the price of 1 at the old place...and its a completely comparable program and curriculum. Kind of a no brainer! Last week they had hay rides and they thought that was the coolest thing ever. They will have two costume party days, and they are super excited about that. Alec will be Spiderman...again, and Emma will be a princess, ballerina, butterfly, or Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Still deciding.

Dance lessons and swimming are going great. I posted on facebook, but have to say it here too. At their last dance class, Miss Rachel was telling the kids that their Momma was a ballerina. Alec abruptly proclaimed "My Daddy is Spiderman. He climbs buildings!" I heard it over the monitor that is set up in the waiting area. So so funny!

In swimming last week, Alec swam on his own for the first time. It wasn't very far, but heck, it was still on his own. He is doing so well. His teacher, Miss Lori, tells me every week how well he is progressing.

At church, Aaron and I have been helping out with the Kids' Church program on Wednesday nights. Alec and Emma have gotten really into getting points on Wed night. They get a point for coming, for bringing their Bible, for saying their memory verse and for bringing a friend. I've actually been really proud of how well they are memorizing their verses for school and church. And it's good for me to help them remember them, because then I remember them too!

So, you may recall from the last two years that I am one of the coordinators for our church's Angel Tree program. We received our list of names of the children we will be serving this year at the end of Sept. I have yet to call the families to get gift preferences. Usually, I am way more ahead on this. But in light of Nutcracker madness, and the fact that we have something going on every night, except for Thursdays, with regularity...I'm just behind. Things will free up after this weekend.

Another thing that's been keeping me swamped is MOMC. I've been tagging and prepping for our Fall Consignment Sale. That usually takes me a good week, to get everything tagged and ready. AND because I'm Hospitality Chair, I arrange for a week of meals for each of our members who has given birth recently. WE HAVE HAD SIX MOTHERS GIVE BIRTH TO TWINS IN THE LAST TWO MONTHS!!! And we have two more due before Thanksgiving. Usually my job is not that difficult, but having this many to plan hospitality meals for has really been exhausting. We've just had a major baby boom in our club!

Last weekend, we took the kids to our annual corn maze trip. I will post pics of that, and Dixie Dude, and all the other stuff I've neglected in the next post.

This weekend is Consignment Sale, Nut rehearsals, Church, and our annual Fall Family Photo Shoot. We're taking our pictures Sunday afternoon at the new Crystal Bridges walking trail amongst all of the beautiful Fall foliage. Hopefully, we'll take some nice pics worthy of this year's Christmas card.

Pictures I've Needed to Post

First day of school

Alec got the Super Star Award!

Day trip to Silver Dollar City last weekend!

 Here's a video of us in Grandfather's Mansion. The floor is slanted, and the kids had a little trouble walking. I thought we had more footage, but you get the idea. It really is hard to walk in there!

Oh NUTS!

I swear, everytime I think I'm sort of caught up on blogging, weeks and weeks go by, and I realize all of the things I've been thinking about writing about haven't been written. But, that is life!

This fall is going to be BUSY! I know, you're really surprised right? Because usually I just lay low and constantly chillax. :-) To our schedule from last year, we've added the following: a dance class for the kids, a swim class for Alec, another day that the kids go to MDO, Jen (and eventually Aaron-he gives guitar lessons Wed night) will now be co-teaching Kids' Church on Wednesday nights, and oh yeah, here's the clencher...I'm setting Party Scene in the IPAC Nutcracker.

Now, I used to be ALL ABOUT the magic of Nutcracker. I've been in about 5 different companies' productions of Nut. I didn't truly tire of it until I danced in the Tulsa Ballet Nut, and we did 28 shows. That wouldn't have been a problem, except that I was living away from and missing my husband...and I was really tired of that. With WAB, I had an opportunity to set almost every part of the production on company and non-company dancers, and to dance several roles. Although some of the magic came back working with so many kids who got so excited by it, it also wore me out completely because we would rehearse Nut from Sept -show, and I would have to commute 6, but often 7, days a week to Ft. Smith. So, honestly, when I was first approached about helping out with the IPAC Nut, my mind immediately focused on all of the weekends I would lose with my family to be setting and rehearsing Nut.

It's really an odd situation, because Catherine, the woman I used to work for when it was CBA, had already secured the Arend Arts Center for Dec 3-4 for Nut...but then when the studio changed hands and she took a job that would not allow her to be gainfully employed elsewhere, she offered the opportunity to IPAC to take it over. Because none of the "ballet" people at IPAC really have the time to completely take over Nut, there are 6 of us who will be collaborating. I went ahead and agreed, because they agreed that I could set my rehearsal schedule. I will set Party Scene only. That is another reason I feel that it's doable...since I'm not responsible for the entire thing.

Anyways, auditions are the 10th. I will probably spend the entire day at the studio. Nut auditions are always a marathon. Not sure yet when rehearsals will begin. It's either going to be really great because all of us who are collaborating are sharing the work load...OR it's going to be a pain in the butt because there are so many of us collaborating...and that will require A LOT of GOOD communication. We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you updated as we get into the swing of things.

22 Month Video Meltdown

Last night, Aaron was looking for an old video of the kids watching Jimmy Kimmel and screaming "Jimmy!" with glee...because you know, we believe in getting our kids hooked on late night talk shows from a really early age. :-) But we always DVR Jimmy, and watch it early in the evening. The kids have always really loved the house band, and Jimmy, and the other musical guests. Anyways, he finally found the video.

Then, I started looking through all the other "22 months" videos that were on the laptop. And I literally was overcome with joy and pain all at the same time. They were (and still are) so darn cute! Look at how short their hair was. It was just barely starting to curl. Look at how baby like their features still were. Look at their little diaper laden behinds. And I started crying. Because my babies are, and will be on a continual course to "growing up." And I felt guilty.

Guilty because a lot of the first few years with the twins just felt like survival. They were wonderful and filled with joy, but I would be lying if I said that there weren't times when I would consciously think, "oh, it's just going to be so much easier when we're out of this phase, or they're older, or they can do blank, or blah blah blah."

I have tried to be careful to savor the baby years with Alec and Emma, but I still feel like I could have cherished them more. And I don't know if there will be another baby in our future or not.

But I'm glad that I watched the videos, because every now and then, God gently reminds me that every day and every season, with its unique challenges and joys, is truly a gift. Time goes by way too quickly.

So, today...when Alec pooped on the potty, and I didn't hear him calling for me because Emma was trying to do the same in the other bathroom...and he was running around bare bottomed in the living room before getting cleaned up...I just laughed it off. Because that was a silly, childlike thing to do. And I was actually happy that my baby boy still acts like a baby sometimes. (Luckily, I didn't have to clean up anything but him. The carpet and the furniture were fine. Otherwise, this would probably be an altogether different story. ;-)) Hey, I'm still human!

Here's the link to the video Aaron edited:
Young Jimmy Kimmel Fans

Whirlwind Weekend

This last weekend, we were supposed to have several different things going on. We had a get-together to attend, I was supposed to teach a workshop, then I was supposed to teach another class...well, everything ended up being postponed.

Then, we got all that awesome rain last week, and cooler temperatures moved in. Now, I've been wanting to take the kids to Silver Dollar City all summer, but we've been waiting for the right weekend to do it...right meaning nothing else going on and not 110 degrees outside. Well, all of a sudden it looked like last weekend was our chance. So, it was a bit spur of the moment (if you know Aaron very well, you know that with most things, he needs to have a while to wrap his brain around the plan and prepare mentally,) but I ran it by the boss man, and he said that it was cool.

So, Friday I ordered season passes for Aaron and I (they're cheaper than two day passes, and the kids get in free till they're 4), and booked us a ridiculously cheap hotel on the strip in Branson. Like so ridiculously cheap that the last time I paid so little for a hotel room, he slept "on top" of the bed, and we didn't use the bathroom. hahaha. Saturday I was supposed to teach a modern class, but it got cancelled and we took off.

We got to SDC about 12:30 and played till 6 when they closed. Alec and Emma basically thought they were in heaven. They thought the teacups, the elephants, the racing regatta...everything at the Grand Exposition, was like the best thing EVER. They got to check out the new Half Dollar Hollar tree house play area for little kids that just opened this season, and we rode the train. Saturday was awesome. They did really well for walking all over (we decided not to do the strollers.)

When we left to go check into the hotel, the Garmin sent us on a wild goose chase because I couldn't get it to register W Hwy 76, and we ended up stuck in Branson strip traffic for like an hour because of a stupid car show. Blah! We stopped to eat at Shoney's and finally made it to the Melody Lane Inn. I was pleased to find that our room was totally adequate and clean. For what I paid, that's all I cared about. Plus breakfast was included. We played in the pool a little while before heading off to bed.

The next morning, the dang Garmin messed up again on the way to SDC, but we finally got on the right track (I think it's time for a new nav system). Got into the park, and it became clear pretty quick that the kids were a little more moody that day. They didn't want to walk, and they were tired and cranky. We managed to make it to all of their favorite rides again. We timed the lines really well Sunday. We also got to visit the Gyser Gulch, where they got to shoot little foam balls out of air guns. They would have stayed there for hours. We stayed till 3pm, and then headed home because Daddy needed some down time before work on Monday.

It was exhausting, but a really fun weekend. I'm so glad we finally got to take the kids there. They're already asking to go back. :-)

Second Flower Girl/ First Day of Dance Class

This weekend, Emma was in her second wedding. The first was at 22months, in Titi V's and Dr. Dan's wedding. This wedding was for some friends at our church. Let me just say...it is MUCH EASIER for a child to be in a wedding at nearly 3 1/2 yrs old than at 22 months. (Just sayin, V.)
However, Veronica says that our children screaming bloody murder in the church foyer is one of her favorite memories of her wedding.

Emma did really well this time, even though the timing of the wedding was such that we had to completely skip naptime. We were really proud of her. She loved looking like a princess, and she took her job of placing the flower petals REALLY seriously. We should have taken a picture of the aisle, because it looked like there was one petal every 18 inches exactly!

Not really digging picture time.

Paying very close attention to her flowers.

Mommy hanging on to Emma and Jase until just the right moment.

And then, today, Alec and Emma attended their first dance (creative movement) class. They are able to take lessons for free at either of the studios where I teach. The studio where they took class today is called Adonai Ballet Academy in Springdale. It is owned/directed by a good friend and former student of mine, Rachel Staff. She is Royal Academy trained and teaches RAD syllabus. Her studio is a Christian based studio...meaning that her main focus is to equip students with excellent classical technique, in a modest and appropriate environment, where dancers can use their art to the glory of God. I think its awesome.

They had a great time in class. I know they are really looking forward to going again. Here's our first class picture.

Alec and Emma with Ms. Rachel

Alphabet Garden

About a month ago, my friend Natalie (author of Our Berry Vine blog that I follow,) emailed several friends about "teaching our kids through play." She wanted us to compile some ideas for summer fun activities, projects, crafts...that could help us reinforce our kids' cognitive development. In otherwords, lets do something fun with a learning goal.

And I haven't really had a ton of time to think up and send out a lot of ideas...but today, I came up with one. And that's really how I roll anyway...I make a lot of this teaching/activity stuff as I go! :-)

This morning, on a whim, I decided on a fun little activity for us to do. The kids have been wanting to cut and paste things, and they've needed to practice using safety scissors. This project reinforces the alphabet, the order of the letters, phonics, uses observation skills, and helps develop fine motor. Here's what you need:

A piece of poster board, butcher paper or even construction paper
Old magazines
Safety scissors
Glue stick
Brightly colored tissue paper squares
Pencil
Poster paint

Allow children to peruse old magazines looking for letters of the alphabet. They need to be large enough to cut out. We went in order. Emma looked for "A," Alec looked for "B," etc. After finding each letter, ask "which letter comes next?" My kids would sing the alphabet song until they arrived at the next letter every single time. You can also ask "what sound does the A make?" if you want to reinforce phonics. It took us a good long while to find A-Z. I was pretty surprised that the kids stayed focused through all 26. I thought we may do like 10 letters and then pick up another day...but we made it through! After finding all the letters, we glued them down in order on the poster board.

Then, since we had all of these little tissue squares leftover from Sunday School, I had the kids help me make a "garden." You twist the squares around the eraser end of a pencil and then glue it down. It looks like a flower, or clusters of flowers if you put them close together. I let the kids make lines or circles of the glue all over the poster board, and I put flowers everywhere there was glue.

Then I added the title and let them help me write their names in glitter glue.

Then they wanted to add hand prints, so we did that with poster paint.

Their masterpiece is now hanging on the wall in their room...and they are really proud of it!

Happy Anniversary

On July 13th, Aaron and I celebrated 9 years of marriage. It's kind of wild when you think about it...how much time flies. Hard to believe that we've been married for 9 and together for 15 1/2! The actual date fell on a Wednesday, so we waited for the weekend to go out. We were planning to go to this place in Fayetteville called Savor, that supposedly has this new chef with amazing credentials...but after hearing a few "less than stellar" reviews, and seeing the most ridiculous commercial for the place on their website, we decided to go to Bordino's (also in FAY) instead.

We had some good friends watch the kids that evening. Melissa and Jon are engaged. Melissa has worked with Aaron at Walmart forever, and the kids know both of them from Aaron's softball team. They love them!

Dinner was spectacular. We both had Tomato Bisque, that was garnished with goat cheese and fresh croutons. Aaron had a steak medallion with gorgonzola butter and asparagus for the main course, and I had chicken and black eyed peas in white truffle cream sauce. So...ridiculously...good! I don't really like black eyed peas, but I'd heard the chicken dish was divine, so I went with it. They actually made them taste good. We both had white chocolate creme brulee for dessert, and it was out of this world too. And there was vino. My favorite was a red sirah/verdoh blend called Petite Petit. Very good.

We ate early, because the only reservation they had open was 5:45...so it was really quiet and nearly empty where we were seated. That is until a really obnoxious bachelorette party showed up, and ruined the calm. It wouldn't have been so obnoxious if they weren't "almost 40's" acting like "almost 30's." But I suppose it's fine. We were on our way out as they were getting their beverages.

Next year, for the big 10, the plan is to take a super fabulous trip to Hawaii. I have my eye on the Grand Wailea resort in Maui. I love the thrill of planning a trip. We haven't flown anywhere since we went to Puerto Rico in '07, and actually, we haven't so much as taken a weekend getaway since the twins came along. Yes, I realize we need to get them acclimated to being away from us, and we plan to...so it's not a major shock when we're gone for 5-7 days. So I'm really really excited...and I'll probably take the whole year to track down the best package and research all of the fun things we can do. Yipee!

The Running Post that I Forgot

Somehow, in the midst of everything going on at the end of June going into July, going into vacation time, etc...I managed to miss posting about the outcomes of the Nike Challenge and the Cancer Challenge 10K that I finished.

The Nike Challenge was set up by V and Dr. Dan. It was a team challenge. V and I ran on a team and Dr. Dan and his friend Chris (the punk that beat me in the Palm Sunday to Palm Beach Challenge last year) ran on a team. It was the Ballet Dancers vs. the Beer Drinkers. Obviously, the Ballet Dancers reigned victorious! Yay us! The boys didn't put up much of a challenge, since there wasn't an awesome prize to be won...just bragging rights. Whatever. I don't need a prize to kick some butt. :-) Just as a side note: we won the challenge by more than twice as many miles.

On to the Cancer Challenge. Several members of our church formed Team Liz, to run in honor of our friend's battle with cancer. We formed the team, not realizing that by the time the actual run took place...we'd be running in her memory. I think we all put a lot of spirit into the task, remembering how well Liz ran the race of life. We miss her dearly, and were all so glad to be able to run for her cause. After the race, we compiled our numbers and all signed a hat to give to her mother.

The course was stinkin' hard! There was one ridiculously long hill, that gave me a little bout of mental Tourette's as I was climbing it (I only stopped running to get a few sips of water) and then as I was rejoicing over that stupid hill being over...in the distance...are you freaking kidding me?!?!?!?! another stinkin' hill?!?!?! Yeah, it was. It was shorter but steeper. At least it was over pretty quickly. But those dang hills really did me in! Oy!

Even with the dumb hills, I managed to shave off a little over 3 minutes from my Race For the Cure 10K time. I was pretty stoked about that.

I haven't actually gone running since the Cancer Challenge. I was a little burnt out and I had a littile tendonitis happening in my left ankle. After the run, I was pretty much laid up the rest of the day after we got home. Had to ice and elevate. After a few hours, it went back to normal.

I'm going to go to the gym to do a nice little 2 or 3 mile run today. Need to get back into the swing, but I also need to get some new shoes...so we'll see how my feet do.

I have to say, I loved the experience being a part of Team Liz. It was so awesome to be surrounded by my church family, really dear friends, working hard and striving for a common goal and purpose. And then, as we all crossed the finish line, to have our team mates there cheering for us and encouraging us, and doing that until the last member crossed the line...it was really awesome. I couldn't help but think about how it will be like that as we cross the finish line of life. How cool will it be to get to heaven and be met by friends and family, cheering us on...and to cheer on others as they enter eternity! It's going to be amazing!

Here are some pics!

Team Liz

Rocking in on to the finish line

Almost done

So happy to be done!

Official time 1:03:42.9 (better than my last race at 1:07)

Nice and sweaty!

Texas Adventures

With Titi V

Gonna find some treasure!

Examining shells

Beach Babies

Galveston

At Discovery Green

Walking in Downtown Houston

PaPa giving Alec a frisbee lesson

Me and the girlies

Girlies and bubbles

Surfing at the Park

Aaron, King of the Rock

Tres Primos (3 cousins)

GiGi took us all out to Red Lobster

The Brothers Davis

Youngest to Oldest (Alex, Andrew, Aric, Aaron)

With GiGi

At Splashway!

Throwing rocks into the Guadalupe.

Painting in the shade.

Slip-n-slide!

Usually, every summer about the first weekend in June, we go to Aaron's family reunion at Dixie Dude Ranch in Bandera, Tx. This year, his Uncle Larry is getting married (to a woman he met at DDR, who was also a "Dixie Dude lifer.'") The wedding will be at the ranch in September, and so both the reunion and wedding will take place then. I think September might be a nice alternative, since it probably wont be 110 degrees then...maybe.

So, since Aaron had a bunch of vacation days to use and we really wanted to see all his mom's side of the family sometime this summer too, we decided to take a vacation down there.

First we hit Houston/Galveston. We stayed with my best friend, V, and her hubby, Dr. Dan. We went to Galveston beach that Saturday. That was the kids' first beach excursion ever. Aaron was able to show off his MAD PARALLEL PARKING SKILLZ, because when we got there it looked like there was no way we were going to find beachside parking. It looked like we were going to have to pay and walk. But somehow Dr. Dan spotted a miraculously empty space at like the very last nanosecond, and miraculously there was no one right behind us, so that Aaron was able to brake, and back right on in. Perfect! I still can't get over that.

We enjoyed our day at the beach very much. We packed a lunch/snacks/drinks to take along, and just played in the sand, sun and surf all day. The kids really enjoyed digging around in the sand, finding a treasure trove of seashells, and of course the water. Alec, a bit more than Emma, to be sure. He thought he was good to just swim right on out into the deep, but Aaron kept a handle on him. His favorite thing was wave jumping with Daddy. Emma took a lot longer to make nice with the water. She just wanted to sit in the shallow water with Mommy. Eventually, she decided to wave jump too. We had an awesome time, and then went back to Titi and Dr. Dan's for some RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME Cuban food. They treated us to take out from their favorite restaurant. Aaron and I split this sampler with fried pork chunks, steak, shredded beef, black beans and rice and plantains. Holy moly! And then, to top it all off...the BEST arroz con leche I have EVER had! Seriously, to die for.

Titi and Dan were super hospitable. They were very thoughtful about making sure that there were kid friendly foods in the house, and didn't mind surrendering their tv/dvd for A & E's entertainment. We all had an awesome time!

From there we headed home to Victoria (after making a quick stop by Discovery Green downtown in Houston). V had been telling me about this really neat park that has fountains for kids to play in, a playground, all sorts of fun stuff. So, we went by there to let the kids splash around a bit, and then took off.

We spent Sunday afternoon and all the next week in Victoria, with a few trips to Goliad. Aaron's brother, Aric and his daughter, Cira (who is almost 3) were there too...which was awesome, because all three kids got to play together and had so much fun. I'm so so grateful that Alec and Emma have several cousins so close to their own age. My sister and I just had eachother...no cousins our age. So, I feel like it's a really big blessing.

We spent our days enjoying family, letting the kids play in the pool, on the slip-n-slide, at the park, at Aunt Linda's with playdoh and bubbles and frisbee, visiting HEB, and the list goes on. PaPa Davis took us all to a waterpark outside of Halletsville (Splashway) one day. It was so fun...perfect for the kids. They had a blast!

We returned home Saturday, the 9th. We all had such an awesome visit, and really appreciated the family time. Love us some TEXAS!!!