Books

I haven't read any books in about 15 years, at least. This summer I decided to start reading again. My friend, Angela, has been bringing me books to read and I've found a couple of others along the way. I am really enjoying this and want to quit my job so I can read all day long! Maybe I will... hmmmm. Seriously, I think Joanne prompted me to start reading from her blog post plus I needed something to do to satisfy some well deserved ME time. It can't be all about the kids and Keith, you know. So, if you want to recommend a good book for me to read, please send me a comment on it. I have created a list below my Facebook badge of the ones I have already read. Cheers!

Another Surprise

Keith just sent me a beautiful bouquet of roses thanking me for his birthday weekend. That was so sweet! I am so lucky!

Secret's Out

Keith was quite surprised when he found out the surprise golf included a night's stay at Barton Creek Resort in Austin and a round of golf on their Fazio Canyons course. The course was absolutely beautiful and in perfect condition. Our golf game, on the other hand, left much to be desired. We had a great time though, just taking in the sun, scenery and each other.

Happy 42nd Birthday Keith!

For any of you who know Keith in the slightest, you will know that he has had trouble keeping a nice pair of sunglasses over the years. In fact, one month is a pretty long time for him to keep a pair in good enough shape to even wear, if he hadn't already lost them. The last pair of sunglasses Dustin bought, Keith confescated and took for his own. This pair has lasted a couple of months, but Dustin really wants them back. This motivated him to get Dad a new pair for his birthday and couldn't wait to give them to him. So last night, the kids celebrated early with their gifts of homemade bracelets, decorated cups, payday candy bars and you guessed it, a new pair of sunglasses. Dustin wanted to make sure Keith had them to wear all day on his birthday and likewise, Dustin got his back. I have a wonderful weekend planned for this weekend with Keith for our celebration. We will be having dinner at Gumbo's on Friday night in Austin. After that we will attend the theater performance of "Love, Janis" at Zachary Scott Theatre. Saturday we are playing golf at an unidentified location. It's a surprise!

Apparently, the girls in Keith's office are getting to know him pretty well. They got him a gift card at the Sunglasses Shop! They also treated him to Macaroni Grill for lunch. Boy, am I jealous now.

Dale's

Saturday night Phil Hanusch and his family joined us at the house for a quick tour and then we were on our way to Walburg. Phil and Laura attend church in Cypress with a friend who is the lead singer for the Slick Hiway band. They were playing at Dale's Biergarten, so we joined them for the night out. They are a very good band and sound awesome. While there, the band wanted to take a picture of all the kids that were there since this was a family establishment, much like Oscar Store. They plan to post it on their website www.slickhiway.com. There were tons of kids. They had a playground and a basketball court for them to entertain themselves while they weren't running around on the dance floor. Phil's mom, Lillian and Robert along with Keith's dad, Ken and Judy also met us out there along with Robert's son, Shane and his family and his daughter, Michelle and her family. It was a good time had by all. The food was good too!

Visit from the Janaks

We were surprised by a visit on Saturday by Sara, Travis and Elizabeth. We got to show them around the new house and the kids had a blast walking Elizabeth around, I mean carrying! I'm not sure how much her feet actually hit the floor. We enjoyed hearing about their remodeling efforts too. Thanks for stopping by!

State Champs!

What a thrilling week we had taking Courtney and the Pixie Styx to Clifton to compete in the Texas Teenage Softball Association's t-ball state tourament. I coached the girls to an undefeated season in league, district and finally state. We run-ruled every team we played. By far, we had the best defense and offense of all the teams in the association. It worried me at first because we were not having any close games and thought we would meet our match at some point. Well, the girls were just that good! Nobody ever came close and it was such a sweet victory. Truly, a once in a life-time feeling.

We celebrated after the final game on Friday night at Clifton's Bunkhouse BBQ restaurant. Thomas Maddux arranged for them to stay open late just for us and we had the place packed with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins... you name it, they were there. Everyone enjoyed the meal sponsored in part by the RYBSA league, Andel Financial and Oscar Store. We also received enough sponsorship money from the RYBSA to buy each of the girls on the team a t-shirt from the state tournament. Thank you so much sponsors! We love you!

Happy 9th Birthday Rachel!

Rachel's softball team sponsor, Kacir Construction, held a swim and pizza party for her team at Walker pool. They provided everything for the girls and their families to have a good time. Coincidentally, it is also Rachel's birthday so it was fun for her to be able to enjoy the party with her friends on her birthday, even though the party was not for "her". Thank you Carla and Kyle!

After the party, we went home to have our own little celebration where Angela, Dustin and Courtney had decorated her bedroom door earlier in the day and we had her gifts waiting for her when she arrived. She also got a razor scooter plus some blendy pens and other girly things. She loved it all. Happy Birthday Rachel!

SPJST Summer Camp

After church on Sunday, we rushed home to get the girls packed for summer camp. I had prepared most of their take-along things earlier in the week, so we really just had to pick out the clothes and throw it all in the suit cases. We loaded up the car and headed to Brownwood to the Woodmen of the World camp grounds. We met the Vaniceks in Goldthwaite to pick up Sam and Stephanie to go the rest of the way with us. They had been to a wedding in Ballinger and were headed back home so it was a good place to do the exchange and Brian and Joan needed to get to Austin for another event.

Four days of camp chocked full of swimming, crafts, and sleeping in the air conditioned cabins. Now, they weren't air conditioned when I went as a chaperone a couple of years ago or when Keith went as a child, so they were in hog heaven. Plus, we didn't have to send fans!

Tuesday around lunch time I received a call from Dustin. He was crying hysterically telling me how much he missed me and wanted to come home. Poor guy! I wanted to drop everything and go get him right that minute. I arranged with Keith so that we would leave as soon as he made it home from work. I met him in Temple and we drove and met my sister, Tammy, in Plano for supper at Boudreaux's and retrieved our precious son. He was in much better spirits and talked non-stop until he finally crashed in the seat and fell asleep. We made it back home just before midnight. Thankfully, we did not have to drive the entire trip to Caddo, OK to get him. That was very nice of Tammy to meet us part way.

The girls got to ride a charted bus home from camp on Wednesday and they were quite surprised to see Dustin was with me when we picked them up from the Supreme Lodge. They were all happy to see each other once again and had plenty to talk about with their respective trips.

Fundraiser

While us girls were at VBS, Keith was helping me with the bake sale we scheduled to help raise money for the trip to Clifton for the state t-ball tournament. We made 18 pints of hot salsa and I don't know how many dozen cookies. Thomas Maddux has a daughter on the team so he graciously offered to let us set up shop at his Oscar Store. They were having a birthday party at the facility with a live band and it was a great opportunity to draw in some business for our efforts. Besides having the party, the store was packed all night long with some hungry folks waiting to try out the meal at the restaurant. Thomas had just had the grand opening the weekend before, so people are still swarming to check it out. We fared well with our earnings there but still had lots of desserts leftover when we shut down business at 10pm. We took the remainder to church Sunday morning and nearly sold the rest. All total, we made $800 at the sale plus another $300 of business donations. With 12 families traveling to Clifton on a daily basis during the tournament (as long as we continue to win), this is going to help out tremendously with gas and food.

We couldn't have done it without the help of our friends and family bringing their baked goods for us to sell. I want to thank everyone that contributed either by baking or donations and Thomas for giving us the use of his store front. We appreciate you SO MUCH!!!