Happy 7th Birthday Courtney!

Call me brave or just plain crazy, but we had a great time with Courtney this year for her 7th birthday. Eight of her friends were able to join her at the house for pizza, cupcakes and a sleepover. They had fun with the karaoke machine taking turns being stars on the mic while they took turns getting thier nails painted, had a pillow fight that lasted forever and then watched "Shorts" and "Akeelah and the Bee" before crashing for the night. Rachel joined the girls so we had 10 of them sleeping out in our little aggieland upstairs. Keith fixed breakfast for them while I got a few more zzz's and had them all around the new dining room table with their cereal of choice.

The girls all looked like they had a good time and Courtney thanked me for everything with a big hug and kiss. I enjoyed every minute of it and would do it again in a heart-beat.

Thanksgiving 2009

We started out this Thanksgiving season with dinner at Kelli and John's house on Sunday, November 22nd. We joined Kelli, John, Matt, Sara, Travis and Elizabeth for a quiet afternoon of food and fun. Courtney got a trivia game for her birthday and it gained lots of attention to see if we could answer the 1st grade trivia questions.

We had a delicious roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, carrots and rolls. And for dessert a delicious banana blueberry pie and chocolate chip cookies. Thank you John and Kelli for inviting us, preparing the meal and sharing this day with your family.

Don't worry, Sara. I think I took enough pictures for both of us, although somehow your Dad disappeared when the camera came out. I didn't get any pictures of him cooking the roast or washing the dishes!

Matt and Elizabeth hanging out in the kitchen.







Dustin and Elizabeth busy at work building their creations. I think they traded creations ;)






Sara and Travis posing for the perfect picture.







Brain Quest... not sure who was winning here!







Kelli and her favorite girls.







Then it was on to Thanksgiving Day at my house. We had my brother William and his family Misty, William and Wyatt in from Spring, TX and Keith's Mom, Norma and Don over for a delicious meal, if I have to say so myself. This was my first holiday meal on the grand scheme prepared in my new kitchen. I enjoyed every minute of the preparation which started Sunday night boiling chicken for the dressing. We had a honey baked ham (thank you Don!!!), homemade dressing Cyclone-style topped with whole cranberries, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, candied sweet potatoes, noodles Wesphalia-style, and rolls. And for dessert there was cheesecake covered with a berry medley and pecan pie (thank you Judy!!!). Later we made a pumpkin pie too just to satisfy the craving.

For supper, I made a pot of chili, cornbread and had chips and queso to enjoy while watching the Texas A&M vs. #3 t.u. football rivalry game. The aggies put up a tough fight but fell short in the end on defense. It was a great game and set an all-time high scoring rivalry game record of 49-39. Better luck next year!

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us. Normally we are running from house to house trying to visit with everyone, but this was a nice change being able to relax at home having family visit with us. Thanks again, Misty, for helping me with all the clean-up and making the pumpkin pies.

Happy Birthday William and Wyatt

We drove to Cut & Shoot, just East of Conroe, today for William and Wyatt's birthday party. They had the party in the pavilion and party room at the city park that William and Wyatt helped to build their playground. Wyatt turned 9 in October and William turns 10 next week. The boys are getting so big!

We had fun at the party. The kids played hockey under the pavilion and big William cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Misty had everything decorated hockey style and gave they boys tickets to the Houston Aeros hockey game tomorrow. Dustin played "Happy Birthday" on his clarinet as we all sang in celebration.

The after-party included go-kart riding for all the kids which is always lots of fun. They all got a little muddy and wet, but we took towels to wipe them off before the long ride back home.

Big William's workshop is right next door to the park, so we went to the shop to find a nice surprise that William and the boys have been working on. They built me a 9' x 4' dining room table out of Wamara and Pecan wood. It is beautiful. They will be finishing it up and bringing it to me on Thanksgiving Day so we can break it in with style. William does not make chairs so I will need to find some chairs to go around it.

Hit n Run Fall Bash 8U Tournament Champions

This fall we were able to get Courtney and Rachel tryouts for a few select teams. We decided to go with a team out of West named S.W.A.T. Softball With Attitude Team 8U because they wanted both girls on the team, even though Rachel will only be eligible to play with them until the end of December when she has to move up to 10U.

On November 1st, the team participated in the Monster Mash tournament in Temple and took 4th place. Not bad for their first tournament as a brand new team. On November 7th, they played in the Hit n Run Fall Bash tournament in Temple and came home with the 1st place team trophy. They played 7 games, with the last two being the most exciting. They lost their first bracket game of the day which put them in the loser's bracket so they had to fight back all day to come back and beat the team that they first lost to. It was such a sweet victory!

We are so proud of this team of girls, and it is especially joyful watching both Rachel and Courtney play together on the same team. Rachel has become such a leader with these girls and is breaking Courtney in to take over when she leaves. They are calling out where the next play is to be made and reminding the others of how many outs. They really have a good sense of where they are in the game.

Congratulations girls and S.W.A.T.!!!!!!

Halloween 2009

Halloween was so much fun this year. We started out trick or treating at St. Joseph's church in Cyclone after Mass. There were about 12 cars lined up with their trunks open and full of sweets. The kids got to go trunk to trunk to get their treats. Some of the trunks were even decorated spooky to get in the spirit. From there we drove to Aunt Kelli's house and then Anne and Charles house for more treats. Sandra and Melvin Haisler and their grand-daughter Amya, joined us for the door to door fun which led us to Rogers where they showed us where are the spooky houses were. We met up with a hobo and the kids decided to give him some candy, you know, for charity. He was very greatful and even allowed us to take his picture.


When we got back home, we made spooky Halloween cakes with fudge swirl and milk chocolate frosting. Rachel and Courtney had a lot of fun helping (i.e., licking the bowl). They turned out cute and were pretty yummy too. I think Courtney ate the most, of course.

Resignation

After working in the public for 25 years, I have decided to retire to be a full time Mom. For the last 12 years I have worked with three ex-IBMers as they grew from Team Tech International to Applied Theory and now Alliance Tech. It has been a whirlwind of learning, fun and stressful times and I'm ready to slow down. The kids are getting so involved in their after school activities and homework and they need me more than ever now.

On October 1st, I met with the owners of Alliance Tech and turned in my resignation. It was a very difficult decision for me as I have become a very valuable resource to the company and really like what I do which is software development. I am giving Alliance Tech a two month notice to ease the transition and will finally be free beginning December 1st.

I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life. There are so many things I want to accomplish for myself, the kids, Keith and the new house.

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.