Kindergarten Rodeo!!!

Today was Cinco de Mayo and Texas Day! Aidan's school celebrated with a Kindergarten Rodeo. It was super cute! Hot dog lunch, dressing like cowboys/girls for the day, and rotating through rodeo and cowboy related activities out in the west Texas wind.  Aidan had a BLAST!!

Yee Haw!!!

Thank You, Easter Bunny! (cluck, cluck!!)

Easter weekend was fun and so relaxing since we had Friday off.  It was a much needed break for all of us.

Saturday we had a late soccer game. Aidan and his team played at 3pm.  Their opponets were one of the toughest teams in the league. I guess they were used to wiping the field with the other teams butts.  They were in for a rude awakening when they played our LEGENDS!  Our boys were smaller, played fair, and just did not stop against YOUNG GUNZ.  They were so big for their ages, we were a bit worried from the start.  Then, they started playing kinda dirty - talking smack, pushing everyone, etc.  Aidan got pushed back twice by a kid that was about 4 foot 3inches. He was BIG!  But Aidan didn't get flustered and wasn't about to let this guy push him to the ground. He kept fighting, as did the rest of the team.  At one point another player called Aidan a baby, a parent on the opposing side yelled at our coach and told us to go to hell.  It was brutal!  Bottom line, we held 'em. No one scored and that's NOT what they anticipated. They were mad! Our boys were thrilled to have fought hard and not let those other kids get in their heads!

Saturday evening we dyed eggs.  It was fun! Olivia is really getting good at it. She is patient and doesn't just blow through all of the eggs.  Aidan watched what she did & tried to learn from her.  He was less patient!  The eggs turned out great of course, and we discovered that Aidan really likes eating them.  Who knew!?

Easter morning brought THE EASTER BUNNY!! The kids were so excited about the bunny coming.  It was cute.  They woke up to baskets, pillow pets & cash from Grandy, and cash from Grandpa Saint & Mimi.  The Easter Bunny also left them an egg with a clue inside. They had to find all the eggs hidden in the house and then solve the clues inside to find their final treat. It was really fun to watch them figure it all out.  They ended up discovering the gifts - a baseball bat & ball, and chinese lanterns for Livi's room - in the back of the car in the garage!

Happy Easter!!

Good. Friday.

So we didn't have school today and it was AWESOME!!! I wasn't quite sure what we were gonna do until I came across an email about the National Ranching Heritage Museum.  It announced that they would be showing the largest map of South America for two days only.  It was a free viewing and it was interactive.  Sounded like the perfect thing! We weren't quite sure what to expect but we were excited to check it out.

We got there and found that no one else was there.  We had the map to ourselves!  When you walked into the pavilion, you had to take off your shoes and then you could begin exploring the map.  I think just being able to walk on it was most impressive to the kids!

We found cities that we recognized, countries too.  Olivia noticed some city names that were the same as some of her friends last names. And Aidan, thought the map of the Galapogos Islands was really something special.  We had fun talking about all the creatures that may or may not live there!

(we also ran to the old train on the grounds of the museum. it is our favorite thing to do at the museum because you can climb on it and in it. fun!)

After we checked out the map, we tied it together by going to see RIO! It was a cute movie and a fun way to round out the day.

Yay South America!!

Busy, Busy Weekend!

Last weekend was complete insanity! We had stuff to do, wanted to do, from the word GO.  It was a fun filled weekend and one that we actually all spent together. What gets better than that?!

Rick and I kicked off the weekend with a date. Yes, those rare nights when it's just the two of us - it was heaven.  He got us tickets to SOLAS, a celtic ensemble with a modern edge.  They were playing at Texas Tech for one night, and bless his soul, Rick found out about it and jumped on the opportunity. It was great!  The music was incredible and we had so much fun. The band was two fiddles, a banjo, an accordian, acoustic guitar, piano/keyboard, and        flute.  AMAZING!! Check em out online.

Saturday brought an early start to Aidan's soccer tournament.  Three games between 8am and 2pm - what a long day!  It didn't help that the wind gusts were between 50 and 65 miles per hour. Nothing like dust in your mouth.  Aidan's team played well, winning two of the three games. In fact, Aidan scored the first goal with his FACE!! He was tough though and shook off, getting back in the game within seconds.  We couldn't have been prouder.

That night, we went to the Science Spectrum Center for fun around the museum, pizza, and an IMAX film - TORNADO ALLEY.  We had a blast running around playing with everything!  The food was really good, it usually is when its free!  But we were most impressed with the movie. It was so good, such a visually stunning experience.  We loved it!

And that brings us to Sunday.  Olivia's debut at the Lubbock Arts Festival.  She sang three songs from ANNIE in front of 15 seated guests and loads of wondering festival goers. She was AMAZING!!!  We were so proud, just beaming through happy tears.

The festival was really cool. They had brought in a Crayola sculpter and he displayed some very creative pieces.  It was fun to walk around and take a look. There was also a vendor display - everything from wooden bowls, to paintings, to wire sculptures. You name it.  We also did the kid circuit. Bouncy castle, color station, freebies from Home Depot, etc. 

We were so pooped by the time Sunday evening came. We all slept well that night!!

Soccer!!

Aidan is our own little Landon Donovan! He has started soccer and is really loving it.  He has practice twice a week and a game every Saturday.  We are super proud of his go get em style on the field! Here are some pics:

March?! What - it CAN"T be!!

I can't believe this is the first time I have posted since the end of last year! Life has been real busy here in Lubbock.

Everyone started back to school in Jan. Three of us back in classes and one of us, me, back on the administrative side of education.  If only the pay was as good as a real admin job!!  Nevertheless, we all hit the ground running and really haven't stopped.

Olivia was in the ensemble for her school's production of BYE BYE BIRDIE.  She was great! She was animated and fully engaged on stage.  We were also proud of her featured dancer moment.  Go Livi!

Aidan has been working hard in class, learning some cool Michael Jackson moves in P.E., and unfortunately missing nearly a week of school with a REALLY bad flu.

Rick spent the winter rehearsing a one act play, working in the box office at Tech, and being an acting teacher for non majors.  He is such a good teacher!

And so, now it's March! Spring has begun and we are looking forward to the coming months.  Will keep you posted!

End of the Year

What a whirlwind end of the year we had.  Wrapping up school, gearing up for Christmas, the uncertainty of a possible new job, a trip out of town, and dog sitting!  Gee, it doesn't sound like quite as much as it seemed while we were living it!

Both the kids finished up their school days with some fun. Aidan's class had a party and Rick & I were able to attend. It was really cute to see the kids play games and eat lots of junk. I think Aidan was really happy that we could be there. He was especially proud to see that Mommy was in charge of the SNOWMAN game. This game involved toilet paper, children, and crepe paper.  The kids wrapped one of their friends like a snowman - Aidan's team won! I promise there was no cheating from the parent!

Olivia brought her friends some small but sweet little gifts to let them know that she cares about them a lot.  I made a bunch of Bloom barrettes in their school colors. Very cute!

The week of Christmas, we were delivered two golden retrievers - Baxter & Hunter.  They stayed with us for a few days so their owners could go to Austin to spend Christmas with their grown up children.  We had a really good time with those two! The kids absolutely adored them. They played, and walked, and snuggled. There were lots of tears when we had to say goodbye.

Our Christmas Eve & Day was so nice.  Even though we couldn't be with family it was great to be able to talk over the phone and Skype.  We all got spoiled with wonderful gifts and the time together was priceless. 

A couple of days after Christmas, we headed to Dallas.  It was so nice to see Matt, Kate & Abbie! We had a relaxing time with them. They are always so good to us and make us feel like we are on a real vacation.  I got some fun video of the kids together and hope to figure out how to post it here, or at least give you a link to get to it and more video.

San Antonio was our next stop! We were so excited to get to see Saint and Shirley AND San Anton! The drive down was fun. We got to see Austin and parts of Texas we had never seen.  As we pulled into San Antonio, it got very urban looking again.  Goodbye sweet Texas countryside!

Our hotel was very close to the Riverwalk and downtown area.  This was great because we could walk instead of paying to park everywhere.  As soon as we connected with Saint and Shirley - we headed to the Riverwalk. We were so excited!! We found out that we were close to one end of the entrance to the walk, so we started there. It was so cool how the walk was developed. The landscaping was beautiful and walking under the streets and bridges was really neat too. The kids were just stunned with the whole thing! 

We went to the Alamo and it was amazing.  I really didn't know what to expect and that was a good thing because then I wasn't disappointed!  The place was absolutely packed. Shoulder to shoulder people. But, we managed to see the main building just fine. The long barracks were really interesting and, again, the landscaping was stunning. I didn't expect to see palm trees in South Texas!

We continued to walk around until we were feeling really pooped and then we headed back to the hotel for a rest. 

That evening we went to this really fun Mexican restaurant down in the MarketPlace area. It was festive and the Mariachi musicians were incredible. Surprisingly, the food wasn't the most amazing Mexican food we have ever had. But it was still good. That place was really more about the atmosphere. Hopefully, I can get that video up and running too.

We did a lot of other things to while in San Antonio.  All the tourist traps! But, my favorite places were the Missions. They were beautiful and peaceful and such an great snapshot of another time and place.  We even made brass rubbings of the buildings! We plan to frame them and display them in our place. A sweet reminder of our trip.

As we headed back to reality - school, new job, new semester, etc.  I think we were glad to have had such a lovely vacation. Thank you Saint and Shirley for such an incredible Christmas gift!

And that's the quick version of the last chunk of 2010 and the beginning of 2011!