Spring Break

We had a lot of fun on Spring Break this year!  The big thing we did was take a ride on the Austin Steam Train!  Chase had his classroom "pet," Hooie, with him all week.  He was instructed to take him on adventures and document his journey with pictures and journal entries.

We went on a little adventure through the entire train and this was a fun find!

Hooie almost got left behind at a restaurant where we stopped, but we remembered just in time and were able to rescue him before the train departed.  Phew!

Other than that, Chloe helped me in the kitchen this week...

...and both kids helped me paint!  It was time to paint all the trim and doors in the upstairs hall/living area this time.

We also took Hooie to see "Cinderella."  This picture was taken before the movie, while all the old versions played on screen:

Looks like Hooie had a good week... and so did we!

 

Exploring UT

Today UT was having a huge "Explore UT" open house with tons of free activities for the family, so we decided to check it out!

The kids picked a lot of activities to do, and they allowed me to choose one, too: A backstage tour of Bass Concert Hall.  It was very cool and the kids loved it, too.

I didn't realize how many cool sculptures were around campus.  This was one of my favorites:

 

Chloe found this one, of course (she's such a horse lover)!

That sculpture just happened to be in one of their computer science buildings, and the kids got sucked right into this fun interactive game room, which was not on the original itinerary but kept them entertained for a long time!

They loved the giant iPad...

...and this cool game where their hand was the controller:

Before we left I had to get this shot and send it to their dad, the die-hard Mizzou fan.  I'm so nice!

He responded that they were no longer welcome in his house (ha ha), and the kids were quick to say it was all my fault.  Apparently I "made" them do it.  Whatever.  They look pretty tortured, don't they?  Uh huh....  That's what I thought.

At any rate, it was fun to explore the campus a little and talk to them about college life.  It's never too early to get kids geared up for higher education!

 

My Little Ham!

Chase was in his first musical tonight and this theatre mama couldn't have been more proud!  I even got to make his costume.  He was Curly the Pig in E-I-E-I-Oops! and he fully embraced his character:

He was one of the chosen few to have a speaking part and he did so well!  Here's a little video clips of one of his speaking parts:

And then they busted out some serious dance moves and he totally cracked me up!  He is on the left, behind the mic (light pink belly):

He had so much fun with it.  He's definitely my child!

Oink Oink!

Chase's Color Fun Fest 5K

For Chase's Birthday experience this year I signed us up for the Color Fun Fest 5K, since he has really enjoyed running with me. We "trained" over Christmas break a little (not as much as I had hoped because it was cold and we were apart for a whole week).

He was so cute.  He was actually nervous about the race as we were driving there!  But once we got there he was fine.

At the pre-race "party" we got covered in color, and Chase had a great time throwing his color packet on me!

We were even captured by the Color Fun Fest photographer and appeared on their Facebook page!

Afterwards we headed to the starting line!

He was such a trooper!  We only stopped to walk a few times, and every time I suggested we start running again he was right there ready to go.  Once you could see the finish line in the distance I said, "OK, Chase....  We are going to run all the way to the finish line now without stopping."  He looked at me, kind of skeptical, but I assured him we could do it.  So we started running, and after a little while he started going, "I don't know, Mom... I'm getting tired."  I kept encouraging him (and myself... who are we kidding?  I wanted to die, too!) and once we got closer he was like, "Mom!  I think we're gonna do it!  We're gonna make it!"  And we did.  He was so excited to cross that finish line.  I asked someone there to take our picture and when I saw it afterward my heart was so full of joy.  I mean, look at that genuine excitement over what he just accomplished:

It was such a cool experience.  It was my first 5K, too, and I was so proud that I got to do that with him.  I love my boy!

   

Michigan Adventure

A couple days before my parents drove down to Texas for Christmas I got a call from my mom, who had a proposition for me. My dad got an opportunity to fly someone's new plane back from Texas to Michigan after Christmas, so she needed a driving companion. Since I hadn't been home in 4 years and the kids were going to be in Florida with their dad, anyway, the timing couldn't have been more perfect for a little road trip!

First we had to drive to Amarillo, where the plane was, and see Dad off:

And then the girls hit the road!

Within the first 20 minutes of our mother/daughter trip we had to make 3 stops for photos.  I took some shots and I know Mom got way cooler ones (considering she not only has a real camera... and skill, she actually got out of the car in the freezing cold!  Now that is dedication to your craft!)  Anyway, here are mine:

 

 

I got a really cool one as we were flying down the highway, too (don't worry... Mom was driving at the time)!

We had some fun pit stops for lunch/dinner, where we posted Facebook status updates:

 

...and we entertained ourselves with showtunes!!!!  

(I bet Dad was glad he was in the air!)

When I arrived back in my hometown, there were some things that just had to be done.  Like, see friends!  I got to have a quick breakfast with Janet (who I hadn't seen in over 4 years)...

...and a quick lunch with Krista (who I hadn't seen since the last time I was home 4 years ago)...

...and of course we had to make room for...

(Yummmmmm...!)

Then the parents and I had a kickin' New Years Eve party:

 

We also hosted a big breakfast with most of my step-family, but we didn't take a photo!  WHAT?!?  I have no idea how that happened.  :(

After all that reunion time, I rented a car and drove to Chicago to see my fabulous friend Nicole.  I was really excited to see her, but I didn't expect the tears when I saw this sign:

It was weird being back.  So many memories.  Some good, some bad....  It was a mix of emotions that caught me off guard!

Regardless, I got to spend time with Nicole.  We played with her kids, we ate (and we ate well!), we drank wine, we bought shoes (of course)!!  But apparently we were too busy talking to notice we didn't get any pictures, either.  I guess that just means we'll have to see each other again soon!

It was a cool little last-minute trip.  It was fun road tripping with my mom and getting some quality mother/daughter time in, it was great seeing friends and family I hadn't seen in awhile, and it was fun just getting away.  Let's face it... if the trip hadn't come up I would have spent way too much time on my couch eating all the Christmas treats I got from my students!

Happy New Year!

 

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  My parents drove down from Michigan and we had a couple days to explore before the kids came to my house.  We did an Urban AdventureQuest downtown, which was a cool way to explore the city.  I got to navigate the "scavenger hunt" app on my phone:

Our starting point was the state capitol, which was cool because I hadn't been there before myself!  Of course the parents had fun taking pictures:

We got to explore some cool sculptures around the city...

...and I teamed up with Angelina Eberly (watch out!):

We had to stop at Starbucks (the first of what would be many!), and we just had to get cake pops!

(The cake pops didn't last long enough to make it into the picture.)

I introduced Mom and Dad to Texas BBQ at Salt Lick, which was a huge hit:

The kids got to my house on Christmas Eve and though they always bring a flurry of energy, we did manage to have some chill time:

(Chase is following Santa on the Santa Tracker!)

Of course we had to watch Polar Express:

And it seemed Boomerang was wherever my dad was (whether he liked it or not!):

Christmas Eve the kids sprinkled reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter) around the yard:

 

...and then we all went to church for the candlelight service:

(My poor parents!  Lol!)

Christmas morning the kids were slightly excited.

Santa brought them just what they wanted:

(Both of which required some assembly...)

And awesome homemade gifts took over the living room:

 

 

The rest of the visit was filled with movies, Cabela's...

...piano "concerts..."

...playing around...

...and cooking:

(Chloe got to use her brand new kitchen set to help make pizza one night!)

We even managed to find time to meet up with my aunt (Mom's sister) and some cousins!

It was a wonderful time and I loved having so much family together.  Hope everyone's Christmas was as merry as ours!