A Downtown Day

Founder's Day was going on at the Alamo yesterday.

The kids are looking at Koi in the little canal below.

Gun replicas. The boys especially liked holding these.

Unbeknownst to us, we were with relatives of a Alamo hero: William Barret Travis.  Mr. Travis gave all the kids a mini-history lesson about the Alamo and the part Colonel Travis played.

Lunch time with a band playing nearby.

And Alamo City Comi Con was going on downtown also!! So cool. 

See that big ole spider wrapping up a bug? 

Alisa (the mom of the family we were with) used to work at these gardens years ago.

One of the small joys of living in a warm state. Water play at the end of October. 

Kids Again

I feel so boring with these blog posts with them being mostly random pictures of the kids. Seems like they should be themed or something. But on to it!

Harrison takes our Blokus game and spends a lot of time fitting all the pieces onto the board. This is a harder feat than you might imagine since the pieces are different shapes. He would pick up one piece to fit in a new one and then have to find a place for that formerly fitted piece. He calls this Making My T-Rex. 

We went to our neighbor's baby shower at Golden Corral. The kids were very impressed with the chocolate fountain.

And a far-away shot of our soon-to-be baby neighbor.

We found a free Halloween thingy at a garden center. Bounce house, hay bale maze, pumpkins, lots of bugs, and a few too many scary things.

Harrison is loving Avengers. Here's his new Captain American shield which he got as a prize for meeting certain potty training standards.

Off the Camera-Phone (Phone-Camera?)

Blogging is my way of scrapbooking and keeping far-off friends and family in the loop of our lives. It's neat to scroll through and see how these kids have grown. My goodness. So, here are just some pictures of the kids that I haven't posted before.

It was, like, 65 degrees outside, so the kids broke out their winter gear.

Harrison sleeps all over his bed. Jonathan said he's fallen out of it before. I never heard it. And apparently he didn't cry, so.... 

Elizabeth made some gorgeous flower cupcakes the other day. She's in the process of assembling them here.

Landscaping at Church

The kids and I only worked on the landscaping one day, but there were 5 or 6 Saturdays spent on updating some of the areas near the church building. Many people helped all throughout and were there on other days that we weren't; I thought I could find their pictures to add to the mix, but, alas..... 

Phoebe was a big helper to Ms. Marilyn who taught her how to put down the weed barrier. All the kids helped put the plants in the ground. Elizabeth was snack preparer and server. Jonathan ran errands for us ("Go throw this in the garbage, Bud!"). And Harrison used his spade to carry one rock at a time from the rock pile to the landscape.

There are some hard workers who dug holes, pulled weeds, planted, and shoveled rock every workday. They are much appreciated.

Here is one section of it completed.

San Jose Mission Field Trip

There are a lot of old-time missions in San Antonio. The Alamo is one of them, and we've been there plenty of times. A friend invited us along to the San Jose Mission. Its differentiation is that it has a grist mill. Our kids were fascinated most by the three wells. Phoebe found a coin that she thought looked really old. We took it home and steeped it in Pepsi. It's a 2000 penny. 

Gorgeous day, friendships, good times.

Decorating Bedrooms a Little Bit

But first, the silly boys:

Old bedroom was fine, but Harrison was not in a big bed yet. This is when it was Jonathan's bed.

Dad took the boys to Target and they picked out Star Wars bedding (for Jon) and Star Wars Angry Birds (for Harrison). First night in his big bed, Harrison asks, "Mom, how do I sleep in this bed?"

Phoebe joined Elizabeth in her bedroom. We let Liz have her own room for a year to ease the pain of moving. But it's time for the girls to be in a room together and the boys to have their own room together. So to ease the pain of having someone move into her "very own room," we let Elizabeth decorate it the way she wanted.

Life List Revisited

Five years ago I  made a life list of goals I thought I might want to accomplish at some point. Goals are nice, right? Having something to work toward. (Is it "towards" or "toward"? I've been wondering that lately.)

It's kind of funny to look over a list made five years ago. Some of the things I'd forgotten I'd written, but still would like to do: like #3 and and #7. Some I really don't care about anymore: like #11 and maybe #12. Some I've actually done! Like #2. That's about the only one I've really done, as a matter of fact. Hmmm. And at the time I thought it was the most far-fetched.

1. Invent 12 new recipes. 
2. Write a book.
3. Travel with my kids to the Northeast, Ireland, England for learning purposes.
4. Travel with my kids on a missions trip.
5. Travel with my husband for enjoyment (so probably not with kids).
6. Learn how to swim well (comes from living near so much water and driving over bridges).
7. Take a pottery class where I learn how to use the pottery wheel.
8. Sit in an outside hot tub with snow all around (Amy, is this really as fun as it sounds?).
9. Decorate my home better.
10. Be totally debt-free (including our home!).
11. Be on Food Network :-).
12. Work in/ own/ or manage a coffee shop ~ it just seems like it would be a fun place to work and I love the smell!
13. Plant a garden with at least 6 different fruits/veggies.
14. Volunteer or work in library.
15. Be involved with mission work somehow (besides just giving money).

2008

2013