Snow - Again... and again... and again...

What a strange winter we've had with all the snow (Christmas, Valentine's, Spring Break). So much so, the last time it snowed the kids weren't even rushing out to play in it. Here are some shots of our 2nd big snow of the season - the Valentine snow.

Heidi liked licking the snow.

Day one of snowfall. I drove the kids to school in this. Crazy. I don't think it was a very productive school day, even though they did go all day long.

A huge snowball fight - like with HUGE snowballs. Do you see the size of that thing flying at Little Girl?? (I believe it missed her.)

The kids had a blast playing until dark in all the snow. It was perfectly sticky, too.

They sledded down the slopes by our house so much, they wore all the snow off. And there was a LOT of snow. Little Buddy is in the red coat running up with the orange sled.

Bear enjoyed eating (and sharing) the Valentine cookies that would not be making their way to school for Valentine parties the next day. Another batch would have to be made over the weekend for the rescheduled school parties...

When Dad got home, we went for a walk (slide) down to the creek. He got pelted with snowballs from the girls the whole way there. I was safe holding the camera... ;)

It was a winter wonderland at the creek.

Then, the next morning we woke up to THIS! More snow!! Dad took pictures when he got up with Little Buddy. It was unbelievable!

Little Buddy was up to his knees in snow as he made his way up the backyard.

Snow - Get it While it's Cold!

Dad is definitely on vacation. He sent the kids out to play in the snow in the dark. Definitely not the norm. Of course, it's also not the norm to have snow twice in one week in our part of Texas. At least not in December. And it was such "perfect" snow, he couldn't pass up the opportunity.

He even took the precious hand-made sled Poppa made years ago out to try out the backyard snow. Bit barely fit. She'll be glad to know I blogged that bit... ;)

Little Girl is spending the night with a friend, so she missed out. She's going to be VERY disappointed when she finds out...

The reddish blur is Bear making her slide down the hill.

This one is all blurry (I was taking all these pictures in the DARK), but I thought it was cool how everyone seems almost ghost-like since they're moving while the camera is setting up the picture. Dad's throwing a snowball (on the left). Bit is the barely visible blur in the center dodging the snowball Dad is throwing. Heidi is just to her right watching. Little Buddy is up on the top retaining wall working on his snowball for the snowman.

Bear is standing at the top of the backyard with the little snowman they built. Great snowball and snowman snow. Maybe he'll still be there in the morning so they can decorate him and we can get a better picture of him. Can you believe this picture is taken in the DARK?! Thank goodness for the tripod. The exposure took forEVER. Bear kept asking if she could move yet...

$2.99 Worth of Fun

Stocking stuffer from Santa - $2.99

Spraying soda all over the lot next door - priceless

Insert 7 Mentos into the tube on the soda bottle (we hear "diet" is less-sticky).

Position yourself so you can easily run away after pulling the string.
Then, "run, Forrest, run"...

Little Girl Twirls

I know. It's been a while. Would you believe I haven't had anything to blog about? Yeah, I didn't think so... ;}

I thought about catching up, but then I decided to take my own advice and start with what the most current piece of "news" might be. Maybe I'll have time to post from the past over the holidays. Or not...

Little Girl had her winter dance recital last weekend. Her class is moving on up the list of Nutcracker dances and they got to do the "Mother Ginger" dance this time. We (the moms) were very impressed with how well they did as a group. I watched the dress rehearsal through the lens of the camera, so for the performance I put the camera down and got to see the whole group. They did good!

It was cold standing in the hallway while I tried to take her picture. This is all I got...

I was taking pictures for her friend Rachel (in the background), too. I didn't get one single picture of Little Girl looking out to the audience. She looked everywhere but... Got some great shots of her friend, though!

Cute little colorful costumes.


I got several shots of her with other dancers and she always looked like she was going the wrong way because the dancers in the 2nd row were doing the opposite of the dancers in the 1st row...

Little Girl and her friend after the rehearsal.

Ok, Grandma - Here You Go

So, because Grandma is getting antsy due to the fact that it's been 3 weeks since the blog was updated... Here's the mundane happenings of late.

Dad let the kids play in the rain one Saturday with the rest of the kids on our street while Mom was gone. They had a blast. We'll try to ignore the fact the Little Buddy took his brand new light sabers out that he had JUST gotten for his birthday with his new Star Wars Wii game...

Little Girl and Bear with two of Little Girl's neighborhood friends. They're all in 3rd grade together at school and live two doors down either direction from our house. They play ALL the time.

Bear cheered in her first Middle School football game as a 7th grade cheerleader. It rained there, too. I got a few pictures before I had to hide the camera, though.

They cheered right through the rain and we only counted twice that they did a cheer that didn't quite go with the game. They were minor infractions, though... :-) They really did a great job. Dad stood up in the stands every now and then (we were almost at the top of the stands) and tried to do the cheer motions with them. Bear was SOOOO embarrassed. Dad was successful in his purpose... Bit swam in her first high school swim meet. She and and few other JV swimmers got to swim at this varsity meet. Hello High School! It was tough, but she had fun.

She was the anchor for her medley relay team. She likes the freestyle stroke and does pretty good on that one. She said she was really nervous and enjoyed cheering the other swimmers on as they swam. Not a competitive bone in her body. She obviously doesn't take after her Dad...

Their team suits didn't come in before the meet so they don't match very well... Bit's in the red and black suit on the starting block below. The girls' team ended up winning the meet!

Little Girl had her first soccer game of the season. They finally got to play after so many rain cancellations. Smiling as usual as she runs all over the field.

This year they get to play a goalie. And they've added 2 more players to the field. She's learning more about positions on the field and her coach is really teaching them how to play the game. They've got a great team and it's fun to see the improvements each season. Some girls have REALLY done a good job sticking with it and learning how to get around the field. We're so lucky to be on this team.

Oh, and they won their first game by like - 10 points. We kind of lost count and then they actually put a limit on the point spread when they posted the results...

No More Lines

Little Girl has enjoyed a glasses-free year. But, she knew it was time. In fact, she's been counting down the days to her appointment today. She was ready to see clearly again.

Having had a slight prescription for nearsightedness in her glasses before, she knew what she was missing. And she knew she was starting to miss more.

So, today we celebrate her sight and her delight with wearing glasses again. Best of all - without the lines of bifocals! Surgery wasn't for naught...

Side note - Believe it or not, she had her appointment this morning and we got her glasses this afternoon! And even better - they were having a back to school special and we got TWO pair of glasses for $100! One pink and one blue. She'll be able to color coordinate with her outfits... Oh, dear...!! (Note the blue glasses with the blue shirt... And she wanted to wear her pink glasses to soccer practice because her team color is pink...)

Cocoa Beach

In our 3 nights at Cocoa Beach preparing to watch the space shuttle launch that we didn't get to really see, we only spent a few hours on the beach. The kids loved it, though. Their only other beach experience was Galveston a few years ago. Blech!

Dad took 3 of the kids out to watch the sunrise one morning. (I was exhausted after being up and down all night with the loud partying neighbors we couldn't seem to get rid of... For some reason, no one else in our room was disturbed...) They got some great pictures. We did spend about 3 hours on the beach our last day there and the kids had a blast in the water. Great waves for just playing around. We'd been to the big Ron Jon's store the night before and Little Buddy had talked Dad into buying a boogie board. I complained. I thought it was a waste. It turned out to be well worth it for the 3 hours of non-stop fun they had the next morning with it. We should have gotten a couple, at least...

He SO looked like such a beach bum with his boogie board and puca shell necklace. He tans like Dad. Immediately.

Bit decided she wants to live on a beach someday. She's talked about it a LOT since. That's her leaning back into the waves and just letting them wash over her. She LOVES the water. Even icky salty ocean water.

Bit riding the boogie board in on the waves. The waves were perfect for them to get the hang of the board.

Little Buddy mastered the board almost immediately. Such a beach bum... Hmmm...

Bear got to where she could hit the waves just right and ride them all the way up to the sandy beach.

Little Girl is gaging the wave and deciding when to really get going on the board. Looks like she's a little worried about the wave coming here. She didn't spend as much time in the water because she liked looking for shells on the beach. She came home with quite a collection.

We Love Routine!

After a very busy, very lazy, very slow, very fast, very non-routine summer, we were SO ready to begin the regular routine that school brings with it today. Ahhhh....

Bear headed out the door first today. All alone. By herself. First time ever. She was relishing the thought of the independence of no siblings at school with her. For now she thinks that's cool. Next year she might be wishing for some sibling company at middle school.

Little Buddy and Little Girl were ready next. They had decided against riding their bikes the first day, but Little Buddy tore off on his when he saw the neighbors heading out. Little Girl and I drove up to the school and met Little Buddy to head in to their 3rd & 4th grade classes.

Heidi was already feeling the woes of the day ahead because Dad left with his suitcase (business trip to Florida for a few days) and Mom was getting ready like she was going to leave too. She pouts when she knows we're leaving her. So pitiful.

Bit was insistent on NOT having the traditional first day of school picture taken.

She ended up giving in while the younger two were goofing off out front. Butterflies were making her a bit jittery on her first day of high school.

Little Buddy - Sans Braces

For the moment, we are a brace-free house. AND the best part - we don't owe the orthodontist any money!

Aaaahhhhh.... We'll enjoy the next two months of debt-free-smiles.

Bit starts Phase 2 in October. Cha-CHING!

Little Buddy got his Phase 1 braces off this week. (Here's the "before".)

Whew! No more Insanely-Crazy-Mom toothbrushing wars...

That's MY pillow!

I don't know why anyone would think we'd created a monster... Ugh! That's MY pillow!!!

Will it... Will it Not...??

We were so excited when we realized that the space shuttle Endeavor was rescheduled for launch the first night we planned to stay in Orlando, Florida. It's only an hour away from Cape Canaveral, so we thought we'd make sure we got to Florida in time to drive out to Kennedy Space Center and see what we could see. And in our planning, our neighbor offered to hook us up with her NASA connection (her sister) and see if we could see even more. So, we ended up needing to be at the space center a day earlier than we'd originally planned. (Thus, the reason we opted for the LONG all day drive to the east coast.) The launch was set for Saturday evening, so we arrived at Kennedy Space Center Friday morning to pick up our launch tickets and get the scoop on everything. While waiting for the guest service office to open, we sat by these beautiful flowers in the SHADE. Oh, my goodness, it was HOT!

I don't know what flower this is, but this particular cluster is shaped like a heart. Too cool!

NASA, Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center... so many names for one place. It so confusing when I'm reading "Lord of the Rings", but it makes perfect sense in real life...

We got VERY familiar with the Kennedy Space Center. We spent most of the day on Friday there checking the place out. We spent several hours there on Saturday when we were expecting the launch. We spent most of Sunday there when we were there for the launch.

The KSC has a LOT of great activities and experiences there with the IMAX theatre and the Shuttle Launch Experience. Both of which I HIGHLY recommend. We had to get past Tom Cruise narrating the IMAX movie, but it was so educational and informative and we were SO glad we got to see it. The Shuttle Experience was like a simulator ride and we had to do it two different days because the kids enjoyed it so much. During the simulator, they told us that if you were within so many yards of the shuttle launch, the explosion would kill you. Just beyond that, the sound would kill you. And just beyond that the gators might kill you because all that rumbling really stirs them up! How crazy is it to be sitting in that shuttle with all those explosives strapped to you back?? However, during the IMAX I was a bit teary just thinking about how awesome this whole space travel stuff is. I mean, it's so incredible - all the study and scientific research that goes into and comes out of these missions!

I really wanted to take a picture of the shuttle from the front side, but no such luck. Well, at least it's a better shot from the Gantry here than the Saturn V Center. But, I don't think it would be good to be at the Gantry during the launch. I do believe it's a BIT too close for comfort...

The kids and the shuttle, Endeavor on July 10, 2009.

Bit shows off her special "Launch Guest" button on the bus that took us from the Visitor Center out to the Saturn V Center. There were several different color buttons, but I never figured out what that meant. I'm sure there was some special color for one section since it was roped off.

We gave up a half day at Disney on Sunday to go back to see the shuttle launch. It took us about an hour to drive from Orlando to Kennedy Space Center on Sunday. At about 1:30, they let us start parking at KSC. It was closed to the general public and you had to have a special parking permit that they had mailed to us to get through the security stop. The buses were going to start boarding at 4pm, so we hung around the visitor's center looking for things we hadn't done or seen yet waiting for the bus loading time... Once we got on the bus and got out to the Saturn V Center we got something to eat and walked around. We hadn't been to that spot because we had been planning to do that while we waited for the launch.

We rode the bus out with a couple from Mississippi. He had taught the pilot of the shuttle on this mission to fly when he was a teenager! She was even familiar with our neck of the woods as she works with hospital admins in our area.

They took our picture for us so we could all be in it together.

We got out to the metal bleachers to find a seat about an hour and half before launch time. And we waited. And we watched a big cloud off to the west. And Dad kept an eye on the radar on his iPhone. And Pawpaw called with updates from the NASA channel. And my sister sent me texts as she and my dad watched the NASA channel. They had the NASA channel audio feed over loud speakers, but it wasn't always easy to understand what they were saying.

THIS is unheard of. Not ONLY is Little Buddy taking a NAP, but he's napping in the middle of us waiting for a shuttle launch! He was TIRED! Seriously, he's out! Drool and all!

We got to the 9 minute hold. And we held. For about 45 minutes we held. Then we held some more. (It's a "built-in" hold, so you're supposed to wait...) BUT, just before the 9 minutes were set to start counting down, it got scrubbed. What a disappointment! Imagine 500 people waiting for a concert to start only to find out 10 minutes before that it is cancelled. I mean, we knew it was possible, but the disappointment when they actually announced it was HUGE.

We climbed back on the buses to start our short ride back to the Visitor Center. Our bus was the 2nd one in line, so we were right up by the back of the bleachers. There was a boy sitting up in the top corner with his head in the hands. Probably about Little Buddy's age - 10 or so. He wouldn't come down. He was in tears. THAT may have been sadder than knowing WE didn't get to watch the launch that night. Oh, the heartbreak!

Well, being 2nd in line was GREAT for getting out there, but it STANK for getting back. First in, last out! WHAT?! The launch was supposed to go about 7:16pm. We were on the bus and ready to go by about 7:20. It was almost 8pm before we got back to the Visitor Center, less than a mile away. And THAT pretty much set the stage for the drive "home"... We had EXCELLENT parking right up in front of the Visitor Center. And we had to drive THE ENTIRE PERIMETER of the parking lot to get out on the road. With about a million other cars. All driving back to Orlando. (so it seemed...) Thanks to our handy little GPS (that Dad INSISTED we needed for our road trip, thank you!), we found a couple of back roads that cut some time for us, but it was still almost midnight when we FINALLY got to our long awaited Treehouse at Saratogo Springs Resort at Disney.

And we knew at that point that we would not be going back.

They ended up setting a 6:51 launch time for the next night. We had already paid so much for our Disney vacation, so we knew we couldn't spend another day driving back and forth to Cape Canaveral with such a huge chance of it getting scrubbed again.

So, we ran out of the Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom at about 6:35 on Monday evening (we had already made arrangements with our waitress - food on the table and everything) and were SO glad to get to go back to that food when they scrubbed it once again just before the 9 minute hold started up again. It was a good feeling to know we were headed to Downtown Disney after a Volcano at the Rainforest and not on a 4+ hour drive...

However, two nights later, Dad and Little Buddy squinted into a very cloudy sky at Hollywood Studios to see a speck of a shuttle visible for a second or two as it finally launched into orbit on its way to meet up with the International Space Station carrying it's load of a "porch" for use in "outdoor" experiments at the ISS. We could imagine what it might have been like at the Saturn V Center that evening. And we wondered how many people had gone back each time. Bless their hearts...