Drumline practice

Here is some video of the TTU drumline practicing last week. :)  I can't wait to see them in person on Saturday!!!

First Day of Kindergarten and College!

Anna was very excited to go to school this morning!   Gram got her a new bike for her birthday, and we let her have it a couple of weeks early since we want her to ride her bike to school (and Emma really needed to move up to her old one to be able to ride with her at a reasonable pace).  She is 1/2 Dutch after all...

 I didn't notice at the time, but when I looked at the pictures, I think she was a little nervous.  She woke me up at 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30 wanting to know if it was time to get ready for school yet.  Emma woke me up at 1:30 and 4:45 with a nosebleed (yes, we've been to the doctor - she's fine, and we're working on getting them to stop happening so often).  I felt like a zombie most of the day....

 Tony kept up with her on the way to school while I stayed with Emma and talked to our neighbors who were also headed to school, but this was my view on the way home this afternoon.  She looks so grown up!!!!  Where did the time go???!!!

 We parked the bikes and headed inside.

 Finding her class...

 She saw the line of backpacks, and immediately put her's down.  I totally forgot to ask about where to put lunches and snacks.  When I picked her up she told me she didn't like the food they gave her - mashed potatoes with some liquidy stuff and chicken (yes I know I'm not a proper southern woman since my kid doesn't know what gravy is!!!).  Well, oopppsss!!!  I guess I'll be bringing some lunch money tomorrow for today's lunch and making sure we put the lunch bag in the right place.  Hopefully I'll get a better night's sleep tonight and remember that!

 She found her name and sat down!  Emma was very interested in everything.

There's her proud Pappa/photographer.

 There's the classroom, and her teacher in blue.

 Emma wanted to play on the playground before we could leave.  I have a feeling this will be a daily thing.

 My littlest biker. :)  Once we got on the path home, she says "what about Anna?"  We had to explain that Anna was staying at school.  I think she might have been somewhat sad for about 2 seconds.  She was very happy to play at home without a big sister bugging her.  We went to a back-to-school prayer service at church, to the gym and grocery store.  We came home at lunchtime, when I promptly put in a movie and took a little nap before we had to head back up to the school.  I am looking forward to some QT just with Emma, especially in the next 2 weeks before her preschool starts.  I've already noticed that she talks to me a lot more in the car when it's just her.

 Emma and I got there just as Anna's class was coming out.  So cute!!!  Here's the report from the day - 1st she told me about the food, then how they played outside.  She said the yellow table finished everything first (her table had yellow buckets on it with their school supplies, but I'm not sure what they did).  She said she had to sit at the table for a long time and that was boring.  At preschool they spent a lot of time moving around the room doing different things.  She did seem to like it overall though and is excited that she gets to go again tomorrow.

Today was also Anton's first day of classes at Texas Tech.  We don't have any pictures of that, but here's a few Tony took when he went to go get his car last week.  (the hand thing is "guns up" since their mascot is a raider).

 I think this is his dorm.

 His bike in the bike rack.

 Band practice... We are going to their first home game on Saturday.  I'm so excited to go to a college game and see him on the field!!! 

The Last Supper

Wednesday Anton's last night over here, probably until Thanksgiving.  This was our "Last Supper".  Tony didn't like that I called it that, but Anton thought it was funny, so I'm going with it!  He requested fettucini alfredo with chicken, which I've never made before.  One stick of butter and heavy whipping cream - I don't think I'll be making it again anytime soon!  It was yummy though!!!

Wednesday was a VERY emotional day for me!!  It started out with me having lunch for a group of girls Anton's age that I have been leading a small group for at church for the last 3 years.  I have known them since they were 10 - we taught them some form of Sunday School for several years when they were younger.  I can still remember meeting them as soon to be 5th graders at VBS when I first moved to Kingwood.  I'm so bummed I didn't think to take a picture at lunch!!  But is was nice to see them before they leave for college.  Anton and all these grils are all great kids and ready for college, so I'm happy they are getting to spread their wings... still, I felt slightly choked up all day!!!!  After lunch I took Anna to a store to get a little shirt that I thought she might like to wear the 1st day of Kindergarten - it starts on the 27th!!!  (there's a picture at the end of this post).  Something else to choke up about!!  

Anyway, while I was making dinner, Anton came in with a fun present for the girls - a little fish bowl and about 20 goldfish!!  They were BEYOND excited!!!  Here they are helping to fill up the bowl.

This was the fishes' home for about 14 hours. 
Later on he was practicing percussion - he is trying out on Sunday for a spot on the TTU drumline.  He's very good, but there's only 10 snare drums on their drumline and he doesn't know how many spots are open for new guys.  I'm eager to hear the news!  

So back to the fish...I was concerned about having so many fish in such a small bowl.  I know nothing about taking care of fish, and Anton didn't ask any questions when he got them.  The next morning they weren't looking so hot.  They weren't really swimming, just kind of shivering in place.  I was upset to see them like that, but it was too early to call anyone and what I found on the internet just made me have more questions and had me concerned that maybe goldfish are pretty high maintenance.  So I made breakfast!!!  French toast!

After Petsmart opened, I called and talked to a very helpful woman.  Apparently no amount of goldfish do well in such a small bowl.  She advised me to find a pond to put them in ASAP to save their lives.  She told me a single Betta fish is pretty easy to care for and does well in a small bowl (it will live a few years anyway but I'm not so sure one would be happy in such a small space), so I told the girls we might get one.  I emptied some water out of the bowl and safely put it in the van, and we headed off to the little pond by the baseball fields at the end of Woodland Hills and set them free.  Thankfully they perked right up and started swimming around!!  We headed back home while Anton was finishing up his packing.  Thankfully his mind was on packing and he didn't seem bummed that his fish didn't work out.  He got a few bags and things together and headed out.  While he was saying goodbye to the girls, I had to go in my room and cry a little.  Then we waved him off!
 He actually came back around bedtime to say goodbye again last night. :)

 A goofy hug for dad...

Tony had one more thing to advise on before he got away. :) So now he's gone!!!!  He arrived in Lubbock just before 6pm this evening.  It really doesn't feel much different yet since we were used to him not being here all the time, but I'm sure it will really be hitting us in a few weeks!  I sure do love that kid!  I am just so grateful to have a wonderful stepson who knows what he wants to do and the opportunity for him to pursue it.  Thank you God for education!!  May He be glorified in Anton at TTU!!!

 This morning we did a trial run up to Anna's school to pick up her paperwork packet for kindergarten.  She wanted to wear her first day of school outfit, along with her backpack.  So this is pretty much what she'll look like heading out to school.  She's SOOO excited!  It is still awfully hot outside, and she discovered that biking with a backpack means you have a very sweaty back!  We may wait a couple of weeks before we ride the bike every day. :)

 Later on the Pence kids came over.  I fed James some Cheetos.  (after some healthy food!)  He's a fan!!

Here's a couple more fun sibling pictures from last week.  Anton was playing a game with the girls and then they were running around to something he was playing on the guitar.

Life is good!

Fun with friends!!

Today is my anniversary!!  Yay God for bringing us together!!!  It has been a blessed 8 years together!

Anna's photography...

 We watched the Watson boys one day a couple of weeks ago.  Anna got to hold Eli when Kimberly came to get the older boys.  Anna loves babies!!!

 This has been happening a lot on the weekends.  Tony loves it!!

Last week I watched the Pence girls one day.  It was awfully quiet upstairs so I went to check on them.  I found this... They were just laying around girl-talking.  Getting so big!!!  I tried and tried to rotate the picture...

 Last Friday a couple of good friends were here from out of town.  My friend Kim invited us to our first playgroup almost 6 years ago.  She and here husband moved to Austin about 3 years ago.  Another friend, Jaci, moved to Japan last year so her husband could work on a project for Exxon.  They are done there and will moved to Qatar today for the next phase.  She had her first baby, Elizabeth, just a few weeks after my Emma.  She really get to know Kim before Kim moved away, but we have mostly all the same mutual friends.  Friday was the one day they would both be here, so luckily they didn't mind sharing a play day at my house!  We had 7 moms, 18 kids and 1 dad (Jaci's husband - he had backyard duty - yay for dad's who show up to play dates when it's miserably hot outside!!!).  We decided to get a group shot of all the kids.  I thought it was funny to see all the moms trying to get all the kids lined up.

All sitting still and mostly smiling!!!

It didn't last long!

These 4 on the right have been playing together pretty much since birth and will all go to kindergarten later this month!!!  Caleb's little sister Callie snuck in the picture!

I intended to take a picture of all the moms, but by the time I remembered that, only 4 of us were left.  It was chaotic but oh so much fun!!!

Anton was here later that day.

The girls always love to build a tent with him!

We went to a Texas Tech Parents Association meeting/ice cream social/student send off on Saturday.  We thought we charged up the camera but it didn't work so no pictures :(.  Anton won a little refridgerator with the raffle though so that was cool!!  He will leave in about 10 days!!!!! :O  He's beyond excited!

Haircut and Creative Arts Camp

I sent the girls to a Creative Arts Camp at a Baptist Church a couple of weeks ago.  It was Monday-Thursday 9-3 and they had a performance on Thursday night.  The girls had a great time, and it was wonderful to see them excited about all the praise songs they were learning.  Here are some pictures from the performance.

This is Anna's hair that she cut off when I had fallen asleep on the sofa a few days before the camp started.  Her hair had been braided that day, and the hair above her ear was falling out, so she cut it off so that it wouldn't be hanging down.  I did something very similar when I was about her age with the hair that always hangs down in the back between pigtails.  I still get sad when I look at her head!!

  I zoomed in on this picture so you could see Anna's new haircut.   Right now the longer hair above the  short part kind of covers it, and she usually wants to wear a flower to cover it.  I can usually hide it, but it is hard to even attach a flower because the hair is SOOO short.  When she puts the flower in, she usually puts it back too far and this is what you see.  She kind of looks like she had surgery with a head shave that is growing out.  At least I am so thankful that is not the case!!!!!  Anyway, there is a 1 inch bald line right at her temple (and the hair is about 1/4 inch long).  Then there's a big patch under the line with 1/2 - 1 inch long hair.  I'm planning to get it all cut off once the really short section grows enough so that you can't see her scalp.  She is bummed about it too, so I don't think she'll do it again.

 Anna was excited to be at the camp with her good friend Kaydee, who is right beside her.

I praise God for the wonderful churches in our community!!!  May all children know the joy of praising Him!!