Out on the town...

 Amber ran the Austin half marathon so the gang got together for fried chicken and fun.

One of my two book clubs, these are church friends and we have been friends for a long time but are on our forth book.  We read Outlander-set in Scotland so we went to the Full English Cafe and drank a ton of tea and had a fab time talking.  Its crazy that I am the lightest haired person in the group.

'Work' Weekend

 Caleb worked an TPWD info booth at Troutfest in New Braunsfels.  He had tickets to a banquet so (my super awesome who is wonderful with the girls) friend Laura watched the girls while her husband and Caleb and I went.  Beautiful drive down River Rd, good bbq and hilarious speaker made up for the cold-it was in a tent.  We got the girls and went to a hotel!!  They had fun but we didn't get a ton of sleep.  Caleb was off with Travis in the morning to fish so we played, had an amazing breakfast, the girls watched tv while I took a shower then we headed over to Laura's to play some more.

 The event was at a camping place on the Guadelupe River.  There was a tent with booths (see Caleb in his below) and outside various casting clinics and kid fishing stuff (the girls still need to be a little older to truly partake).  We enjoyed walking down the river-Lydia took this picture of me.

 Then they spent the last hour and half playing in sand.  They were COVERED.  But had a great time. One of Caleb's coworker's boys and wife were there passing the time too so it was fun.

We are so thankful to get to go to some of his events and enjoy the beautiful Texas outdoors.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 We had a busy day.  Since Valentine's Day was a Thursday this year it was a Friendship day.  Gloria and I got dressed up in our hearts and red.  I did a short presentation on the history and current Valentine's day with lots of fun group discussions including pick your favorite heart candy phrase-I got to explain what a Heart Throb is :).  I then subbed for ESL 1 which is always rewarding but exhausting too.
Then Rachida and I headed to Gloria's and Houssam's school for their afternoon Valentine's party.  The weather was awesome so we waiting outside on the playground.  Gloria with friends and teachers-Ms Danielle and Elisabeth (who also has a son in the class and of the 10 kids five have moms with the name Elizabeth)

 Back home we got Lydia and various other neighborhood children to play after school.  Actually it was Summer and Rontrail.  He lives across the street and often plays with us in the front yard which gets afternoon sun so we spend a lot of time there in the winter.  We play 2 square-he is in 3rd grade, and the girls are too little, so its just me and him, he is a good sport whether he wins or loses; we color with chalk and  make tree houses for fairies.

 Today was the first time he came inside to play after school.  They all went through their bags of cards and candy and ate candy for about 2 hours straight.  We made heart sugar cookies with candy decorations.  For a moment I felt like a poster mom-look at that picture (though the details differ, I used a tube instead of homemade cookies and cream cheese instead of icing-but it was fun!)  We then went and played in the sunshine until Caleb came home.  The best thing about having Rontrail around besides the fact that is a good helpful kid (he helped pick up agave plants while I was doing it and shares his candy) is that he calms the girls down.  Summer and Lydia have been known to have 'alpha' female fights and be ugly to eat other but this doesn't happen when he is around.  Also Lydia still adjusting to KG can have meltdowns after school.  While making the hearts hers broke and she started crying.  He looked at her with shock and said, 'are you crying?' and she stopped!

 As normal we had a nice fancy family dinner at home (I have no desire to eat out on Valentine's day).  We had leftover soup from the guys' fishing trip.  The dinner started with rice and juice all over the table but it was okay because everyone stayed calm including the grown ups :)
Caleb did a 14 day count down to Valentine's with lots of cute cards and candy and the last one is tickets to a community theater and he is finding something for the girls!

It was a busy week but Chinese New Year (we didn't actually do anything but saw people dressed up at church) Mardi Gras (ditto didn't do anything this year) and Ash Wednesday.  Gloria and I went to Kellaura's seminary which is beautiful (and yes Gloria wore Valentine's outfits everyday this week).  It was a nice short service, Gloria wasn't as quiet as I would have liked but she likes getting the ashes.  Lydia was super disappointed she didn't get to go so next year we might try an evening one.  Blessings on your Lent and remember Easter is coming quickly!

Desperate

Desperate, Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe

By Sarah Mae & Sally Clarkson

I really want to like this book; several people I really respect love this book.  I like the overall concepts of this book but there are so many little things that keep me from loving it.

Desperate is team written by a young mom and mentor mom and covers a variety of topics including the mission of motherhood, reason why we do what we do, needing others especially a mentor, the sin factor, and gritty stuff like depression, housework, selflessness and then ends with thoughts on how to be a great mom.  I loved the focus on the fact that formulas don’t always work because all families are different, the reassurance that there are seasons of life (one reason this book is probably especially good for ones with very little ones, I felt like I was a little out of the season on ‘desperation’ that they were focusing on), the need to work hard but overall to trust God and lean into Him for your purpose and worth; and to enjoy your life as a mother (another subtitle could be enjoy every moment-seriously). 

Yet I had a hard time with this book.  First of all, I really felt the need for a short disclaimer that these are issues facing middle to upper class moms in developed nations and that we have sisters around the world whose problems aren’t- am I spending too much time on the computer but what will my children eat, will my son be captured by the African child army or will I have to sell my daughter so the rest of us can survive?  I don’t think we need to feel needless guilty that others have it harder but I do think we need to realize the truth.  I also feel like the book doesn’t address working class families of America either.  They do talk about making the budget in the early years but there is also a lot about spa days and buying flowers and hiring a maid. I wanted to ask, does the manicurist also get to homeschool and invest in her kids that way?  Of course not.  (I am writing this at the mall while my youngest is at preschool while a women is cleaning the floor around me!)  But this book is addressed to those of us Christian moms who can be at home with our kids and we do have to live the life God has given us with its own issues and ups and downs.  I also felt like the book, while honest, still had a too chipper feel about it; it seemed like the structure and way it was written would fit a blog form better than a book.  Sally many times talked about the need to refill yourself and find what is life-giving for you (for her music and beauty) so you can pour into your children, but she didn’t give examples on what that might be for others.  I also felt confusion between the being selfless, working hard and not ‘escaping’ part versus the need to refill.  Sally says some will say you deserve to do x,y & z (their example is the computer or shop) and I wanted to say, yes the chapter before you were the one saying it.  I was in the shower the other day and wanted to stay for a while longer wanting a break from my girls and I thought, is this a life-giving refill I need or am I escaping from the need to engage my children?  I know the answer is there is no formula you just need to be sensitive to what the Spirit leads.  Which really is the best part of the book, reminding us moms that God created us for a purpose and we can effect eternity with these little lives he has given us. 

If you are a mom with little ones, I do recommend you read this book (and do the activities for each chapter)

Lydia's Baptism

 Before going under.

 With Pastor Dan.  I got to be up with her and the rest of the family sat on the front row.

So happy our family lives close enough to come.  We then had a celebration dinner at Jason's Deli before they headed home.  (I am trying to load the video of the actual baptism on the other post but it keeps having an error...)

Grammy's visit

Linda came the weekend for Lydia's baptism and send the Saturday hanging out.  We went to Caleb's work and saw his office and walked around McKinney Falls State park (which borders his office).  The weather was amazing and the girls and Caleb even got in the water.

Lydia took this great picture of Flower hosting her doggie friend Marco.

We spent the morning in the backyard planting our garden.  I was getting over being sick so it was nice to have a low key day.

Lydia's Baptism

On Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013 Lydia got baptized at Hyde Park Baptist church.  Grammy, Nana & Grandpa came to see it.  On Dec. 8, a Saturday she invited Jesus into her heart (when she was four she said she did it every night but this time she seemed to really understand) and we talked about the next steps including baptism and said when she was ready to go forward on a Sunday morning.  Two weeks ago she did.  We are very excited about this and looking forward to seeing the great things God does in her life every day on.

Brazil Visit

 Through the international office at UT we signed up to host two Brazilians in our home for a weekend.  They are English teachers and here for a six week training.  The home visit was part about learning culture and they even had questions to ask us and homework from their time.  So the plan was a typical weekend for us....I picked them up and we all enjoyed the Austin Friday evening traffic.  We had a homemade meal of chicken and rice and brownies, then put the girls to bed in our room and played Apples To Apples which they really enjoyed.

 The weather each day that week had started out cool and warmed up into a beautiful day.  On Saturday we had a big breakfast and headed out to Zilker Park.  It was cool and raining (they are both from the north where its always warm, but one from the jungle and one from the coast) but we still enjoyed seeing the pool, the Splash Exhibit, walking along the creek, feeding the ducks and they really enjoyed taking pictures of squirrels.  We went to lunch at Shady Grove and it was still cool and raining, but we sat under the patio and enjoyed our big burgers and local atmosphere.  Then Gloria and I took them to Wal-mart for a few things, as we walked in it was still cool and raining, but when we left it had turned into our beautiful day, oh well.  Back home we rested, the girls played chalk in the front yard (one big difference they noticed was the openness-no gates and guards) and then got ready for girls' night at Jenna's (a monthly mostly ladies from the church plus a few other friends like Imane).  It was perfect one was planned while they were here.  We had a potluck and just sat and talked and laughed and told stories.  They said that they had much to talk about concerning culture from the visit.

Sunday they took pictures in our cowboy hats and then loaded up to be taken back to their hotel.
Obragada!  (thanks in Portuguese)

Kindergarten Choir

 Lydia's school had a choir performance of Kindergarteners.  This is with her music teacher Ms Spurlock.

Caleb, Gloria, Nana and I went to watch.  I picked out two outfits for Lydia to chose and she said both and put them together :)

They really were amazing.  All were still and sang the words loud and clear.

Rock Star Car

 this year in AWANA Lydia's age group does a Grand Prix Derby car races.  We bought the kit, Dad helped her sand and paint.  She wanted to do the whole thing in finger nail polish but settled for pink spray paint and a ROCK STAR theme.

There were tons of super cute entrees and then the ones you could tell the kids did most of the work.  Lots came to watch them race and Lydia got 4th!  One place away from a trophy but she was excited about her ribbon.  When Caleb was in Cub scouts he raced the same car three years in a row but here there is a rule that each year you must do a new one, I protested saying we were in Austin-what about Reduce, reuse, recycle, but the rule stands so until next year....