Our Anniversary Tradition

Yesterday was our 5th anniversary! Every year on our anniversary, we have had a limo pick us up to take us on the Christmas Light Tour along the River. This year was no different, except that we had the limo come after the ASU boys' basketball game! (John announces the games. He was going to have someone else announce the game, but I said I'd like to go!) The lights were beautiful, as always. We had a wonderful time together.

The Boys make breakfast

Today is our 5th anniversary! All week, Matthew has been saying that he wanted to make John and me an Anniversary breakfast. So this morning, John, Matthew, and Jacob went to the store to get the ingredients they would need. No recipe, just bought on a whim. They bought frozen hashbrowns, red potatoes, mushrooms, eggs, breakfast sausage and velveeta cheese. We had to explain to Matthew that there was a certain order to cook everything in, since the sausage and potatoes would take longer to cook than the eggs. They had so much fun doing it! We added some Julio's seasoning to it at the end, and it was delicious!!!

Family Pic

This past Thursday was Jacob's school performance... It was so adorable! Afterward, we were taking pictures of Jacob w/ the poinsettias, and the music teacher, Mrs. Ochoa, offered to take a picture of all of us. So sweet! (even though were weren't dressed to have our pictures taken :) ) Too bad I didn't realize that all we could see is Jake's head~ Oh well... His little head looks cute over the poinsettias.

How cute is SHE???

Megan got her hair cut this week~ She got about 6 inches cut off! I think she looks adorable... and of course, SO much older :)

We're Trying!

As often as possible, I try to have make "Shabbat Dinner" Friday nights, complete with candles and challah. Last Friday night, we turned off the lights and took this picture. With everyone's schedules, it's not always possible, but it sure is special when we can!

Boy Scout Camp

Okay, so I am waaaay behind on updating this thing. But, well, to say the least, it has been a busy couple of months. And, like the economy, I fear it's going to get worse before it gets better (except mine are all *happy* events!) This month alone, in the next two weeks, actually, we have: Our Anniversary, Hanukka, Christmas, and Matthew's birthday. Nope, never a dull moment in December ~ even more so than normal ;)

Below are pictures from Boy Scout Family Camp in October. ~The VERY NEXT WEEKEND after Girl Scout camp. We had so much fun! It was a little sad, as this is Matthew's last Family Camp, since he moves up to Boy Scouts next year. (Family Camp is for Cub Scouts.) An added bonus to this weekend was that Meme came with us! She was trying to find a weekend to come spend with the kids, and this particular weekend just seemed to work well. She had a great time. No, really she did! And we had a blast with her.

We made a yummy breakfast on Saturday~ Pancakes, Turkey Bacon, and Eggs! We used Kelli Sudduth's (Matthew's teacher) new grill! Pancakes taste so much better when they are cooked outside!

One of the skills that the kids work on at Family Camp is Archery. M & M have gotten pretty good! i.e., they don't have to go running past the targets to collect their arrows! A couple of them even make it close to the bullseye!

The Boys (and Megan) clowning around before getting on the paddleboats. Aren't they sweet? (actually, they are :))

The Mud Pit. Need I say more?
(Except that John brought Jacob later in the afternoon, so that he could play for a little while, then camp with us that night.)

BS Pack 374. Someone donated the flags to each den at this campout.

Matthew is standing under the Bear flag (even though he's a Webelos).They got more organized at the flag ceremony!

Me, Magan, Meme (yes Meme!) and Kelli on the paddleboat

The Webelos cooked dinner for for us on the last night of camp (mmmm... mango-stuffed tilapia)

Both mornings, because it was so stinkin' cold, we woke up to a beauiful mist on the river. I took the one above; Matthew took the one below. (He is quite the little photographer.)

Girl Scout Trip

Megan and her tent-mate and good friend, Jondalynn, poking their heads out of their tents. They were in the same kindergarten class, and have been in the same Girl Scout troop for three years. They usually hang out together at Boy Scout Family Camp, too!

So I have officially survived my first camping trip of the year, and the first of TWO this month! Our Girl Scout troop and our sister troop took a trip to the Lubbock Corn Maze, at the suggestion of one of my Girl Scouts. It was FABULOUS!! The girls (and the leaders) had so much fun!

We went through the corn maze, which was a-maze-ing, ;)

then took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

There, the girls each picked a little pumpkin.

They also shot corn husks out of a corn cannon,

and rode in a tractor-pulled cow train!

All 10 girls from both troops outside the Texas Tech Art Museum. This was the first time some of them had been to an art museum, and the first trip to a planetarium for many of them!

Then, we went to the Texas Tech Art Museum, which was just- in a word- great~ Anthony Quinn's Art Collection was on display there. It included works of art that he collected throughout his life, as well of his own pieces of art. We also went to the Museum's Planetarium, which was unexpectedly more interesting than I thought it would be (I didn't get the nap I usually get to take in planetariums :) ).

Never Met a Stranger

We have finally decided to change over our phone service, so it is the same as our cable company. The Suddenlink man rang our doorbell, and Jacob ran to answer it (with me running behind him). He opened the door, saw the truck, and said, "Oh, our email is working fine. Thank you!" When I explained to Jacob that now Suddenlink will be our phone company too, he finally stepped aside to let Ray in.
Jacob being Jacob, he spent most of the time Ray was here asking questions, telling him about HIS tools, and basically making a new friend. By the time Ray was leaving, he and Jacob were keeping up a good conversation. Not sure how this come about, but as I followed them outside, I saw him handing Jacob his hat, then reaching in to the truck for his "backup" hat.
I ran inside to grab my camera, so I wouldn't miss this adorable moment. After I took the picture, Jacob gave Ray the hat back, and said, "Thanks for sharing." Too Stinkin' CUTE!!!

What a FUN day!

Oh MY GOSH! We had so much fun yesterday! But, we are SO exhausted! Megan was in the Canoe Flag Ceremony PLUS three races. I was in two sponsor races- one for San Angelo Family Magazine with Megan (we came in 4th place), and one with one of my Girl Scouts' moms, Christine for Gandy Ink (Christine works for them). We came in 3rd place in that one! I am just glad that none of the races that Megan or I were in ended with us in the river! (Several canoes tipped yesterday.)

We had the Girl Scouts Family FunFest in the morning before the Canoe Races, for which I was the Chairperson. It was so much work, but I think the people that came had lots of fun.

It is Sunday morning, and I am exhausted, but please with the day yesterday. Hope to get back in a canoe soon!

Back in the canoes!

This morning was practice-time for the girls in the flag ceremony for the canoe race. Since John had to take Matthew to a football practice {Ami cringing}, I got the short straw and had to take Jacob to the canoe practice. Because of his sweet perseverance, Ms. Becky told him that if he behaved and let her train the girls, she would let him get in the canoes. That was all it took~ He was perfect for the rest of the morning.

The girls looked great practicing for the flag ceremony. It is going to be beautiful! (I'll make sure to take pictures and post them here.)

Christine (my canoe partner) and I got to practice for a while too. As much as I hate to admit it, I really do enjoy being out on the water. (I think I'm becoming more "out-doorsy" than I'd like to admit!

Matthew is a Safety Patrol!

Okay, so I am no longer the worst mom ever! Matthew signed up to be a Safety Patrol at the end of last year, but wasn't chosen because of recurring tardies!!! , His grades were great, his behavior perfect, attendance fine, just more than a few late mornings. Now, I am not going to say Matthew is completely innocent in the tardy situation, but more than anything, it was because I couldn't find my keys (or my phone, or Jacob's shoes, or my shoes) in the morning. But, I have turned over a new leaf! If you believe that, well, you don't know me very well... But I asked the Safety Patrol teacher to please consider him if a space opens up. I said that if a space opens up in an afternoon slot, even better, since I have no problems getting to the school a few minutes later in the afternoon! Anyway, yesterday, a space opened up~ It seems one of the safety patrols didn't want to do it anymore. Matthew could not have been more excited!
He had to be at school by 7:25 this morning! But here's the very cool thing about that: He left with John and Megan! John dropped off Megan at 7:10, then Matthew by 7:20! I think I might like this early-morning thing!

Way to go Megan!!!

Last April, Megan told me she wanted to try out for the middle school swim team. I can't remember why now, but we were not able to make it to the tryouts.

Two days ago, a friend of mine told me that her daughter just tried out for swim team... So I called the coach, and he let Megan try out today.

She had to swim 50 meters in 50 seconds to make the team... While she was trying out, the coach told me that the reason they like to have the kids try out in April is so if they don't make the team, they can have time to practice and try out again.

She did it in 45 seconds! She was very excited. The coach said, "not bad without practice." Now, she gets to swim every morning for 1st period... PLUS an extra hour before school! so much for school starting at 8:20; she has to be at the high school (across town) by 7:20 a.m.! No rest for the weary!

Fun in Florida

Last weekend, I went to Florida for a friend's wedding. It was the first time in years (ever?) that I had been to Florida without kids, and without a more serious purpose. It was so nice to catch up with relatives~I stayed with my Aunt Lynn & Uncle Gerry in Boynton Beach. While there,I got to know their friends, Phil & Barbara. Phil and my uncle have been friends since they were little boys in Brooklyn. It was so cute watching them interact with each other, telling stories and just "being boys". They told hysterical stories of their youth. I have heard most of them before from my mom, but these were told from the boys' perspective...



I also got to spend some time with my Great-aunt Rose and Great-uncle Fred. It was fun to see them. They are getting older, but overall, doing well. My aunt has the same cute sense of humor that she has always had. She is legally blind (from macular degeneration), but she still tells great stories, and has the same great smile that I remember when I think of her. It was wonderful to see her and Uncle Freddy. I went back to see them a second time, and we went out for breakfast to one a diner near them.

I got to spend some time shopping at Sawgrass Mills! This is a h-u-g-e outlet mall. When it was built, it was the largest in the country. Not sure if it still it, but it is pretty big! I was there for almost 2 hours and only saw a very small part of it. I didn't find a dress to wear to the wedding, my purpose for going there, but I did find gifts to give to the Peace Ambassadors for our holiday party! I can't say what they are yet, in case they read this, but I am SO excited!

Probably the best part of the trip was reconnecting with friends and family. I also got to see Ellie Riskin for (about 45 minutes). We were such good friends when I lived in FL, but have not seen each other for a long time. She was just as sweet as ever, and has the most adorable house!

I also got to meet Larry's (brother of the bride) Emilie for the first time, in person! We have talked at length on the phone for years, but never actually met. The only bad thing? My camera battery died before I could get a pic of her and Larry! We all had so much fun at the rehearsal dinner party- It was a bbq on the beach!

Lauren & Steve- the Bride & Groom!

At the wedding, I sat with Larry & Emilie, Jan & Aley, and Larry's cousins, Rachel and Ben. What a great table! Rachel and Ben are going to be my newest "Facebook" friends.

After the wedding I stayed at Jan & Aley's house. It was so nice getting to know their son, Michael. He is a great kid (19!) with a fun sense of humor, and a phenomenal nusic career ahead of him. Even though I had just seen Jan last month, it was nice to see her while I was stress-free! It was so much fun to see Aley~ while at dinner, he showed me how to do "Torah-gami"- folding a dollar-bill into a Torah! M & M are amazed, and cannot wait to learn how to do it! I hadn't seen him in at least 10 years! We need to make sure that doesn't happen again!

Megan's Birthday Party

We had Megan's 12th birthday on Sunday~ (She will actually turn 12 on 8/18, but I will be out of town this weekend. In the interest of making at least one of my children not think I am a "bad mom" for missing their birthdays, I opted to make the party for the one who could actually read a calendar.) I was planning on having both Megan's AND Jacob's parties on Saturday, but then realized that Matthew had a Boy Scout bowling event that day, too. While I could have done all three, NONE of it would have been fun, so we postponed Jacob's until 8/23.

Anyway, this was Megan's 8th pool party! For those of us that scrapbook (or try to), it is not an easy task to come up with creative pages for a birthday party with the same theme year after year after year! But, I guess that is the norm with a birthday in August.

We got Megan a camera for her birthday. She likes it, but she really wanted a kitten. The irony here, is that a kitten walked up to Megan last week while she was playing outside with some friends. We keep telling her that we can not, do not, will not take care of another cat. That our neighbors will start (if they haven't already) thinking that we are "that crazy cat-family" if we take in another one (We have one "inside" cat, and two inside/outside cats. Since they are both inside approximately 1/2 of the time, I count them as 1 full cat).

Where Did the time go?

This week was our local Girl Scout council's Twilight Camp. Megan has been a "camper" there for the past 4 years, but this year she was old enough to move up. She took her "Program Aide" training last week, so this week she was able to be an assistant to the leaders. I *think* she had fun. So hard to tell sometimes!

From the title of this post, you're probably thinking that this will be about how my little girl is growing up, and how I don't know what happened to her childhood. Actually, no. I mean, yes, she is growing up. But that is not what this post is about.

I dropped off Megan at Twilight Camp every night this week at 6:00. The camp went until 8:30, but my friend picked her up and got her home a little after 9:00 each night. So my question is Where did the time go? What did I do with all that free time???

Monday was productive... I met Rashda at Wal-Mart to buy school supplies for two children that the Peace Ambassadors adopt each year. While there, I got Matthew's school supply list bought too. Very Productive night.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are a blur. Honestly. That's 9 hours unaccounted for.

THAT's why parents say time goes so fast when their kids are growing up~ I am in no way diminishing the fact that time does go quickly; but when I can lose 9 hours in a week, with no explanation, it becomes easier to undestand how we lose some of the time where our children are growing up.

I have been very fortunate to be able to attend many of my kids' events... Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Sunday School, school field trips, classroom visits... But since I was not part of this week's camp (for the first time), the time, for me, was lost. doing nothing. hmmm...

Canoe Craziness!!!!

Okay... So in the name of being a "good mom", or perhaps in the quest to be a fun Girl Scout Leader, or maybe just due to temporary insanity, I attended a week-long Canoe Clinic with Megan and several of the girls in my Girl Scout troop. The pictures below are from the second-to-last day, where we took the canoes to the nearby YMCA pool to practice swamping and rescuing canoes. The reason there are no pics of me or Megan is because my partner and I were practicing with Megan and her partner. But just realize that we (ahem, I) did the same thing!


When a canoe is "swamped", or flipped and filled with water, it must be rescued by another canoe. So, first, the rescuing canoe musct get perpendicular to the swamped canoe, and work to turn it over to empty the water from it.
As the canoe is being turned over, it must be lifted onto the rescuing canoe. It is heavy! (The girls from the "swamped" canoe are at each end of the rescuing canoe to keep it from flipping. Hopefully)
Then, the canoe has to be flipped back over before it can be launched back into the water.
It is amazing how much teamwork it takes to do this. Today is the day I realized the reason girls have to be in 7th grade before they can be in the canoe race.
After getting the canoe back in the water, the rescuing canoe gets parallel with the canoe to be rescued, and then has to help the girls back in. The canoe gets tipped over so the girls can get their hands in the bottom for leverage...
Then as the rescuing canoe is pushed back to it's normal position, the girls *should* be hoisted into the canoe. Today we learned that it doesn't matter how you get in, as long as you get in~ There is no such thing as gracefully getting into the canoe!

If this week didn't get me points toward the "Mom of the Year" Award, I don't know what will!

I was trying so hard to get out of doing this particular day of the training, but I was told that if I didn't learn how to rescue canoes, I would not be able to take my troop out without another trainer.
It was a good thing I did, because the next day, while taking a canoe trip down the river, another canoe collided with Megan's canoe, and TIPPED it! The lifeguard in the "rescue" canoe jumped out without realizing that we needed him in the canoe, so MY canoe became the rescue canoe! (Now is the time that I should mention that the lady in my canoe, Christine, had never been in a canoe before.- But she was a trooper, and did an awesome job!) After rescuing Megan and Jondalynn, we had to rescue the lifeguard! Fun times...

I joined!

After attending the meeting of the TJHS on Sunday, 7/27, I knew I had to join this group. Not only were they all so friendlythis weekend, they also donated $500 to our synagogue to "keep the jewel alive" as one member put it. Thank you TJHS~ our congregation appreciates it very much!

What am I getting into now???

I think that I have found a new group that I want to be part of... This weekend, the Texas Jewish Historical Society is having its quarterly meeting in San Angelo. The group chooses different cities throughout TX with Jewish communities to hold its meetings. We are lucky enough to host them this time. The group is very friendly and welcoming, and focuses on keeping Judaism alive in TX, even in the smaller communities, as well as preserving the Jewish communities' histories. Fits right in with my scrapbooking tendencies, and gives us a reason to go to services at different synagogues, at least quarterly.

Is Summer supposed to be relaxing??

I thought so. But this summer, not so much.

John had two back surgeries in June, one 6/2 & one 6/9. We knew going in that this was a two-surgery procedure, to correct his kyphosis. the surgeries went very well, correcting his 78-degree spinal curvature to a 28-degree curvature (normal is 20-40 degrees). What we weren't counting on, however, was that John had an allergice reaction to one of the antibiotics while in the hospital, which caused his blood platelet level to drop dangerously low. After removing John from ALL meds for 36 hours, the level finally started to come back, and continued to until it was back to normal. However, while he was in the "danger zone" of the platelet level, he developed sores on his heels, that have turned out to be bed sores. After one of them started to ooze, we went to the emergency room, like we were told. We have now been going to the wound clinic at least once a week (down from every other day) for the past 6 weeks. And I have been cleaning/redressing them at least once daily. ugh! Poor John has to wear an orthopedic boot, as one of the heels is healing fine, but the other one is not doing as well. The boot is to keep ALL pressure off of John's heel. To my untrained eye, it does seem to be helping. We'll see Monday, when John goes back to the Wound Care Clinic.

WITH all this going on, Megan had her Bat Mitzvah on July 11. I have imagined for years what the event would be like, and it was exactly as I'd pictured, but better! Megan did an amazing job reading her torah portion and haftarah portion, she an dLeah (the other girl Bat mitzvahed that day) sounded GREAT together, and most of our closest family and friends were able to share the weekend with us. The event could not have been better. I'm SO glad it's over! Tons of work, but worth every minute. Time to move on to Matthew and Leah's sister, Elisha.

Life did slow down after the Bat Mitzvah, but got busy in a different way. One of my best friends, Vivian and her daughter came for the Bat Mitzvah, and her daughter Jordan, who is Megan's age, stayed with us for two weeks. The girls, who have literally known each other since they were babies, had a very good time together. One of the highlights for me was a photo album that Jordan and Vivian gave us that had pictures of the girls from the time they were babies until last year. Hopefully I can continue to add to it. (Although I didn't do a good job of taking pictures while she was here this time-- It's okay, though, we are planning a trip to Carrizon Springs next weekend).

This past weekend was very, very busy... Megan and Jordan had Basketball Camp, and Matthew and his friend Dalton had Computer Camp. They all had so much fun~ M & D learned lots, and M & J were exhausted- in a good way.

This afternoon, I took Jordan down to Sonora to meet Viv and make the "switch". We had a fun (but short) visit at DQ, before we headed back to San Angelo.

B-U-S-Y Weekend!

For a weekend that I didn't have to work, we sure were busy! Yesterday, Megan and Matthew each had a basketball game-- Megan's team won theirs 26-10, and Megan got a basket! Considering she is still recovering from a badly sprained elbow, that was awesome! On Friday, she was still wearing her sling;I really wasn't sure she would even play.
In between the two games, Jody called me to see if I would go to a movie with her. I feel like I never have the time to be spontaneous, so since I was able to, I went. We ended up seeing Mad Money, which was actually better than I expected it to be. It wasn't our first choice, but the line to buy tickets was SO SLOW we had to change.
Matthew's team lost 10-6, but for their first game, they played really well. (They had a bye-week last week.) Matthew is quite the blocker- It is fun to see him on the court- So out of character for him to be tough and physical.
After Matthew's game, a Girl Scout came over to pick up her cookies, and then it was off to the ASU basketball games! Tonight was Girl Scout Night at the games, as well as every other group-night in San Angelo-- YMCA, Boy Scouts, several other area basketball teams, and more, I am sure. There were so many people there! It is just amazing to me how much people love that University... In between the two games, there was a HUGE presentation-- Dr. and Mrs. Legrand, huge fans of ASU sports, were honored for their recent donation of $1Million to ASU Athletics! A Million! Needless to say, every member of every sport team of the university was center-court to thank them for their support.
Today, Megan and I spent two hours working on her Bat Mitzvah prep. I realized that she had forgotten some of the key letters of the Hebrew aleph-bet, so we did a review of every letter. Then, when we worked on the blessings again, she was much more confident. We are going to have to practice more diligently between now and July... Speaking of practicing, we have decided to take some time off from piano. She is busy practicing clarinet, will soon be learning oboe, her Bat Mitzvah prep, and basketball. I think piano is putting her over the edge... So now I just have to work up the newve to call our (new) piano teacher, whom I'm sure already thinks I am a bit of a flake!
We finally got enough Girl Scout cookies out of our front living room to take the ornaments off the Christmas tree! Tomorrow, we will get the tree down. It has been giving me the "heeby-jeebies" to have a Christmas tree up this late in January, but after being sick for the first 1 1/2 weeks of January, then getting the cookies delivered before I had time to recuperate, I guess there was no other choice. Anyway, it will all be better after tomorrow!
I made the yummiest dinner tonight!! Steak, rice pilaf, and twice-baked sweet potatoes. So good! All that, along with doing 4 loads of laundry, and cleaning out the freezer, makes for one B-U-S-Y weekend!