Way to go Billy!

Great Expectations was the way Pooker, Goobers, Sugar and I spent our Friday night. We had the honor of watching a Charles Dickens's story played out on stage. Our neighbor and friend has always had a talent for the arts and at his Catholic Boy's high school he is working on that talent.
My one complaint is that it the story can get confusing but I believe that to be a Dickens issue and not how this version of the play. They young people did an extraordinary job.
Our Billy didn't have tons of stage time or many lines but his character was the bad guy of the story. He was Compeyson.
Billy did a wonderful job and so did his peers. I have enjoyed the productions at St. Thomas for years now. Pooker had friends in several of the plays in years past and now Billy.

I believe that the high school productions are the best. Way to go guys and gals, we loved it.
We look forward to Macbeth. Break a leg Billy. We are very proud of you!

My amazing daughter Goobers

My kiddos are always surprising me and showing me how cool they really are. If you know me at all you know how much I love to write. I especially enjoy the blog atmosphere because I can share whatever I want. My family is my life so that is mostly what I blog about. My Goobers started a blog the other night. Her reason isn't because she loves to write like I do. In fact I think it is hard for her. I love that she wanted to do this to encourage herself to practice writing. I didn't tell her to, she just did it. I hope that she keeps it up. Here is a peek into the life of my second daughter . . . Livin' On A Prayer.

A little park time

We have backed out of many of our Bread of Life activities. We love this group of homeschooling people. With our plans to travel next year we wanted to focus on our studies more. So as the group became more and more structured with their activities my kiddos are looking for some play time.We tried to join the group after Fine Arts Club. We didn't realize how much they added to the program because we arrived about an hour too early. After a little painting we headed to the play ground to wait.
We had tons of fun but very few friends played. They were over worked and many left right after the class.
C man joined us for some climbing.
Each one of the kiddos enjoyed climbing.


The level of stress and structure will need to be another post on the homeschool blog at some point soon. My thoughts in general are that we push too much and forget to let the kiddos just play. (More on this later.) King of the mountain, King of the hill or King of the climbing structure are all important accomplishments. All my younger kiddos had their moments on top.
After an hour we chatted with a few friends and then headed home. We miss playing with our BOL friends but we still had a blast at the park. Maybe next time it will be cooler and more people will stick around to play after their class time.

Football Game (Oct 10)

Now that the kiddos are older I get to join J when he entertains clients for business.I am not sure why football? I was just glad to get the weekend off. We headed to Dallas for a short get away weekend. I was very pleased because the people we were entertaining were delightful people. We really enjoyed their company. (I had fun even with all the work talk!)
I don't love football but it was exciting seeing this beautiful new stadium. Those people love their Cowboy's! . . .Cowboy's Stadium is gorgeous.
We had great seats and great company!
Not to mention a little time together.

Bagel's Tooth is missing

It happened, Bagel's first tooth came out. She is growing up so fast.
This picture says it all. We were all so excited for poor little Bagel. The first tooth is so exciting and it does mean that you are growing up. The poor thing freaked out. She isn't too great with change.
About 2 hours after these pictures were taken she started to get excited. I am so proud of all her siblings. They loved her even when she was "freaking out". They all kept telling her that it would be OK and that it was a great thing to happen.
With the reminder from the big kids she prepared her tooth. The BIC envelope was the only one she found but it didn't stop her. She set everything out on the mantle. Bagel then instructed mom and dad to get to bed at a decent time so that the tooth fairy would not be scared away. The big siblings also worried that the tooth fairy might forget their precious sister, they sent text messages all night long to make sure that their Bagel was taken care of.
She woke very early and then was too scared to check. She saw the envelope sitting there on the mantle and her heart sank. (Our tooth fairy has the reputation of taking weekends off.) Then she started screaming when she discovered that her tooth had been replaced with some money. The joy in the life of a 6 year old is a wonderful thing. May your day hold some of this wonder!

The Cubs win

As we have stated before I have a family of Cub fans. I don't understand it myself but I have learned to deal with it. Usually it means we have a very hopeful and joyful spring training and then around August everyone is angry. By September and October the "There is always next year" mentality has begun. In June we bought tickets to an Astros vs Cubs game for everyone in the family very late in the season. In the end it was the second to last game for both teams.
It is always fun walking into a huge public place like this with all the kiddos. People turn and look. We just smile and laugh. We aren't famous, we aren't known, but we do have fun.




The Cubs had a bases loaded at one point and then a home run was hit. So exciting. If only the Cubs played this well all season.






This was a fun family evening. I am so glad that we purchased the tickets. We had a blast! We also thank the Cubs for the win.

Bear is 15

So my little Pooh Bear is now growing by leaps and bounds. I love the young man that he is becoming. His birthday came and passed without too much excitement. On his actual birthday J took Sugar and Possible with him for the day. Bear woke to wishes from everyone. He was very gracious with the little ones and their cards and small gifts. I don't know if he even realizes how much he is appreciated and loved by his siblings, younger and older. Pooker and Goobers arranged an evening at the park with their crowd. Bear had a blast.


The group of friends is a wonderful group of people. Each and everyone of them is fun and joyful. This was a group that came last minute and brought a cake with them. They played with all the Texas's T's. Bear is blessed to have such a wonderful fan base.











A few days later, when we had everyone back together we let Bear pick his own cake out. We sang to him and enjoyed an evening hanging out together as a family.



Bear is a great kid. His father and I are so very proud of how well he is doing with his school work. He is a mature young man.


We love you Bear. We love you so much more than you can ever imagine. The entire family is proud of you and would do anything for you. Thanks for being such a fun young man. Happy b-day to my favorite 15 year old!