Lucas is a star too...

The two-year olds came out for the last couple songs. We were just glad Lucas stayed on the stage and didn't come running to us!


He didn't sing much, but he didn't cry either.


His biggest smile was reserved for Miss Eva (his babysitter) when he saw her in the audience!

Baby, I'm A Star (Part 2)

The preschool that Ethan and Lucas attend puts on a Christmas program on the day before break. If you remember from an earlier post, Ethan was seriously bribed to be the star, which he apparently thought was a girl's job. Here he is as a shepherd in the beginning of the program. (Next to Noah, Robert and Matthew as the three wise men.)


But then...he became a gold star!




He had to lead the three wise men to the baby Jesus...


And took his place behind Mary and Joseph (where he remained for the rest of the show trying to shrug the star costume off)!

Photo Catch-up

Lucas and Ethan (and Jacob) got buzz cuts again. It's funny how often Ethan and Lucas get mistaken for twins. To me, they look nothing alike, other than haircuts and coats.


Sissy and me on our way to the Mommy & Me Nutcracker Tea!

Hi Blog. I've missed you.

I kind of forgot about this blog for awhile. With all the technical difficulties and learning curve of a new computer, I not only put posting on the back burner, I let it fall off the stove. Thanks to those of you who wrote to say you missed it. I'm back on the wagon again. Swear!

The past week and a half since school got out has been a blur. Actually, it was a blur the week BEFORE school got out. We had holiday parties, birthday parties, xmas programs, babysitting, jewelry-making and all sorts of Christmas shopping/wrapping/shipping. I'll get caught up with pictures soon, but here's one of me and some friends at a Girls Night Out at Kona Grill. I heart sushi. Who knew?

Michelle, Candace, Charisse, me, Ida and Dana.


I have completely lost myself in iTunes. Mark gave me an iTouch and I spent tons of hours going through all our CDs and burning music to the new Mac. I realized that I bought a lot of music pre-children. Since Jacob was born in 2001, I've hardly bought any in comparison. iTunes is like Christmas everyday - bringing up fun/sad/crazy memories associated with all these songs I can find with a click. Two of my friends came over one day and we burned each others CDs for hours! And now my music library has more than 1,000 songs on it! More than 3 solid days of music!

So that's where all my blog time went!

Baby, I'm a Star!

Ethan was asked to be the Star in his school's Christmas program. He acted up for two days until the teachers sent me a note that they believed his naughty behavior was due to the fact that he absolutely did not want to be the Star! And it's possible he thought it was too girly. So last night we had a talk and I explained the bribe ... good behavior and being the star = slushie ... and today was a much better day! His teachers said "visions of slushies danced in his head." And if he follows through next week in practice and for the actual program on Thursday, I owe him a Nerf toy.

How can it be December 10th already? I haven't shipped my early Christmas purchases, haven't made any purchases for Mark and two of the kids, haven't put up a tree or decorated the inside of the house...

I have been working like crazy on PTA stuff, beading for a friend and extra shifts at Bath & Body Works. Seems like they want to change stuff around every week! And this week I was at the school every day for the Box Tops collection which has raised almost $800 so far!

Sunday, Sarah and I went to a friend's house for a Mommy & Me Nutcracker Tea! It was so adorable! All the little finger foods and tea cups and crafts and party favors were incredible. Once I figure out how to use the photo software on the new computer, I might be able to post a pic.

Until then...

Tenth Anniversary Weekend

Our 10th anniversary was October 23rd. It took some logistical gymnastics but we finally got to enjoy the Riverwalk for a night last month. This was our hotel, La Mansion Del Rio.



We spent most of the afternoon wandering around La Villita, the artisan area with lots of painters, jewelers, sculptors. We had lunch at the Guadalajara Grill, where the food was way too greasy and the chicken taquitos were terrible but the decor was incredibly fun to look at. It included this gem of a sign.



This was taken on the Rio Boat tour. We've done it a million times, but I still get a kick out of it. It all depends on your guide!



We had dinner at Las Canarias, the fantastic hotel restaurant. Their pastry chef made this as a surprise for our anniversary! It included milk chocolate sprinkled with pink peppercorns, chocolate madeleines and mini apple tarts.




Another shot of La Mansion. Our room was on the first floor. Our balcony was right between those two trees. The bridge in the foreground is known as Selena's bridge. Jennifer Lopez sang from there during the making of the movie "Selena", the Tejano singer who was slain by her fan club president.



We had a lovely time. I think the best part - other than spending time together - was getting to sleep in til 10 AM! Blackout curtains and no kids made it very easy to snooze well past what we normally get to do at home!

It's Murphy's Law

1. The kids are out of school all last week for Thanksgiving, so Lucas and Ethan catch bronchitis now and can't go to school a couple days this week.

2. Mark got me a new computer. It's so cool, we don't know how to use most of it. Or how to transfer my address book. Or iTunes. Or attach the printer. So the old computer is still hooked up - five feet away from the new one.

3. I spend two days loading all the music we own on my iPod so I can take it to my beading job (where I sit by myself in the office for hours at a time) and haven't been back to the beading job since before Thanksgiving.

In other news, Thanksgiving was fun. We went to our ex-neighbors' house again where we decided in a shocking turn of events NOT to get up early and shop pre-dawn Black Friday deals. We just didn't see enough stuff we needed in the ads to make it worthwhile. And the lines at Kohl's are never worthwhile. Went out later in the day at a much more reasonable time.

PTA and school things are picking up in these last three weeks before the holiday break. We've got the Box Tops collection, Sarah's teacher's birthday, the winter class parties, the Christmas program at KDO, plus other holiday parties like a Nutcracker Tea and Spurs tickets and shopping and I STILL HAVEN'T SEEN NEW MOON!

Lots of pics to post soon - Sarah riding her bike sans training weeks, the boys' new buzz cuts and our anniversary weekend downtown. Don't hold your breath for a Christmas card from us. We'll continue the Valentine's Day card tradition again this year! Besides, now you have this blog for pics all year round!