School's Out for SUMMER!

click here to see the first day of school

I would call it a very successful year.  There were a couple of days with lots of tears at drop off, but since then...nothing :)  I owe it to her sweet teachers for helping this year go so well (Ms. Annie and Ms. Kim). THANK YOU!

We've discussed with Olivia that school is going to be over and that next year she will have different teachers.  So this morning while I'm walking her to class, she tells me... "I'm excited to see my new teachers today".  Love this positive attitude :)

Playing Together

We were getting ready to go to the gym and Olivia asked if they could play upstairs while I finished packing bags.  It got quiet and I noticed on the monitor that they were both in her bed, reading books and playing with stuffed animals....nicely :)

Mason walked up to Olivia and gave her a car and told her where to sit.  They then started pushing the cars back and forth together.

Or at the splash pad and they start passing a ball together.  

love these moments!

My Grandpa

My Grandpa went to be with his bride today. 

I've written so many things and erased it all.  But I'll leave the memory that is with me often.  We were visiting my grandparents (they lived in Ohio, we were in Virginia), I was in middle school or early years high school. They were getting ready for work and I see Grandpa standing holding his black comb...his hair all rustled.  Grandma was walking around the house holding her necklace.  She comes into the kitchen and he asks, "Are you ready yet?"  I'm assuming he means, ready to leave the house.  She looks at him, gives him the necklace, grabs the black comb from his hands, and turns around.  He puts on her necklace, she turns back around and he turns around...she combs his hair.  

It's so simple and yet so incredibly lovely.

i love you grandpa

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, 
love leaves a memory no one can steal.

~From a headstone in Ireland

Happy Memorial Day

After driving home from San Antonio, the Johnsons graciously invited us over for some swim time and dinner.  (oh...they have a beautiful new house that's a lot closer to us and has a pool!).  So we literally jogged over (told you it was close) and had a lovely evening with our great friends.

San Antonio Zoo

Today Grana and Grampa took the kiddos to the zoo, while Tim and I enjoyed a morning to ourselves and a shopping trip at the San Marcos Outlets.  

Grana took pictures with her camera.

And Olivia took pictures with another camera that she borrowed from Grampa :)

Thank you Grana and Grampa for the very peaceful morning!

Downtown San Antonio

This afternoon we headed downtown SA to eat at Mi Tierra and then allow a certain princess her very own carriage ride :)  Grabbed lots of cute pictures along the way.

Before, During and After Dinner

Riding the Princess Carriage (love the picture of Olivia when we asked her what she thought about this "adventure") 

Riding the trolley and eating snowcones

A lovely lovely evening.

(haha...don't know if you have noticed Mason's expression in some of the photos - he is getting teeth, thus his tongue out or hands in his mouth in almost all the pictures)

Foto Friday

Traveling to San Antonio to visit Grana and Grampa!

Infant Aquatics - MASON!

So we've had Mason enrolled in Infant Aquatics for about six weeks now with the same teacher (Ms. Gail) that we used with Olivia.

Mason is very comfortable in the water and loves to play in it, so I was hopeful he would be just as successful as Olivia was.

hhuumm

What I didn't consider is how attached Mason is to me :(  I've been working with him in our pool and knew that he could do the basic skills (float, kick, roll)...but when it came time to work with Ms. Gail, he screamed and cried...for multiple lessons.  I was getting very discouraged and thinking we were just throwing money down the drain.  In the past, if Ms. Gail had a child screaming and crying for the parent, she would ask the parent to remove themselves from eyesight of the child.  Generally speaking, the child calms down.  (I did it with Olivia and I've seen it done many times with other children).  

Well, Mason is a little more stubborn than others and the "hiding" wasn't working.  Eventually, we decided to have me participate in the lesson by sitting on the edge of the pool.  This helped A LOT and Mason eventually went to Ms. Gail without crying or throwing fits. 

And now, he looks like this!!!!   After only 4 lessons (2 weeks) of not crying.
This video is just from this week - Tuesday is red suit and today (Thursday) is blue suit.

you can edit the video quality by click on the bottom symbol next to the clock

So proud.  
We will continue lessons throughout the summer :)

 I have to mention again how much I appreciate Ms. Gail.  She is very patient, and consistent, and firm, and loving.  She has expectations and the students meet them.  Very thankful we have found such a wonderful person to work with both of our children and give them a solid swimming foundation.

here is Olivia's infant aquatics blog post from August 2010
 after she was enrolled in the program for just about two weeks.

Just Another Day...

...of eating my apple while my sister puts her shoes on me.

A Break

Tim's last day with EDPR (Horizon) was on Friday and is taking this week off before his new adventures with Envision begin.

I think we've both been thoroughly  LOVING this break.

A Change Will Do You (us) Good

One year later, things are changing for us again. We are not moving (thank goodness) - but Tim is changing jobs to work with a new company - Envision (this is a Chinese company but will be opening a Houston office). We are very excited about this opportunity, it's a chance to test the entrepreneurial waters without so much risk.  He will be in charge of global product strategy and business development for North America and Europe.  Probably lots of travel to Shanghai and Denmark in the next few months which will be different, but change usually involves an adjustment period.

It's funny to think how much I didn't like Horizon at first because it was the reason we had to move to Texas.  Now I think of it as the place that gave Tim his start in renewable energy, convinced him to get his MBA and introduced us to so many people we now consider life-long friends.  Horizon was a great first stop after the Navy and the past 6 years have been wonderful.  

While Tim is sad to not be directly working with his friends anymore I know we will all stay in touch, seems like wind energy is a small world.

From Tim: "Fair Winds and Following Seas Shipmates"

Spring Flowers

Ironman

Another Ironman year (last year) and I have to admit, it's one of my favorite times in this area.

It's 7:46am and I'm out on a short jog, while men and women pass me on a bike preparing for a 112 mile bike, after they just swam for 2.4 miles.  And then, will end their day with a marathon.  SERIOUSLY!?!? 

It's inspiring and motivating and encouraging.  I love all of it!

We went out for a bit by our house to view the biker in first after 104 miles...

He (Mathias Hecht) came and went and it was another TEN MINUTES before another biker showed up.  He ended up coming in third.  

This guy (Jordan Rapp), although he came by us 12 minutes later on the bike, ended up coming in first.

Then this was the first girl biker by us (Amy Marsh).  She ended up coming in third.

I was probably most amazed by Caitlin Snow.  She completed her swim in 55:32 and bike in 5:08 and was in 6th place after the bike (not bad, but had some work to do if she wanted to place).  She runs a 2:51 marathon to come in second for the women!  She was an incredible runner.  She had the third fastest marathon time of ALL the competitors (male and female)!

Anywho...we are obviously big fans.   Even Olivia who was sitting and watching the bikers and hearing us cheer them on, announces completely out of the blue,
"I can do an Ironman on my princess bike!"

:)

That evening we traveled down to Waterway Square to view the finish lines and newly minted Ironmen.  Every single person that crossed that finish line gave me chills.

Grateful this amazing sport takes place in our neighborhood!

Foto Friday - You & Me

you and me together, we could do anything, baby

you and me together, yeah yeah

two of us together, we could do anything, baby

DMB

We attended a Dave Matthews Band concert tonight with some neighbors we've recently met.  Had a really nice time and saw a great show!

Splash Pad(s)

We've been going to the local splash pads a lot recently.   It's a nice change of pace and the kids usually also take a break to then play at the park.  

How Do You...

...cook in your kitchen?

Teeth Time

Pillow Sleep

It is a "firm" mattress.

Happy Mother's Day!!

It was a perfectly relaxing day.
 Lots of time spent with friends and by the pool.

Tim and kids pampered me - like they do every day ;) 

love them all!

He's Good!

Foto Friday

Today would have been her 75th birthday.

We love you.

We miss you.

! (part 2)

Remember this photo?

Duh - kind of hard to forget....right?  

Maybe like this photo??

photo link

Sister-in-law said it reminded her of it, and as soon as she said it, I completely knew what photo she was talking about.  Cool.  Didn't know anything about the cover except that it was a National Geographic cover and it was a girl.  So I googled it!

Put the Phone Down

Remember when I posted a week ago about Olivia asking me to put the phone down and play with her?

This article was brought to my attention.
"How to Miss a Childhood"

(I believe the webpage is crashing due to lots of visitors - keep checking)

She posted it just a couple of days after I wrote those simple words from my daughter.  Love the title.  It completely catches your attention and you think to yourself, "I'm not missing any childhoods"...but then you read it, and you put yourself in your child's shoes and realize that in addition to missing a childhood, maybe you are allowing your child to miss out on you.

It's a good site....with a powerful message.

On a side note:  Today I went to the gym and I usually bring my phone.  However, *gasp* I forgot it.  The thought actually crossed my mind to go home and get it.  Olivia asked what was wrong...when she saw me searching through things.  I looked at her and remembered that I don't really need my phone to workout :)

UGH

my house is entirely too quite and i've got an urge to put on my
"easy listening tape" and have a good cry.

you know that feeling?  

they left this morning :( the absolutely lamest part about them coming to visit :(

my heart just aches

UGH

however, i don't want to be in this lame-o mood because they're gone, but rather remember all the moments.

like this one

love you.

The Perfect Photo

Things We Did:

*were bummed out that this was the last day

*tried to figure out how we haven't done everything we wanted to do

*took a group trip to target

*Erin and I got pedicures

*did some swimming

*moped around

*grabbed the perfect photo of kids

*chatted about anything and everything and nothing until a big bottle of wine was gone

Recovery

Things We Did:

*went to mall to play in kid area

*drank lots of water

*allowed kids to take naps while the four adults sat on couches with ipads, laptops, iphones and other electronics

*walked to a park

*watched a movie

*dug through neighbors trash to find some treasures :)

*stayed up too late

Things We Did NOT Do:

*celebrate Tim's birthday enough :(  I've felt sooo guilty about that :(  Guess we'll just have to celebrate it again!!

Cinco de Tim-o

Things We Did:

*played upstairs a lot.  kids needed some down time with toys.  I like that Erin and I both agree they need individual play time without someone in their face or interacting.

*prepared for Cinco de Mayo party - that got nicknamed Cinco de Tim-o because of his birthday being tomorrow

*took pictures

*had a pool party

*ate mexican - yum!

*Reagan and I had a pouty moment

*boys flew helicopters and climbed trees - which ended with Justin almost losing an eye and Tim having to trash his flip-flops......

*Then got in the pool and did handstands?