Sunday, December 19, 2010

Cleaning Can be...

I happily accepted the job of sorting through my grandpa and grandma's papers, cards, newspaper clippings and pictures. As you can imagine this trip down memory lane is sometimes confusing, sometimes sad and sometimes joyful. But this particular item made me laugh out loud and it was so fitting for the season. I suppose if this is what it was like in 1964 we have no hope at all in 2010!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

My beautiful family!

Muddy Christmas!

We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas season
and that the true meaning of Christmas is "CLEAR" to you!

Love, Jason's Clan

Saturday, November 20, 2010

This year vs. Last year

They have changed but they are the same crazy little maniacs! :)














































































Outtakes & the non-traditional but oh so cute!




Friday, November 19, 2010

Sneak Peek

My very talented friend, Rachael, took some awesome pictures of my family again this year. I am so blessed to have her in my life for many reasons but her talent is truly unmatched and I'm so appreciative! Thank you Rachael - these are awesome!




Okay folks - that is all you get until you are either blessed with a Christmas card or a family calendar. Hope you enjoy!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Random Pictures


Smack words! We used to call them popcorn words but Z wasn't getting enough practice so a friend suggested that we put them on the door give Z the fly swatter and let him go to town spelling and identifying words - it WORKS!


Crowe's Nest Farm - I got to go on Z's field trip and had a wonderful time. This picture is Z running the maze.


Z enjoyed using my camera to capture some pictures - this is him catching his favorite chaperon.


Cute little posed picture of Z.

The only good Halloween picture that I got.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

WurstFest!

Today we celebrated Wurstfest 2010 (our 3rd year - the fest's 50th)!



Sunday, October 17, 2010

Pumpkin Hunting!

All the crazy animals!!! (Love Z's pose!)

The sun was in their eyes so they all are looking away from me! Even though I was hollering, "Smile, it'll make G'ma's happy!!"


Today was Pumpkin Hunting 2010!
We were very successful this year! We heard about a great place in Medina, TX (a bit of a drive but supposed to be great). We were pleasantly surprised, NOT Ekert's, but had some fun stuff. This fall tradition has been happening for years. As I described in my Fall 2008 post we are not "traditional" hunters - we like to hunt inanimate objects, pumpkins being one of our favorites! Today we got to see some more dirt play, just like in Fall 2009. I've also included our Fall 2007 pictures so you can see how much the kids have changed. Enjoy!

At The Apple Store (for lunch)

Daddy's Girl

The Boys!

Hay Ride

Reading the map

Waiting for the hay ride (dirt anyone?)

'Cuz they all looked so cute looking at the ducks!

Calendar Pic (spoiler #1)

(spoiler #2)


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

OLC!

This was my second year at OLC (Outdoor Learning Camp) but it was my personal best because my favorite 10 year old was there with me! I love that K girl!!! Since I found out about OLC I've been looking forward to being a chaperon in K's cabin - I got to be a chaperon and see her all day (teacher bonus!)! I tried not to make contact unless she did but it was so sweet when she did come and find me. Here are some of the shots that I got of her, when she made time to come visit:



Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Camera?!

Where is a camera when you need one?

Today we went to pick B up at school but he was still at cross country practice so we (ZA & I) decided that there might be some bad guys over by the bleachers. Apparently there were several and Z&A were doing a fine job of taking care of them when Z made a decision to attack some that had retreated below the bleachers. (FYI we are in the midst of pretend play, in case you haven't figured that out yet) So he proceeded to find a good spot to jump off the side, not too high but he did it before I could say, "BAD idea Z!" Before I knew it, monkey see, monkey do and there is A hanging from the railing of the bleachers yelling! To ease all the minds of the G'ma's out there it wasn't that high up, maybe 4 feet (but when you are only 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall that is pretty high!) I ran down the bleachers grabbed her up and complimented her on her upper body strength - she held on long enough for her old mom to run down the bleachers and I couldn't shake the image of the poster with the cat hanging from a branch with the quote, "hang in there baby!" No body was hurt, Z stopped jumping but was very successful in eradicating all the bad guys from the bleachers and we had fun playing outside!

Remember that I reserve the right to have run on sentences and grammatical errors in all of my blogging so enjoy the story and no teacher critique!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

SYTYCD & Other News

So You Think You Can DANCE!? (nope!) I don't but I think that K & I LOVE to watch SYTYCD! Whoop! About 2 months ago I saw that the tickets were on sale and that they were going to be in Houston and I "thunk" to myself - oooh we have a "Motel 6" (actually 2) in Houston - aka Casa Dad & Judy-Mom or Casa Marky Sparky & Cheryl. So K and I left school Tuesday, drove to Houston and watched some amazing dancing with Judy-Mom & Cheryl. I worried that I would want to rewind and watch again but it was VERY cool because we'd seen most of the dances before so it was like watching them all again. Excellent show and we had a wonderful time!



This picture is Z's first nurses note. His teacher stopped me on the way to lunch to let me know that he'd fallen off the monkey bars. When I asked him what happened he said, "I was pretending to be a monkey and didn't make it to the next bar." Nice! Yes - he's a monkey!


Cutest picture of the day! Z&A were watching a PBS show (Fetch with Ruff Ruffman) learning about light reflection and how to make light rays bend! It was so cute to see them sitting there watching so intently eating their apples for snack after school. Oh yea they are little mini
brainiaks!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

I'm still here...

Z started Kindergarten this year! He loves it, and with the exception of one day with tears about pizza for lunch he's doing great.
K is in 5th grade (with me) this year. Although I'm not her teacher, I know most of her teachers VERY well. Yesterday was funny (sad but funny) when she realized that she'd left her homework on the table in my classroom. She could not come and get it, just like any other kid would not have been able to go home and get theirs. She had to walk at recess as a consequence and one of her teachers berated her that this was really hard on her (the teacher) because she didn't want to issue a consequence to someone she loved as much as K. TELL me about it!!!!
A has been doing great and this year when I see her she is happy to hug me and keep moving on with class.
B LOVES his school. We are very happy with him there because he is being challenged and he is really happy. Who could ask for more of a middle school student?!
Sadly we lost my Grandpa this week, he was 90 years old and I know that he is now with G'ma. We all love him very much and will miss him. However it is a blessing that we have had as much time with him as we had. I have said often in the last few days that I spent a great deal of time with my grandparents growing up and for that I am forever grateful!

G'pa with his FAVORITE granddaughter (so what that I was the only one!)

He always had a special spot in his heart for his first Great-granddaughter
(who he affectionately called Rae)

Last year at Thanksgiving.
Not our best picture but one of the last we have altogether.

Love you G'pa! Let G'ma know how much we love and miss her!!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Dear Scott! You Called me out!

Scott called me out! I have Virginia pictures out the backside and I'm working on a powerpoint to present to our 5th grade students and staff (I'm sure they will be thrilled).
Until then - here are some pictures to whet your appetite!

This first pictures is of Redoubt #10 (this was when and where we won the American Revolution) with the help of our French friends at Redoubt #9. I started with this picture because for me it was the most emotional part of the trip - my imagination was vivid and clear as I imagined the suffering, sadness and ultimate relief as this particular obstacle was overcome. Proud to be an American!


This next picture was also emotional for me. This is me with Bunny - the most amazing history teacher I have ever had the pleasure to spend time with. I feel bad because I was unable to take notes while she talked. She knew so much, had so many stories related to people in history and completely captured my attention! Thought she was GREAT!!!


I went all the way to Virginia and met an Austinite - that was AN AGGIE!! Oh yea!! Gig'Em!


Part of this experience was living out and seeing how people lived in the 18th century. Here I am doing just that:

Watering the crops!

Searching for worms on tobacco.
If a slave master found a large one they might make a slave eat it,
since it meant they were not doing their job well enough if a worm got that big!


This is a hogshead.
Tobacco was shipped in a barrel just like this!
Insanely big, huh?!

The next picture is of part of my group. Brina, Jo, Linda, Debbie (my running partner), Steve, Mario & Lindsey.



Me & George Washington!!! Actually, as you probably know this isn't the REAL George Washington, but he was amazingly knowledgeable. It was so cool to listen to him present!


This is where I stayed - actually the very first picture that I took. I had the BEST time and cannot wait to go back and to share all of my new found knowledge with anyone who will listen and let me show them my "stuff!"