Welcome Sandy!

We decided to welcome a new pet into the family. The kids and I went looking to rescue a dog, I've always liked Chihuahuas and last week we found Sandy. She was at the Houston SPCA, we were able to surprise the kids with her on Wednesday, October 28th. They were so excited. She will be much loved at our house. Here are some photos...

Halloween 2009

Where did October go? Can someone tell me because all of a sudden it was Oct 31st and we hadn't even bought pumpkins yet! Well, it wouldn't be Halloween without a jack-o-lantern so off we went to the local church pumpkin patch at 3pm on Sat., picked out pumpkins and ran home to carve them. The kids had fun with all the neighbors at the annual get together in the cul-de-sac. The moms had fun too.

Labor Day Weekend

We were invited to Lake LBJ with our friends Connie and Devin and their kids. We had a blast! Jet skiing, boating, knee boarding, swimming, no one wanted to leave come Monday. Connie's uncle has a beautiful house there with all the toys big kids like. Here are some photos...


































Dylan tried knee boarding, took just a few trys and he was up. By his 2nd day he did a full 360 degree turn! He loved it.



















Sunrise both mornings was beautiful. The water was smooth at that time so the guys got up to ride the jet skis and take the kids out.





















We rode "Great Big Mabel", the kids loved it, me not so much. It just beats you to pieces! I had two bruised knees, a scraped elbow and a few days later felt like I had been in a car wreck or fight! Too old!













It was a very fun weekend.

More Socks

I've started a new pair of socks...I've had this yarn for a while but for whatever reason hadn't started anything with it. I have multiple projects going because I get bored with one and need variety. OK, so I guess I like to layer my projects/books/activities, etc. Right now in my project bag I have at least 2 other knitting pieces (sweater and a blanket). Also I have several books I'm reading, The Shack, A Breath of Snow and Ashes and The Alchemist (book club). And as for the activities, well, I'm trying to walk at least every other day, I started on Dylan's room walls (need painting), one of these days we'll have a garage sale, and of course there is always the kids activities. I know I get this from my parents because I can hardly remember a time when they didn't have a project or 3 going. I think I do better mentally when I have a lot going on, that may sound weird but I think it's true.

Going for a walk

I got some new shoes, my sweet hubby got them for me, well he tried...he got the wrong size so I had to go exchange them. Aren't they cute?
These are not just Nikes but ones that have a little spot in them to put this:

It works with my iPhone and can track my walks/runs, lets me know how far I've gone, plays my iTunes as I go. All in all a cool little thing. I started on 8/14 and have walked between 2 and 2.5 miles each time, I average about a 15 min. mile, I'm good with that.

My goal is to start walking as much as I can, need to get in shape and since the kids have training twice a week at Lost Creek Park, I have no excuse! I made myself a belt to hold my iPhone, it's not pretty so no photos, but it works. Took it for it's maiden voyage last night and did fine. I do have to wear it with the phone at my lower back so the blue tooth headphones don't cut out. I think I will make another version of the iPhone belt with a few improvements and then maybe post the pictures of the first one and then the new one...we'll see!

Sewing fun

Did a little sewing for the new members of the family...Chocolate Chip and Ghillie(gill-ee), formerly known as Oreo.

Dylan renamed his guinea pig based on his love of Call of Duty 4 that he plays pretty much non-stop these days. You can see what a ghillie suit looks like here.

OK, on with what I made. Found a tutorial for a "cozie" for guinea pigs, they like to snuggle in and feel protected and I thought this was really cute.


I made two of them, one each! These pictures are from my phone, more with the camera but then the battery died so they didn't get downloaded.

So cute. I think they liked them, they went in and then ran out again, at one point they both were in one together, kind of small for that. I'm trying a new system with their bedding, using fleece, can be washed and reused. I got more fleece yesterday to make multiple "beds" so we can change them out regularly. It's a lot of work but they are fun and the kids are enjoying their pets. I think we've decided to make the laundry/craft room their permanent home. Great web site I found for all kinds of info related to Guineas here.

New Family Member

Introducing Chocolate Chip. He's Sydney's Guinea Pig but we've all gotten to enjoy having him around. Sydney named him that because she thinks he looks like a cookie. He's just a baby so he'll get bigger, possibly twice the size that he is now. We're learning all about how to take care of him and play with him. He likes to get his treats of fresh veggies. The kids enjoy feeding him and watching him eat.
We have made a "play pen" of sorts so that Chocolate Chip can have room to run around and get some exercise each day. He starts to get active around 9pm so I'm glad it's summer and the kids can have time to play with him.
According to the book guinea pigs can be litter box trained. The pet store has mini-litter boxes just for this size pet. We might try that so it would be easier to clean up after him. Dylan wants his own piggy now, which we're considering so that Chocolate Chip would have a friend during all the hours that we are not around. We're checking in to some rescue places.

Weekend in Magnolia

We spent the weekend in Magnolia the same weekend we played baseball in Spring. It's a much quicker drive. Emmy fixed crabs and shrimp since they had just returned from a trip to Louisiana. All the cousins got to swim/play/sleepover.

Here is Sydney and Riley.Then we have Noah, Peyton and Sydney.













Yummmm, crab! Not for me so much because I don't like to mess with cracking them, but I heard they were good.



























Keaton and Dylan














Sydney

Storm Baseball

The Sienna Storm Maroon team played in the Spring Klein June Jam in Spring, TX, June 6-7th. It was a hot weekend. The boys did great though. Dylan got to do some pitching and pitched the game to win it all on Sunday. He loves to pitch and has been doing pretty well. We now have a pitching mound for the backyard. Mom loves for him to get to pitch but it makes me so nervous for him. I asked him after the game if he was nervous up there and he just smiles and says "nah" like it's no big deal at all. The first two pictures are from the tournament at Baseball USA but I liked the action. The rest are from Spring Klein.My baseball stud!

This was one picture I got after the game was over, they were lining up for the trophy presentation...then my battery ran out! Had to switch to video. I know someone got a picture of my two D's with the BIG trophy, have to track that down.
One of the mom's posted this next photo to the team website. Pretty neat treatment of the image. Looks old-school. We were certainly #1 that day!! Good job Storm!

End of School!

End of school finally came. The kids were so ready. Darrin was able to go to school on the last day and see Dylan get his awards. Sydney's class did her awards a week or so before school was out and we weren't able to make that. They both made Honor Roll which is very exciting and Dylan got 100% scores on both reading and math TAKS tests. On the last day of school Dylan decided to wear his hair in a "Faux Hawk"! Here are some pictures. The classroom awards were the name of candy bars, Dylan got the "Skor" award for his sports playing.

Here he is with his teacher Mrs. Whitsitt.








































Darrin visited Sydney's classroom on the last day too. Here is Sydney with her teacher Mrs. Hill and some of her friends from her class...




























Another year at Scanlan Oaks, now they move on to 4th and 3rd, wow, it goes by fast... for mommy anyway!