Papa and Grammy return from Chile

On their way home from a misison in Chile, Ted's parents passed through the Dallas airport. We haven't seen them for two years, so it was fun to have a quick chance to share breakfast and welcome them home.

Snow Cone Lady

The kids (and apparently much of the city of Frisco) have an obsession with the legendary Snow Cone Lady. With over 50 flavors--Wedding Cake, Cinnamon, Tiger's Blood, Banana Split, and Rainbow to name a few--and the secret trick of topping the snow cones with cream, just about everyone agrees these are the best snow cones they've ever had. Madeline dreams of snow cones all winter long, asking me to tell her stories about what flavor we will order when we go again. We checked out her My Space and were there for her opening day. Thinking we might avoid the usual hour long lines because word of her opening wasn't out yet and it was an overcast day, we raced over as soon as school was out. Caleb and Sierra tried to stay warm (and thought they were providing entertainment while people waited) by dancing around in a shared jacket. One hour later, we finally had our snow cones. The look on their faces says it was worth it!

Springtime happenings

Once again, I'm behind on the family blog, so here are a few fun springtime photos.
Sierra attended her friend Ainsley's 7th birthday party at the American Girl Doll cafe in Dallas. She loved how her doll had its own booster seat and menu, and the decorations and food were of course very cute and girlie.

We had a few minor cracks in our walls, and our builder offered to come in and patch them up. Little did we know what a major job it would turn into. The entire house was covered in plastic and plaster!

Picnicking with Danny and Michelle on White Rock Lake In Dallas

While picnicking, we got a good laugh at this antique car/boat. Only in Texas!

We don't have any plans to travel to Paris, France, but at least the kids can say they've been to Paris, Texas. Madeline and Sierra dressing up Little House on the Prairie style at the Fort Worth historical village

Enjoying a perfect spring day

Two days later--snow and ice

Destination Imagination 2010

Sierra and Caleb both participated in Destination Imagination this year, a creativity and problem solving program. The kids compete in building and acting Instant Challenges and spend months writing their own play. Along with making all their own costumes, props, and scenery, the play incorporates an engineering challenge. I've coached Caleb's team the past two years, and this year I traded assignments and coached Sierra's team. We had seven sweet, spunky girls, and I think everyone had a great time. I love coaching DI because for six months out of the year I have the perfect excuse for why my house isn't picked up since we're always in the middle of a building or art project, and I can actually feel like I'm being productive spending hours writing silly storylines, cruising around the neighborhood looking for cast away appliance boxes, and researching creative costume ideas. The best part of all is seeing kids who were jittery about performing develop their confidence. This year, we had one little girl who was so nervous she was worried she was going to throw up before the tournament, and afterwards she had such a good experience that she begged the team to perform the play one more time at our celebration party.

This year Sierra's team, The Sparkle Girls, performed a newscast called the "Unusual Ocean Pet Shop." Sierra played a cute seahorse who could change colors depending on her moods so that her owner would know how she was feeling.
Dress Rehearsal--front row: Camille (dolphin), Madisyn (penguin), Sierra (seahorse), Vibha (reporter), Anne Marie (Farmer Sparkle), Autumn (pet shop owner), Rhea (jellyfish), back row: Traci (assistant coach) and me

Waiting to perform at the tournament

We had a lot of fun building our backdrop with materials gathered from a last minute scavenger hunt through my kitchen. We used a colorful bean soup mix for the sand; bubble wrap for the ocean bubbles; tissue paper for the seaweed and coral; oil pastels for the castle; and built unusual fish out of felt, foil, craft sticks, pom-poms, clothespins, feathers, and old party decorations.

Caleb's team wrote a play about a war between candies and vegetables that happens in a Food Pyramid in Egypt. Caleb began the play as Brock O. Lee, one of two tourists who discover the Food Pyramid. The tourists sets off a rube goldberg reaction on the pyramid, get turned into food, and get sucked into the pyramid. Caleb had to have a broccoli costume that he could change into in 10 seconds, and while it didn't involve any great artistry, gluing real broccoli on gloves and a ski hat gave everyone a good laugh. I loved their two sided pyramid, which had an ingenious construction that allowed it to be collapsed to enter the narrow doorways of the school.

Caleb hammed his role as tourist up with a thick British accent. Here's a link to his team's play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvYrvb7Lg5w

Educational Pursuits

This semester I enrolled in Abnormal Psychology and Anatomy and Physiology, two of the prerequisites for the Masters in Occupational Therapy I'm applying to in the fall. I heard A&P was challenging, but I thought it couldn't be that hard to memorize the names of a few body parts. I already know the basics--ears, hands, feet, etc. After getting through the first seven weeks of the class, I have found the amount of material we cover is mind numbing, and as soon as I feel like I have a handle on something, we move onto something with a whole new set of challenges. It has been a struggle finding the time (and energy) to study with three kids, teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays, and being gone at night classes fourteen hours during the week. When the semester is over, I'll have learned some really fascinating things about the human body, and I will truly appreciate having the summer off... before enrolling in the next semester of anatomy. Those who know me will surely have noticed my lack of ability in the visual orientation/direction department. I'm confident when it comes to studying the anatomy book and memorizing all the terms and functions, but the lab practicals involve all kinds of surprises--body models we may not have seen, dissected organs, microscopic tissue samples, and structures that can look very different depending on the angle or cut. It's like studying a complicated road map and then being expected to get on a crowded freeway and know where to go from memory. And why do all the words have to be so long? Why do we have to say "keratinized simple squamous epithelium" when the word "skin" works just as well?

The vegetarian side of me is squeamish about dissection. Fortunately, my table mate enjoys doing all the cutting. I just ask him to let me know when he comes to a new layer or angle so I can take a photo. Thank goodness for my digital camera, which at least enables me to study without having the smell the subject. It makes me laugh when I remember the visual tests from my undergraduate Humanities major. How did I go from this... And this

To this
And THIS?!? (Mary's Little Lamb)

An Honest-to-Goodness Snowstorm

We had two full days of flaky, perfect snowfall last month. It was the perfect snow for building, and the temperature was warm enough to stay outside without getting too cold. After managing to find appropriate snow gear packed away from years ago, I sent the kids out to play. It was sure fun while it lasted!

Sierra and Madeline (on right) with our next door neighbors
Caleb's snowman

A Little Leak

We had a wild ride last month when we suddenly discovered water soaking the carpets in our master bedroom. After doing some investigating, we discovered the cause for the leak was our water heater in the attic. The leak would have been contained, but we had a leak in the pipe that went through our master bedroom closet. Besides having to replace the water heater, we paid $750 for a plumber to find a fix the leak and $1000 to have the walls and carpets dried. Our builder was kind enough to cover the repairs, and is sending in drywallers and painters next week to take care of cosmetics. We went a few days without hot water, boiling water on the stove for baths for the kids, while Ted and I braved very fast 50 degree showers. Certainly makes us appreciate the hot water during cold weather!

The Leaky Pipe